If this is in the wrong place, sorry..Im looking for some wrought at a decent price. Wagon wheel would be great. Thought I would check the sites before I looked elsewhere. Thanks

If this is in the wrong place, sorry..Im looking for some wrought at a decent price. Wagon wheel would be great. Thought I would check the sites before I looked elsewhere. Thanks

What size and how much? I've got quite a bit

What size and how much? I've got quite a bit

Well we are looking for 8-10 pounds to start, unless the price is right Id rather have flats, as forging out anchor links is hard on us folks without power hammers. We'll take most anything though..Thanks
PS: You can reply here or if you'd rather email us at [email protected]

I have a bit of 5/8" round. Willing to trade.

KYBOY
Where are you located?

I bought some wrought iron from this place one time. I looked back and flat bar was $4.00 a pound. http://www.oldglobewood.com/ There is also a guy in the MS Forge Council that is selling some that was left over from a big fence he did around the old capital in Jackson. It is in the last newsletter you can see it at http://www.msforgecouncil.com/ if you like.

I have some wrought bolts available as well, I think they are 5/8th and 2 lengths 11" or 22". Came out of a lumber mill in north Idaho.
Chris

Look I found pictures Chris

not to hi-jack this thread but....

where is a good place to look for wrought iron. is there a year cutoff on wagon wheels, what places or dated "things" to look at. since I live way up here in northern Alberta I may be limited to what we have that I can salvage. ideas?

btw, Winterbear, your first pic is VERY small.....lol

Bessemer Steel started in the 1850's but took a while to get going. "Practical Blacksmithing", Richardson, has discussions of the "new" steel and how it worked differently than WI and it was originally published in 1889,1890, 1891 IIRC.

With time the ratio of WI to steel swung heavily towards steel with WI only being used in areas where it's improved resistance to corrosion made it worth the extra cost (sea side structures) *or* where it was present in the scrap stream and re-cycled (poor areas that "made do" with what was already around.

In many places the great depression was the cut off for WI as it was more expensive to make.

So in the USA in NM, OH, OK and AR *most* wagon wheel tyres I have run across were WI, most structural materials before the ACW were WI or cast iron. Here in NM I found a set of 1" mending bars installed after the 1906 quake were wrought iron. The bracing bars from an old wooden RR car, now a pile of damaged wood were WI, etc. A lot of farm stuff is often WI both original and recycled. With practice you can tell the lower grades by eye seeing the striations in the rust that indicate WI.

not to hi-jack this thread but....

where is a good place to look for wrought iron. is there a year cutoff on wagon wheels, what places or dated "things" to look at. since I live way up here in northern Alberta I may be limited to what we have that I can salvage. ideas?

btw, Winterbear, your first pic is VERY small.....lol

Dennis
I have found that almost all wagon rims are wrought and most old steel buggy parts are wrought here in Ont. i would amagine that you will find the same in Alberta old farm impliments are hit and miss but i find a lot of wrought in them as well.I have managed to accumulate around a 1/2 ton so it's out there just waiting for a new life.

Bob

Sorry if this is a sidetrack from the OP, but i live on Kauai and have found some material that looks like wrought iron but is pretty hard under the hammer like a tool steel; does anyone have any info on old steel like this? This stuff was from plantation days, late 1800s to early/mid 1900s. Thanks, Steve

We are still looking for some wrought guys. We have found some smaller wrought which will be good for some stuff but we really need some bigger wrought. I have give up on finding flat bars, we will take achor chain links ect. Anything big enough to forge in to straps. Thanks

Steve; they did have wrought iron derived steels: blister steel, shear steel, double shear steel, etc. Spark test it and break test it and if it's a high carbon wrought you are in luck! Shear steel is in demand for historical knives for folks doing living history---has a nice pattern in it when etched.

I got your pm bit can't respond. I have about 20 feet of 1" sq bar I'd sell for $2/foot

You better scarf that up.. It's less than 60 cents a pound.

MonsterMetal.... You'd better get ready for about a hundred requests... or more.

I got your pm bit can't respond. I have about 20 feet of 1" sq bar I'd sell for $2/foot

Ill take a good bit of that my friend ;)Get your chop saw warmed up . My email address is [email protected]
Just email me and we can work out the deal. Thanks

I've never worked wrought iron, only forged mild steel and pretended it was wrought :-)
What's the attraction other than it being old and tricky to obtain?

I've heard that it welds very well, and forges better at a higher heat, but other than that????

What am I missing here?

Thanks Thomas, that is helpful info; what is the best etchant/strength to get the pattern to show?

Best depends on what *you* like. I'd try Ferric Chloride if you just want to show pattern with a little topo, (or hot vinegar and salt for pattern and no topo) or go to HCl, (muriatic acid) for a bit more aggressive etch to way aggressive give me my piece back! etch depending on strength and time.

There is a romance to using the "old" material of the blacksmith. Modern mild steels didn't even start to come into use until around the time of the American Civil War so there is about 2000 years of using wrought iron for smithing vs 150 years of using mild steel.

Since you work WI *HOT* often at burning temps for mild steel it's *very* soft---one reason they could use smaller anvils way back when! You can tie knots in the stuff! Forge welds can pretty much disappear.

On the downside the grain makes punching and sharp corners more of a problem and most folks don't have the habits of working stuff at welding/burning temp that WI loves.

In today's world I would say that WI is a *must* for historical work and can be a plus for some ornamental work but is not a good choice for most other work---save for tool making where you are laying on a high carbon steel edge to a WI body---which is really traditional historical work....

This was an ad in ABANA's "The Hammer's Blow."
http://www.wisconsinwoodchuck.net/treasures.htm