Daswulf Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I have some found old iron that has heavy rust/ corrosion on it I broke off the scale to use it as art. The rr spikes have this nice strange inner core that is still iron/ steel. Well I found a larger chunk of whatever that had a good shape to it. Busted off the scale and heated it in the forge, got more scale off of it, and tried to flatten the bottom as a base for an art piece but it crumbled. First I was getting it duller red hot but got it closer to yellow when it crumbled and cracked when I hit it. Using a coal forge and was trying to let it soak, being a larger piece, so it would move easier. Sorry if this has been answered but I didn't find it. ( might be an idiot) is it because this could be iron and I got it too hot, or just too corroded, or ??? The piece was about 2" by 4" by 8 to 10" long. Irregular. I was mainly trying to upset the " bottom" part to make it stand on its own. I'm used to steel and I'm thinking it is iron and I got it too hot. No idea what the original piece was. The rectangular cut looking part showed up in the heat on its own before bad things happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Cast iron melts at a lower temp than mild steel but could be that if was " red short" I've seen pieces that would go to sparkling heat before they wouldn't fall apart. Really low grade cast Iron that has not been heat treated is really Iron with graphite flakes to my understanding. Hard but very brittle when heated up in the red-yellow range. I tried years ago a similar experiment with some broken antique cast and experienced something similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 It's really hard to say what it could be Charlotte. I pushed on anyway and it Really didn't want to weld. This thing is probably too brittle and ugly to try to sell ever but I'll keep it for personal memory and an experiment. It wanted to weld like the worst cast iron. But from what I can tell it isn't. It really "seemed" like iron but I could easily be wrong. Lol it was a found lump that I kayakeddown the river with. All in all I wouldn't try to forge or weld this stuff again. The old spike cores took weld tho. so. I don't know what it all means. Guessing maybe your right and it was cast. Yeah in pics. Way more weld then I'd ever want.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I really didn't think about your location but, it could be pig iron. In the old days the dross at the end of the pour still had a lot of Iron left in it. It was used for things like window weights, anchors blocks etc. I had the displeasure of trying to work one of the window weights years ago. It was full of all kinds of junk inclusions. I remember when I lived in PA you could come across odd bits like your find in a number of places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I'd guess pig iron too. Also used for ballast for boats/ships Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 I have heard of pig iron before but hadn't thought of it. Thanks for the input. Lesson learned. If I find an odd chunk again I'll just consider it likely unforgeable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZIG Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 The foundry used to pour out ,what they called a Pig,. But it was basically the slag and impurities that were left in the bull ladle. They would pour it out into a big mold ,much like a cupcake paper thing ,. But they would shovel in that black sand ,that they used to,make the molds, and pour this crud out into the pig mold,. Then stick a looped bar into it, so,when it cooled they could jerk it out of thr mold. Each one weighted about 600 pounds , I used 4 of them to anchor my floating duck blind ,in the river. I wondered what someone might think ,a couple 100 years from now , when the find them laying there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 haha who knows. when i was younger a friend and i used to walk along the river, once we found a chunk of pig iron that my friend and I thought was silver or something because it wasnt rusty and looked pretty much shiny still (young and dumb lol) any way we carried this 50# chunk a mile up the river bank only to be told it was pig iron. must have some nickle content in it or something. i still have it to this day haha. I keep it in the flower bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Looks more like slag than pig iron. (though slag can contain a lot of iron in it...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothBore Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 The only thing I have to add, ... is that Wrought Iron is often worked at temperatures that are HIGHER than those necessary for mild Steel. For that reason, it's unlikely that you could get it "too hot", ... without burning it up. ------------------------------------------------------------------ In the days when Iron was made in open Furnaces, and run out onto the ground to cool, ... the channel it ran into was called a "Sow", ... and the lateral channels coming off the Sow, were called "Pigs". Thus the name "Pig Iron", ... meaning simply, unprocessed Iron, straight from the Furnace. ( Anyone who's seen Pigs lined up to suckle a Sow, understands the origin of those names. ) ----------------------------------------------------------- The slag-rich Iron from a "Bloomery" rather than a "Furnace", was sometimes referred to as "Sponge Iron". . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 33 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: Looks more like slag than pig iron. (though slag can contain a lot of iron in it...) it's likely with all the steel work done in the pittsburgh area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsoldat Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 would the pigs be able to be broken, roasted and melted a again in a small bloomer furnace? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 You would either run it through a cupola to cast it as cast iron or a puddling furnace to convert it into wrought iron. A bloomery is for ore and pigs are already smelted. (also look up chaffery and finery furnaces) If your insanity is awe inspiring you could do your own bessemer/kelly converter. Kelly did his experiments using a barrel lined with refractory as I recall. Of all these the cupola is probably the easiest and cheapest to build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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