I just came across some wrought iron bar probably 4" thick, is this of any value?

yup, sure is

4"x4"x????  what grade WI?  there is a market for real wrought iron but not an extremely wide and deep one.

 

How much you got? And what do you want for it?

It's. 4" round bar, as far as grade I have no clue looks like fine grain and very shiny at the break. I happen to work at a scrap yard and only noticed this because a piece came in broken. I believe they are some sort of tie bolts from a farm and they are about 15' or 20' long and the the diameter is rough didn't actually measure. It.

I am stumped as to what on a farm would use 4" round bar in long lengths.  Sound more like some kind of industrial application.  Anybody else have a clue what these could have come from?

Ill check closer tomorrow but I know at least one end is threaded. I have no clue either. I've never seen anything like it.

Man, I'd love to get my hands on some of that!

Cut it up and bring chunks to the NEB spring meet in June!

even the industrial silos at the Globe Mills only used 1.5" rod.  Please measure the diameter and a picture of the break would be GREAT!

 

I once was given a bit over 100' of real WI 1" rod that had been used to mend a cistern cracked in the 1906 quakes in Socorro NM.  They had one end threaded and the other was a hook

I will try to post a pic in the morning. I really don't know that much about wrought iron and being some what new to blacksmithing I have never tried to work it but I'm thinking I should!

Heavy bolts like that would likely have tied round a huge industrial chimney!  The old Carnation plant in Nampa Idaho gave the scrap yard, where I worked at the time, some that were about 2 1/2" diameter if I remember correctly.  They came off of a brick chimney that had been maybe 150' tall.  The giant articulated loaders, that we used to move around bales of crushed cars, had all they could do to drag some of those around!

This is roughly 3.25". The pictures aren't that great, the last pic was cut with a shear so it doesn't show the grain that well.

Sorry the first picture was the one cut with this shear

so about 33 pounds a foot for 3.5" rod and will fit in a USPS flat rate box.  Do you have an efficient method of cutting it?

Yea I have chop saw

You're sitting on good money!

 

Wrought iron in that size is almost unheard of these days.  If I had the money, I'd buy a foot from you.  Not sure what I'd do with it, but better to have it than not!

 

Sell it in foot-long chunks and set a price for your time + shipping....  You could make a few dollars or even offer it for trade on stuff you need.

 

I'd recommend sending some to experienced smiths so you can get their feedback/endorsement for the quality.  

Im sure some "wrought iron smith" (of which most don't actually use wrought) would love to have some... and me

 

how much per pound/per foot? XD

I think if you priced it right you could make some real money on that stuff.  I certainly wouldn't just give it away.  Wrought in that size would be very valuable many  different of sorts of smiths.   With a good power hammer that material could be forged down to any dimension.  People doing restoration work would love  it.

Any idea what it might be worth per pound?

Well the bottom level for WI seems to be about US$1 a pound.  In more easily worked sizes I've seen it go for up to $6 per pound---but I've always considered that excessive as I usually buy mine at 20 cents a pound at the scrap yard.  Might check out places like http://www.oldglobewood.com/real-wrought-iron.html  to see how they are pricing it  As I recall they were starting out high for the small stuff and getting a lot cheaper for the big stuff.

 

I don't consider a chop saw as "efficient" for cutting 3.5" rod; a horizontal bandsaw where you could set it and leave it and it would turn itself off at the end of the cut is efficient!

 

I might be interested in a chunk to make some early medieval anvils from depending on price.

Price-wise, I wouldn't get too crazy.  While $6/lb doesn't sound too bad, think about how much just a foot of it weighs.  $180 per foot, roughly, plus shipping.... you're now in the prohibitive range for 70% of the customer pool.  Yea, everybody would like to have a piece, but hardly anybody can afford a piece.

 

Not saying it's not worth it, though.  You just don't see wrought iron in 3" bars anymore, and rare stuff is always expensive.

Why I said the market was neither deep nor wide---not a lot of people using real wrought and that's a size that cuts most of them off and not a lot of deep pockets.  At $180 I'd forge weld up a stack of smaller stuff and get bragging rights for doing it thataway too!

 

As for why it was on the farm---maybe picked up to weight implements and was probably originally from the *old* industrial base in the NE USA.

Maybe someone just really liked wrought iron? I dun got the most uh dem wrodd iyerns. How much you got billy Jim John d'gee Mc'sanders?

Spark test it. Might be shear? Might explain provenance, and would increase the value.

I'm trying to work out a deal at a local shop, depending on what happens I can probably post a price. They told me it was single refined wrought if that helps.

Single-refined is nice stuff.  Good to work with and plenty of character for folks wanting to expose the "grain" in a guard, bolster, etc.