Pig iron I guesslong

[Sprig1]

Hi all I have got some chunks of iron and would like some help identifying them. They came from northwest Connecticut. My friend was digging with an excavator and found them. I know a furnace was on the property from a long time ago and a blacksmith shop.They where going to get scrapped so I brought them home. Just wondering how they where used and what type of steel came out of them. I am not going to try to melt them down I don't have the experience or knowledge or time right now. One is about three feet long the other two feet long maybe three inches wide. thanks Chris 

[arkie]

With that age and location, it might be wrought iron or cast iron.  One way to help ID them would be to cut a piece off, say, less than an inch thick and a few inches long.  Heat to about yellow hot.  Hammer hard.  If it's cast iron (pig iron), it probably will break or shatter.  If it's wrought, it will move like hot iron and be forgeable.  Also, a thinner piece, cut half way through, when bent will have fibrous stringers if it's wrought iron.  Cast will break and have a crystalline structure.

[Sprig1]

Thanks Arkie for the reply. Will give it a go and see what happens. Sorry all about messing up the title

[DSW]

I've seen a lot of old rough cast window sash weights that look a lot like that. Many times the ends that had a hole for the sash strings/chains will have broken off.  Bottom ends of the sash weights were often broken off or cut to adjust the weight to match that of the sash of the window.

I've come across a ton of them diving ship wrecks off Jersey. The heavy weights with holes in them make natural weights for marking buoys. Guys tie them to rope or string and attach them to milk jugs and toss them over the side when the bottom sounder shows they are over the wreck. Then they  move off the wreck out into the sand up wind and anchor and allow them selves to drift back over the wreck so they can dive or fish.  When they go to pull up the buoy though it often gets caught up in the wreckage and they loose the weights. As they are cheap and plentiful, most don't care if they get lost. Many boats will have several buoys on deck with the jugs marked for the length of line on them so they know which one to toss out based on what the bottom sounder tells them the depth is.