Andrew Martin Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 I picked up this spike the other day and noticed it was smaller than a standard spike. I vaguely recalled reading somewhere that WI spikes are smaller than mild steel ones, but the rust pattern on this spike didn't scream wrought iron. Anyway, did a bend test today and it does seem to peel instead of break. Having little experience in identifying wrought, I thought I would ask those of you who work a lot of wrought for a positive id. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wroughton Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 That's WI. I'd do some more looking around. I'm not sure what and when they were used but the ones I find are smaller than the sizes used commonly today. Sometimes even the tiny mining rail spikes. In the 1800's train cars and locomotives weren't as big as they are now and there were lots of horse drawn carts on rail spurs for minor to and fro work so they didn't need large gauge rail. Now take some spring and other high carbon steel with the WI and do a spark test to familiarize yourself. There's a dramatic difference in the sparking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Martin Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 Haven't got access to a grinder (yet), or I would have done that first. That's next on the list though! Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 I found about 100 wrought iron spikes on a neighbor's recently bulldozed area. No metal dectector, just lying on top. Makes me wonder how many others are around this area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 My front property line runs along the middle of a long abandoned 1800s railroad line. The line is a county road and every time they would grade it a dozen or so spikes would surface and we picked them up to avoid flat tires. The county paved the road 15 years ago ending our spike collecting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 A friend of mine lives outside Boston. They recently did a rail-to-trail conversion of an abandoned rail line, and she picked up a LOT of spikes, pandrol clips, track anchors, etc and passed them on to me. It was interesting to see the progression of spikes from WI to very modern steel, all from the line being rebuilt in the same place so many times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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