I have a chance to pick up a few wagon wheel tires and was wondering if they are generally made of wrought iron. He will not let me cut them to check the grain unless I buy them.

Most I have found in AR, OK, OH, NM have been wrought iron; generally very low grade wrought iron and I have been able to detect the lineations on their surface---especially the inner surfaces by eye not needing to cut.

I tend to find them very cheap or even free and so do not counsel paying "antique" prices for them. Also one tyre is quite a lot of WI for a smith not into doing historical reproductions at a high authenticity level. Just for knife fittings a typical tyre will last you years!

Thanks Thomas I will look for the grain on the inside. I was looking for the weld but could not find them on any of the tires. He was wanting $10 each ill try to talk him down to $5

Thanks Thomas I will look for the grain on the inside. I was looking for the weld but could not find them on any of the tires. He was wanting $10 each ill try to talk him down to $5

To be clear. The wagon wheels that are around the wooden wheel are typically wrought iron. The all metal old wagon wheels are not wrought.
$10.00 is a good price. Our only local scrap yard raised the prices for the wagon wheels after someone mentioned to them that they were wrought iron.... :( The bigger wheels cost close to $100 now.

I just got a wheel from a guy who had it in his front yard and the wood finally rotted away. I just had to haul away all the old wood too! :D

Couple of weeks ago the fellow at the trash transfer station gave me a tyre and then right next door at the scrap yard I bought another for $5.

$10 is not a bad price even for steel of that size. Lots of stuff was made of wagon tyre as it was a common scrap item back in the day---door hinges, candelabra, wagon fittings, tools, etc.

I have 4ea 5 foot diameter WI wheel that were given to me by a friend. He wants me to make hinges for a log cabin he is going to make. I also have 2ea 6 foot wheels. Oh lucky me!

I bought 4 of them out in ABQ, NM 2yrs ago and paid $4.00 each, they are WI. 2 months ago I bought 6 or 7 more for $5.00 each. These were at an estate sale and they had sold several others at $12.00ea. Told the guy running the "junk" section of the sale that I would take all of them for the 5 bucks ea., since it was the last day of a 4 day sale he was glad to be rid of them.

We have used a lot of wagon tire in the past but always had to buy them online..Sleds were used heavily here in the mountains. Regular wagons were less common..They dont come up near as often as in other places..

Fluid I do realize the difference these are part of a wagon in a front yard that has finally rotted and left the tires leaning against the wagon and the wooden spokes in the ground. I'll go pick them up tommorow.

Heck, if mailing wasn't such a pain, I'd offer to take one or two off your hands. I don't ever see wagon tires for sale around here unless they are "antiques" and priced accordingly. I just don't care to spend $30+ for one!

You got a great deal, and even that old wood could be repurposed into bases for lamps or handles if it isn't too rotted. That weathered look is mighty hard to duplicate.

I think my most fun find was in old town Columbus OH where I lived for 15 years. I was walking down the alleyway from our house to the local school and noticed that a Florist shop had finally changed out their front wind display and junked the wagon tyre that had as part of it for several years. So I pulled it out of their dumpster and rolled it a block down to my place...

I stopped by after work today and ended up getting 2 tires for a railroad spike bottle opener

I love working with wrought iron. Most of what I use is from the tires on wooden wheels. Even in it's poorest form, great things can be made... My latest efforts are candle stick holders. This blue candle is four inches in diameter...

Eric---sounds like you are learning the tricks!

David, I have to ask: was the forging with partial delamination done on purpose to get that lovely surface texture or was it a "happy accident" the first time?

David, I have to ask: was the forging with partial delamination done on purpose to get that lovely surface texture or was it a "happy accident" the first time?

Thomas....

I knew there would be some, but I didn't expect quite as much delamination as occurred. The extent of delamination was not evident as illustrated in the photos before the piece was etched in an acid bath for an extended time.

Although being able to make heavy leaves (etched) with wrought iron was my end goal, my first experience making these large leaves was using 1/2 inch by 2 inch mild steel bar. The photos with this post are the results of forging the basic shape, then using a press with simple tooling made for the purpose of doing the indents (after which the leaf was shaped in a swage).

After I liked the mild steel results (lots in the scrape pile), the wrought iron project was made using a section of a wheel tire 1/2 inch by 1 5/8th inch (probably about 14 inches long).

Thanks for the details!

Thanks for the details Dave, I've sponged every one. Nice leaves and stems, they're a good weight for architectural or large displays.

Frosty The Lucky.

Wrought iron belt buckle showing interesting texture with a "knothole." This was given to me by iron artist, Glen Gardner, in 1978.

Very nice Frank; I may have to make my own variation on that. Were the fastenings brazed in?

Yes, the fastenings were brazed into drilled, blind holes.