March 31, 201016 yr So my dad gave me some big ol square nuts to squish in the Flatifier.... Which I did... and much to my surprise the thing de-laminated.... So I cut and broke one and did a spark test.... They are defiantly low or no carbon.. no split bright sparks.. The break test is a little strange... If it is wrought its better grade wrought than other things I have done the break test on.. And like I said... these are big... I think this one is about a 2 1/2" About 4 1/2" square and 3 1/2" tall So what do you all think?
March 31, 201016 yr Sure looks like wrought iron to me! The crumbliness seems typical to me also. Heat it all back up and squeeze it all back together. You need a bright yellow almost white heat though... welding heat. Personally I rarely find it worth the trouble... but it's good practice!
March 31, 201016 yr looks like reasonable quality wrought to me I think that you should just crush the nuts and sell them as paperweights, lamp bases, etc. The split one look sVERY cool!
March 31, 201016 yr Definitely WI, looking like it was worked below proper temp too. I like the look though you might build a top tool that would do the squish but leave a depression in the center that would hold a candle and sell them as candle holders!
March 31, 201016 yr The grain is going the wrong way, WI nuts should be made from welded rings so that the fibres are wrapped around the bolt.
April 1, 201016 yr Author The grain is going the wrong way, WI nuts should be made from welded rings so that the fibres are wrapped around the bolt. ? So you are voting against it being wrought?
April 1, 201016 yr the second pic... did these have the spikes I see on the bottom? If so, maybe these were designed for use with wood?
April 1, 201016 yr Author the second pic... did these have the spikes I see on the bottom? If so, maybe these were designed for use with wood? No.... thats a bit of trickery... I'll have to take another picture to show what it is
April 1, 201016 yr I think they are WI do to the delamination and point out that while *best* practice would have been to weld a ring and then tap it there is a whole lot of "not so good practice" out there---it wouldn't be mentioned in places like "Practical Blacksmithing", Richardson, unless folks were
April 1, 201016 yr i think the top pic should be a display decorative bit, looks good, and the rest, send to me, bill to naked anvil,..:-)
April 2, 201016 yr ? So you are voting against it being wrought? No, they're definitely WI but with the grain parallel to the bolt they are too easily split. High strength nuts are made by welding a ring from a length of bar, forming the flats, sizing the hole and then cutting the thread. With a nut made like this there is a weakness as the fibres are tending to be pulled apart rather than stretched along their length. I suspect that with this size it probably doesn't matter much.
April 2, 201016 yr Author No, they're definitely WI but with the grain parallel to the bolt they are too easily split. High strength nuts are made by welding a ring from a length of bar, forming the flats, sizing the hole and then cutting the thread. With a nut made like this there is a weakness as the fibres are tending to be pulled apart rather than stretched along their length. I suspect that with this size it probably doesn't matter much. Yeah I can see that.... There is a lot of meat in these though, the sides of the nut are over a 1" thick and 3" tall... that is a lot of material for even a large nut...
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