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I Forge Iron

Know a website to order bar stock from?


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I'm buying the wrought Iron at speedymetals.com it's really cheap. for a lot of iron. I checked their ebay page, they don't have any iron for sale.


I just looked and didn't see any wrought iron, turned up no results on a search as well. You might want to double check before you order John.

If they do have wrought on the page you pull up, please post THAT URL, I'd like to find a supplier of small quantities of wrought.

Axles make fine hammers, it's a very forgiving steel so you don't have to get your heat treatment perfect.

Frosty
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I was getting all excited about wrought iron for a minute there. I've worked with it in a very limited context (made an s-hook, which turned out pretty well, and two chain links, one of which seems to have walked off on its own), and it is some neat stuff, though harder to work with than 1018 by a long shot.

I take it that modern cast iron ain't very different from the old stuff? I've always been tempted to try forging some just to see how it behaves (poorly).

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I spent the afternoon at a scrap yard. got about 75# at .40/# got 2 coil springs some 8' of 6x6 steel tube couple of nice steel plates bout an 1/8 x8x10, great for clamping. spent 31 bux. need some 3/th plate they had plenty of it but cutting would have been expensive...tomorrow there is one that is set up to cut....
there is more stuff layin around ....

FP

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Cast iron crumbles like cottage cheese at low forging heats and *splashes* at high forging heats.

Real Wrought Iron will "fray" into fibers at low forging heats and at high forging heats you can tie knots in it, forge welds almost disappear, etc.

"The Real Wrought Iron Co, LTD" sells remanufacutured WI; but almost all you can find is out of the scrap stream as the last factory that was commercially producing it closed down in the 70's and was donated to the Blist Hill Museum in England

The stuff that stores sell as "wrought iron" nowdays is all made from mild steel and not Wrought Iron---just like bed and bath "linens" are all made from cotton nowdays; they *used* to be made of linen and the name stuck.

But if you are doing high grade historical work you need to use the same material they used. Wrought iron was *the* blacksmith's material from the begining of the iron age up until the latter half of the 19th century when the Bessemer converter started making cheap mild steel.

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1045 is a good choice for hammers and other blacksmithing tools.

I see that you are in Wisconsin. I am in southeast MN about 40 miles west of LaCrosse. I have some old jackhammer points that are 1045. If you are interested and aren't too far let me know.

Bob

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