Is this wrought

[Pault17]

I have to warn you all, I am long winded at times.

Many moons ago I posted that my father in law was clearing his woods out and gave me all the metal I wanted to take. I managed to scrounge a little 75 lb anvil (the one that started my spiralling additiction) along with a little 40 lb post vice. We also pulled out the remains of an old manure spreader. I managed to get all the spokes from several rims, the rims and all of the axles. I still have most of the spokes, half of the axles, and all of the rims. I brought a short chunk of one of the rims in to our local chapter meeting to "show and tell" and see if anybody could identify the material. One guy did take the piece (I gave it to him - about 10 inches) and never mentioned anything to me about it. I showed another piece to a different guy (he is a 2nd or thrd generation locksmith/machinist/blacksmith). He cut into it and broke it in half and said "mild steel'. I took it home and was bummed, but still added it to my mini scrap pile.

At the last chapter meeting I attended, the guy I gave the piece to showed everybody the bar of wrought he was working around with that he got "from some guy he met a few months ago". He had drawn it into a bar about 2 inches by 2/4 inches. You could definitely see the fiber in one section of it.

Today, I started cleaning the pile up to hide the "monster" on the side of the house. Part of my cleanup was to cut the rest of the rims into more manageable chunks (all of the pieces are between 27 and 31 inches long. 2.75 to 3 inches wide, by .5 inches thick). The last piece I cut, I did not cut all the way through and fatigued it in half.



This is what I saw:


My question, to those of you who are more experienced than I, is, is this wrought?



This is what I have left:

A total of 19.5 feet

[Robert Mayo]

I would say yes it is wrought iron by the strands left when bent and broken. Here is a photo of some i got on fathers day.

Bob

[nett]

I was told that if you drill a hole through wrought iron, the shavings will be chipped rather than curly strands that are produced from mild steel. Drill a hole for the heck of it and let me know.

[rthibeau]

This is wrought iron in round bar Actual Wrought Iron cut and broken open - Blacksmith Photo Gallery
I would say your piece is wrought iron as well.

[markb]

Heres an example

Edited June 22, 2008 by markb

[ThomasPowers]

It's wrought iron---at least that piece. Wagon tyres could be of different materials on a per tire basis if one or more had been replaced over the life of the wagon.

Good Score and if you can't use it there are folks who would be happy to trade/buy it from you.

Try the grinding test as WI produces a differnt spark than mild steel when ground.

[fat pete]

a friend of mine gave me some metal from a water tower it was all sheared up into 10x12 pieces...evidently it was sawed up plates that made up the water tank....heated and beat it was really different spongy kinda...then i got some stuff from a guy that claims its .05 carbon and it is like wrougt...they did beat the same although the water tower left a really funky surface after it was cleaned up were as the low carbon stuff looked better finished..... so i would say heat some up and see.....u may wanna spark test it too

[Dave Hammer]

I agree with Thomas. That piece is definitely wrought. You will have to check each piece to know. Although my experience supports most tires are wrought, some are not. Wrought quality varies a lot too, most tires are poor wrought (not very refined). Many folks say you can refine it by working at welding heat, but I haven't had much good luck when I try that (possibly because I don't work it hot enough?). I have made hundreds of leaves from tire wrought iron that, when etched (and not), are very attractive. In fact, if you are going to etch for effect, less refined wrought is more desirable (assuming it is refined enough to be forged into the object you want in the first place).