Years ago I bought a good supply of the Pure Iron stock.  I know the gentleman who was bringing it to the US from Europe past away.  I am just wondering if anyone else is importing it, or if there is an equivalent material available?  I found it wonderful for decorative forgings like leaves and stems on my flowers.

I have used the company a time or two but I do not know if they ship Stateside.

 

http://www.pureiron.co.uk/price_list.htm

 

Wayne

Just as an FYI, you can buy 1006 and 1008 from some steel suppliers, which is very low carbon content. I have a small stash of 3/8" square 1006; forges like butter and welds easily. Unfortunately, it's quite pricey and approaches tool steel in cost. I was lucky to buy some scrap from a machine shop that made electrical contactor parts from the original material.

There's a guy (Anvilhill) on ebay that's advertising "pure iron" bars for sale.  He says it's only .02% carbon, but I've never tried any of it and couldn't vouch for it.

 

It's the only time I've ever seen "pure iron" listed for sale anywhere.

Another UK supplier is http://www.leggbrothers.co.uk/en/pure-iron/, they are part of a larger group who supply internationally http://www.allsteelstrading.co.uk/ and were looking to market and distribute in the US a couple of years ago, may be worth an email to see if they have outlets over there.

I prefer actual wrought iron to the pure iron that was available a number of years ago.  I asked one of the foremost colonial smiths about pure iron when it was available.  He said he liked the way it looked in a finished product, but it didn't have any structural integrity due to it's composition.

 

I really like the wrought available from these folks:

 

http://www.oldglobewood.com/real-wrought-iron-rods.html

 

It's at least double refined, and maybe triple refined.

I know about how soft Pure Iron is.  I only use it for small decorative objects.  It certainly forges easily.

• There is something like 1002 or .02% carbon..Bladesmiths were getting aldo to obtain that same stuff for their san mai..Its not really pure iron, just very low carbon content steel from what Ive read. The carbon content of the iron from the pureiron.com place was about .005% carbon..Big difference.. Im looking for some good pure iron myself and would love to have some in bar stock..We have been using anchor chain and structural iron and am about out..

Edited February 21, 201511 yr by KYBOY

Are you telling me that in all that STUFF you have out back, you DON'T have a Bessemer converter lying around?  You could just make your own low-C iron ...

I've used some 4 Ought iron, carbon content of .0000x; someone was selling some at Quad-State one year....

I've used some 4 Ought iron, carbon content of .0000x; someone was selling some at Quad-State one year....

​TP.  I have been to QS the last three years, and there was none to be found.  I am looking for material that is available now, not what was available years ago.

 

I don't recall it having been mentioned in this discussion and it was another term to search on. I don't know it's current availability status.  Sorry; I trying to help.

We get through a couple of hundred lbs of pure iron at my place of work each year.  We only ever get it in 3" square section maybe 3' long and I'm not sure what other sizes our supplier stocks.  I can find out who our supplier is and pass on the details if you wish, they may be willing to ship to the US though the cost would probably be prohibitive.

We get through a couple of hundred lbs of pure iron at my place of work each year.  We only ever get it in 3" square section maybe 3' long and I'm not sure what other sizes our supplier stocks.  I can find out who our supplier is and pass on the details if you wish, they may be willing to ship to the US though the cost would probably be prohibitive.

​Thanks.  I was hoping to find a supplier in the States.  I would be interested in what the cost is for stock in that size.  If you ever find out, could you post it? 

If I may make another suggestion: I don't know if the silicon content will cause issues with your use case; but electrical steel is very low in carbon and is found currently in the USA! (I would try for the lowest silicon version to help factor that out.)

"Electrical Steel

Electrical Steel is the kind of steel used in magnetic cores for transformers, generators, and motors. Electrical steel has minimum carbon content and more silica content." 

"For this reason, the carbon level is kept to 0.005 % or lower"

 

I have some laminations I picked up for use in billets; I have not tried working them separately.

I asked a few questions at work today and came up with some information.  Our supplier for pure iron has it available in a number of cross sections and it's even available in sheet!  I have a web address for them but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post it here so unless I hear otherwise, I wont.  However if anyone is interested PM me for it.

 

Anyway, the stuff we use at work is 75mm "gothic square" (square with rounded corners from the rolling mill), it comes in 1000mm lengths and is £250 per length + tax and postage.

 

Translation: Nominally 3" square, 3' 3" and $385 + tax and postage.

I asked a few questions at work today and came up with some information.  Our supplier for pure iron has it available in a number of cross sections and it's even available in sheet!  I have a web address for them but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post it here so unless I hear otherwise, I wont.  However if anyone is interested PM me for it.

 

Anyway, the stuff we use at work is 75mm "gothic square" (square with rounded corners from the rolling mill), it comes in 1000mm lengths and is £250 per length + tax and postage.

 

Translation: Nominally 3" square, 3' 3" and $385 + tax and postage.

​Thanks for the information.  Add in the cost of getting it across the pond and we are beginning to talk some serious money.

I always thought that  Armco was a brand name for pure iron and its main use was for transformer cores. So far so good, I have just looked up Armco and that all proved true. ARMCO was the American company that invented it…. I also thought it was a Swedish company….however in 1999 the European subsidiaries were taken over by a US company:-  http://www.aksteel.com  and they are in Ohio so you should be able to source it readily.

I did buy some from Don Barker at one time but did not really find a use for it…I think for hand forging and fire welding it may have some advantage, for power hammer work it does not really have much effect.

Alan

Edited February 28, 201511 yr by Alan Evans

Question - when you say this pure iron is soft and has no structural strength, does that mean it's only good for making decorative leaves... or could it be used as the body of an axe or hatchet?  Would it deform from chopping wood?

The stuff that I used was certainly structurally strong, it just required slightly less force to move it when forging at similar temperature. Just picking a bit up and trying to bend it cold in you hands you would be hard pressed to tell it from mild steel. I did not get around to a burn test, but I assumed that it could be taken up to a higher temperature than mild steel without becoming a sparkler, and therefore forming speed would gain from that like wrought iron but without the concomitant low temperature limit of WI.

Alan

We use pure iron at work because we have found it has very similar structural properties to wrought iron, at least for our purposes.  We use it for repairing or modifying wrought iron parts that have to deal with high stresses (bell clappers), so in that regard I would assume it would be fine to use for the body of an axe or anything that you'd use wrought iron for really, that's not to say that other steels wouldn't do the job just as well or better though!

Most of the work I have done with Pure Iron has been with smaller sizes(1/2" or 3/8"), and I have found it to be very soft and easily worked both hot and cold.  I do not think you would want to make an axe or any other striking tools with PI as the body.  You would have to make the area around the handle thicker to resist deformation, making the tool much heavier.  For that use, I would stick to wrought or steel.

Years ago I bought a good supply of the Pure Iron stock.  I know the gentleman who was bringing it to the US from Europe past away.  I am just wondering if anyone else is importing it, or if there is an equivalent material available?  I found it wonderful for decorative forgings like leaves and stems on my flowers.

​Did you have any luck sourcing iron from http://www.aksteel.com ?

Alan