Hello

So, I have two chunks of 1.5 inch diameter wought iron, very beat up (from the beach, both are corroded enough to show the woody grain extremely well, I pulled one apart a bit to make sure though) one is 6 inches long, the other is about four.

SO: I want to make something out of them, but before I jump in I need to know: Are there any ways in which the forging of wrought iron and mild steel differ?

Thanks eversomuch,
Archie

Very much so.
Wrought iron , especially old, unrefined or course grain iron will have a tendency to break apart if forged below a welding heat. Most old iron that was used was refined 2-4 times to solve this problem, but still, it has a fiber , and this can come apart if forged wrong. Another thing with iron is it wont burn 'like' mild steel, so you can work it at much hotter temps.
1" and a half is kinda big to pound out by hand, you might want to cut it in quarters and forge that.

Very much so.
Wrought iron , especially old, unrefined or course grain iron will have a tendency to break apart if forged below a welding heat. Most old iron that was used was refined 2-4 times to solve this problem, but still, it has a fiber , and this can come apart if forged wrong. Another thing with iron is it wont burn 'like' mild steel, so you can work it at much hotter temps.
1" and a half is kinda big to pound out by hand, you might want to cut it in quarters and forge that.

One of my coworkers gifted me a rod he pulled out of the river, and it will indeed fray like a rope if you start out at an orange heat. It's a lot of fun to forge if you can get it to white, though.

And working it *HOT* were a modern steel would be burning allows you to work much larger stock as it really really soft at that high heat.

Some WI found in water may have internal corrosion and be hard to work with. It never hurts to take it up to welding heat and re-consolidate the piece.

If it starts to fray---because you kept working it to cool, heat it up and forge weld it back to solid.

Some of the coarser lower grades make great furniture for knives, (pommel and guards) with the wood grain apperence after etching.