Recommendation? Finding wrought iron

Ryan Duran Geiger

Ryan Duran Geiger

Joined
Dec 31, 2020
Messages
18
Does anyone know of an online source of wrought iron? I tried buying through HighTempTools, but they're oos.

I tried finding some locally, but had no luck haha.

Thank you!
 
Last I heard, Old Globe Iron Works still had plenty of it. You didn't fill out your profile, so I don't know where to give local advice to you, buy many areas have local sources. Checking with the local/state Blacksmith assn. can often turn up a lot of it. Also, check with ABANA .
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Last I heard, Old Globe Iron Works still had plenty of it. You didn't fill out your profile, so I don't know where to give local advice to you, buy many areas have local sources. Checking with the local/state Blacksmith assn. can often turn up a lot of it. Also, check with ABANA .
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Thank you for the information. I tried ordering some from then, but they are out of stock.

I filled out my profile. I'm located in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Also, thank you for all of the information you have shared on the forums. I've used your posts for my reference for years.
 
Onlinemetals has wrought iron in various shapes.
The Baluster picket is a half inch square with a twisted section (about 3 feet length for $5).
 
Yes, be careful about the fact that most ornamental ironwork is generically called "wrought iron". Insist on seeing a cut-and-tear sample showing the fibrous grain, or other proof that it is real WI.
That is why I suggest getting with the local blacksmith group. They know the difference and hoard it. I have been to blacksmith hammer-ins where there have been thousands of pounds of WI in the tail-gate area.
 
I use wrought iron quite a bit in my knives. I generally get it in smaller lots from ebay because I'm not really in a position to break down larger/thicker pieces (no press here, sadly). There are generally at least a couple of retailers selling WI scrap.

I haven't tried ordering from Old Globe in quite a while. The last time I tried I was still up in Alaska and the shipping would have been insane. Might have to give it another shot.
 
Many years back I got half a tire rim from a big wrought iron wagon wheel. It was 3" wide and over 1/4" thich. I cut it into 5"x 3" sections and paired them with 3"x 2" x.25" pieces of an old buggy spring (probably 1080). I gave away a couple dozen to makers here as a Viking size hawk/axe kits. You bent the WI into a "U", flattened the ends to almost meet, inserted the 1080 an inch into the "U" as the bit, and welded them up solid. Then you drew the head out and shaped it as desired. Once done the edge was hardened and the whole thing etched deeply. The WI was lovely and looked ancient. Some of the long time members here may have got one of those kits.
 
Local classifieds are a great source of antique wrought,old gates and the like
Im cutting up an old gate atm that i found in a hedge,farmer didnt even know it was there and said i can pull it out,which was a half day job in itself but worth it
 
Have you done a cut-and-bend test on it yet? The majority of gates are ornamental iron, not wrought iron. They are made in blacksmith shops and hammered/twisted. etc. but the metal is mild steel or iron bar/rod, not WI.
If you cut half way through a piece of WI and bend it to 90° it will tear in a fibrous way like a green stick of wood.

Just for the history buffs - WI was made popular in the 1870's by the new process of "puddling" which created the billets the iron was worked from. At the same time, the Bessemer process was developed. They coincided for about 30 years, but by then the cheaper and better steel from the Bessemer crucible process had almost completely replaced the puddling ovens. Wrought irons rein was only for about 30 to 50 years. Wrought iron held on in small usage until it was completely abandoned in 1970. Unless an object is between 100 and 150 years old, it is likely not wrought iron. The good news is they produces millions of tons of it during that time. The bad news is much of that was melted to make new steel in the wars and building boom from the 1920's to the 1950's. What remains today is "found" wrought iron from old bridges, grain elevators, the remains of old farm wagons, ... and such.
 
Well, the puddling process was first developed in England in the 18th century. The original wrought iron was simply iron ore that was headed in a forge and worked with a hammer (you know, "wrought" ;) ) to remove impurities and produce a coherent shape. But what we think of as wrought iron today is absolutely the result of the puddling process.
 
The early wrought iron process you refer to is made by the the Bloomery Process. The iron was smelted and the slag and iron came out as a "bloom" of sponge iron, which is a porous mix of voids, slag, and iron. This had to be pounded into a more solid ingot and then pounded and folded to create a piece of solid wrought iron. It was not very homogenous.
The Puddling process was created where small lumps of iron, covered with slag, were dipped out of a molten mass called the "pig". These lumps of "pig iron" were then pounded and folded to distribute the carbon and create a better product. The silica slag carried out of the crucible was spread through the ingot as fibers as it was stretched and folded. This process produced a much more homogenous iron of better structural strength. The fibers of slag shown in a cut-and-bend test clearly identify this type of wrought iron. Some of the highest grad was worked so much that the fibers are very fine and barely visible. When etched this type barely shows any surface pattern. We knifemakers like the coarser stuff that shows a coarser grain when etched.

One of the best sources for fittings on knives is old anchor chain from the mid 1800's to the early 1900's. This stuff is wonderful ... but it comes really thick and requires considerable work and bigger equipment to straighten and work it down. A single link can give you years of WI, but a link can weight 20 pounds or more. Anchor chain sells at a premium.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Have you done a cut-and-bend test on it yet? The majority of gates are ornamental iron, not wrought iron. They are made in blacksmith shops and hammered/twisted. etc. but the metal is mild steel or iron bar/rod, not WI.
If you cut half way through a piece of WI and bend it to 90° it will tear in a fibrous way like a green stick of wood.

Just for the history buffs - WI was made popular in the 1870's by the new process of "puddling" which created the billets the iron was worked from. At the same time, the Bessemer process was developed. They coincided for about 30 years, but by then the cheaper and better steel from the Bessemer crucible process had almost completely replaced the puddling ovens. Wrought irons rein was only for about 30 to 50 years. Wrought iron held on in small usage until it was completely abandoned in 1970. Unless an object is between 100 and 150 years old, it is likely not wrought iron. The good news is they produces millions of tons of it during that time. The bad news is much of that was melted to make new steel in the wars and building boom from the 1920's to the 1950's. What remains today is "found" wrought iron from old bridges, grain elevators, the remains of old farm wagons, ... and such.
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I was going to do the cut and bend test but when i was cutting it up to get it out of the hedge u could see all the fibre running through it,might even be too dirty for welding but will work great as bolsters.all of it will get used anyway.i view it as a precious metal
 
My grandfather had a lot of old horse drawn farming equipment around the place as decoration. How much of that old stuff is wrought iron?

One could probably get a fair bit of it with a hacksaw and a flashlight late at night in a lot of old New England towns. Just keep the moter running :p
 
John mc c said:
I was going to do the cut and bend test but when i was cutting it up to get it out of the hedge u could see all the fibre running through it,might even be too dirty for welding but will work great as bolsters.all of it will get used anyway.i view it as a precious metal
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Wait, too dirty to weld? Is that a thing? It's always seemed that the dirtier the wrought the better it welded because of all the silica in the slag :)
 
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