48willys Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 The other day I was out rideing around and found two old wooden silos that had fell down but all the hoops are still there.Would they be made of wrought?:cool: Looking at the foundations I'm thinking around 100 years old,but thats just a guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Mayo Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Chances are it is wrought iron but the only way to tell for sure is to get a piece and check it out by cutting about 3/4 of the way through it and bending it to see if it is fiberous and layered. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Yes, most likely they are wrought iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
civilwarblacksmith Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Hey that's a Great find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
48willys Posted February 1, 2009 Author Share Posted February 1, 2009 Thank's!I'm still trying to find out who owns them though,there aren't any house's close by so it might be some time before I can get a sample. I'll let you all know what I find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
48willys Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 Well,I talked to the guy last night and the first price he shot out was a $100 a hoop!To me that sounds really high,but then I don't know what the going price for wrought is.I read somewhere that it can go for $1-2.00 a pound depending on the condition and quality but this stuff has been in the weather for some time so...... what do you all think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 how big is the hoop? Must be a hundred pound ring? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
48willys Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 I'm not sure,it looks like it was a good size silo.They might be a hundred pounds,I didn't really look at them to well.I'm thinking of offering him less for just one and see if it's even wrought,or it might be so pitted it could be hard to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 look for the odvious ( Wood grain) in the steel or grind in it and looks for the silica? If its wrought and that big its gotta be worth 100 bucks. Go snach it before someone else:rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tech413 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Wow, I didn't know it was worth that much. Everyone around here just scraps the rings off old silos, guess I'll have to keep my eyes open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Dean Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I have read, I believe it was on this forum, that wrought is more in the $6-7.00 p/lb range. $1-2.00 would be cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Thompson Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Old wrought iron came in several grades according to how refined the grain structure was. Something like these hoops would have been made down to a price and as no significant work was to be done on them (forging, heavy bending etc.) they would have been the cheapest available. Wrought iron, like most other metals hardens with age (precipitation) and the broken edges will appear crystalline, in this state it is not really usable and needs to be reforged at a very high temp into stock. Scrap metal is scrap metal... Who else is going to buy it? Offer him a bottle of scotch (or the US equivalent) and let him stew for a few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Nakkela Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I have some 95 year old hoops from a wood stave pipe. they are one half inch round. They are not Wrought iron, probably Bessemer steel and they are red short. Once the Bessemer process was developed it quickly replaced bloomeries. Warren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 There has been a gentleman selling wrought iron at Quad-State for under $2 a pound for over 10 years now. Actually Bessemer steel took over from puddled wrought iron; bloomeries were really out of business several centuries before that as the blast furnace and the indirect process took over from bloomeries. Now modern experimenters often use the bloomery process as it's fairly easy to do on a small scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvillain Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I would keep in mind that scrap prices are way down from what they were early last summer. Also in my opinion a nice new straight piece of HR is better for most forging. I collected a pretty good supply of wrought iron years ago when I heard that it was easier to forge weld. Well, yes it may be, in the respect that you can get it hotter before it burns up. The flip side of that is that you also need to heat it to very near welding heat for every other operation also. Its great to work with the old stuff, it gave me more respect for the eons of smithing that was done with it. I don't think you should have to give a great premium for it. Another source of nice size wrought iron is the tie rods in old cast iron radiators. Good Luck,Anvillain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Pigott Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I am working on a project reproducing, from an old photograph, an 800 foot wrought iron fence. We purchased several tons of old ship anchor chain re-rolled into 1"round, 1-1/2" round and 1"x3" flat bar from Chris Topp. This is a high grade iron that can actually be worked at much less than a welding temp without splitting, well very little splitting. It is expensive. I don't have the figures by the pound but by the foot it cost us $25 for the 1', $35 for the 1-1/2 and $75 for the flat bar. We have an armed guard over the drops. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nett Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I assume the guards are armed with an ironwood billy clubs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob S Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I would keep in mind that scrap prices are way down from what they were early last summer. Also in my opinion a nice new straight piece of HR is better for most forging. I collected a pretty good supply of wrought iron years ago when I heard that it was easier to forge weld. Well, yes it may be, in the respect that you can get it hotter before it burns up. The flip side of that is that you also need to heat it to very near welding heat for every other operation also. Its great to work with the old stuff, it gave me more respect for the eons of smithing that was done with it. I don't think you should have to give a great premium for it. Another source of nice size wrought iron is the tie rods in old cast iron radiators. Good Luck,Anvillain Good advice here Anvillain. Use your steel budget for new straight stock. You could buy 1018 cheaper than this guy wants for silo rings and be waaay ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvillain Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Hello Nett: I was interested in your wood turnings in the picture. They are are beautiful. Is ironwood a desirable wood for this. and is this ironwood in the pictures? I have an abundance, (or a plague) of ironwood. In fact here in Illinois part of my prescribed forestry program on a place I have involves cutting ironwood, poplar, Black locust in order to permit more hardwood growth like oak, maple, hickory. Oh also some wet areas are literally overgrown with American Hornbeam. It has a very ridged, but smooth texture. A very interesting looking tree, but I don't know of any demand for it, except some use as an ornamental. Anvillain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I don't know about American Hornbeam, but here in the UK, Hornbeam was a preferred wood for making an anvil stump base Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvillain Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I don't know how large these hornbeam will get. The biggest one I have is about 8" dia. I think the most desirable stump here is sweetgum. I really messed up a few years back. Someone brought me some from a tree trimming job, thinking I could use it for firewood. I have a hydraulic splitter, but it wouldn't split that. And it was also unseasoned. I took it to the recycle yard run by the city. But at the time I didn't know what it was. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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