Some wrought iron at the swap meet

[Michael]

7 foot long anchor for sale at the swap, only $100 a foot!

wrought and how it had been worked really showed up in the ring on top, where you can clearly see the grain and the twist that positioned the smaller ring before the larger one was threaded thru it and welded.

Would wrought that has become this etched still be workable? Just in case I run across a smaller one !

[ThomasPowers]

I've had it go both ways; some welded back up and others disintegrated.

I did note that the Globe is having a sale on their WI currently:

5/8" rod, was $6.00 per pound, now just $3.00 per pound

7/8" rod, was $4.08/lb, now $2.04/lb

1" rod, was $3.52/lb, now $1.76/lb

1-1/4" rod, was $2.50/lb, now $1.25/lb

1-1/2" rod, was $2.00/lb, now $1.00/lb

4-1/2" square-cut nails, "as is," were $4.00/lb, now $2.00/lb

4-1/2" square-cut nails, "select," were $8.00/lb, now $4.00/lb

All prices are FOB Superior, Wisconsin.

For more information contact judy@oldglobewood.com or call (715) 392-5110
http://www.oldglobewood.com

[KYBOY]

Glad I saw this Thomas, thanks..We'er getting low on wrought..Ill give them a call about some fo the big round..They were selling it by the flat rate box..

[iron woodrow]

wish there was a place like that here!

[ThomasPowers]

There may be; it's just that they and you are not aware of it. I once bought several tons of wrought iron as I read that they were tearing down a building that had originally been built during the wrought iron period---bought it from the demolition people for scrap rate.

So keep your eye open for reports of fires in *old* buildings, old factories being torn down, etc

[tomhw]

Michael, that is a great photo. It shows the smith's understanding of wrought iron's strengths and weakness and how to anticipate and use them for the project at hand. If you buy the anchor hold on to this section; it has a wealth of information on how to use wrought iron. Because of how it is made wrought iron is strong along the grain and weak across it. See how the smith reinforced and added iron to compensate for the iron's weaknesses in the small bends and stress points while maintaining a modest cross section along the long sections. It is good work by a good smith.

[ThomasPowers]

I bought a renaissance quarrel point (crossbow bolt head) when I was in Germany and the fellow was perplexed in that I wanted the most weathered example instead of the best looking one---not only was it cheaper but the weathering showed the flow of the wrought iron indicating how the renaissance smith had forged it---makes it much easier to duplicate!

[Michael]

It was out of my price range! even if I did buy it, doubtful I could have destroyed it for the WI stock. I do get to keep the picture though.

Many thanks to the curmudgeon for the Old Globe contact. A flat rate box of 5/8 shorts is on its way to me now so I'll get to practice with Wrought without trashing the work of a long gone smith who knew what he was doing.

[Wroughton]

Some old mill iron. What I would call "pile iron". It's made from whatever was in the scrap pile. Cut a bar of really grainy wrought, polish and then etch and you'll usually see different inclusions towards the core. The split spike with the apparent grain was the victim of a industrial wood chipper that exploited a cold shut. Another picture is a bar that
was twisted and then forged into a pull handle.

[ThomasPowers]

Remember that wrought iron was layered from the start! Merchant bar was piled and forge welded and drawn out Muck bar; singularly refined was piled, forge welded and drawn out Merchant bar; Doubly refined was piled, forge welded and drawn out singly refined, usw

And of course bar made from busheling scrap was common too.

[iron woodrow]

please define "wrought iron period" as i am largely unaware of the dates that this marvellous medium spanned.
did it extend far into the 1900s?

[macbruce]

I've shown these before but I think they're worth a second look.....One is 1/4 x 1 1/2'' and the other is 2 x 3/8''. They came out of an old HW store in Blackhawk CO in the mid 1970's and I was there. The place had been sealed since the time it closed circa 1925??? I don't know but it was like stepping into another era......A rack along the wall held maybe 75-100 bars of WI in different sizes in 20' lengths and my Mentor Slim Spurling had bought it all. Bins with hot cuts , tongs,hardies,swages...you name it.....Anyway we ransaked the time capsule and nobody had a camera.... :( .... As far as I know these are the only two bits of WI left from that horde.....They were stamped with the Swedish Royal seal..............

[KYBOY]

Thats awsome Macbruce..I would have loved to seen that..

[ThomasPowers]

Wrought iron period started with the beginning of the iron age and started tapering off with the invention of the Bessemer/Kelly steel process that created mild steel around the mid 1850's---however smiths were still discussing how to work the "new" metal in the 1880's and 1890's, (Practical Blacksmithing, Richardson, has some discussion of it) For general use in America it dropped severely in the 1930's with the great depression as WI was a more expensive material; but continued in small amounts for specialty work. (some coastal bridges were spec'd in WI even in the 1950's in the USA) The last commercial supplier I know about closed and donated their factory to the Blist Hill museum where the Real Wrought Iron Co, LTD re-processes scrap WI for sale nowadays.

So any building pre 1880 would have wrought iron or cast iron in it's construction and some much later---the Water tank from a prison was real WI and installed in 1929 in Ohio USA. The mending plates for a cistern cracked in the 1906 Socorro NM USA quakes were 1" real WI, etc.

[iron woodrow]

the iron period we speak of is puddled WI, as opposed to charcoal WI. Which began in the iron age, but i was referring to the end date of the puddled period. Which appears doesnt have an end, more a slow demise. Thank you for your very broad answer! :P

[Bob S]

some pics of old wi anchors in Duluth MN.

[ThomasPowers]

Just watched an on-line video about old shipwrecks on the Missouri river being exposed by the drought and all I was thinking was "look at all the wrought iron!"

http://fox2now.com/2012/08/10/the-steamboat-montana-resurfaces-in-the-missouri-river/?hpt=us_bn9

[iron woodrow]

onto it!

[ThomasPowers]

Now parts still attached are still "owned" but I was wondering about their remark about pieces rolling down the river and being no longer associative with a wreck...I've scrounged WI from beneath an old RR trestle before where they just dumped their trash into the river during maintenance.