Finding Wrought Iron

Charles L

Charles L

Joined
Feb 20, 2008
Messages
138
I want to try some wrought iron but have no idea where to find any. I live in a small Texas town that has a LOT of junk antique shops with steel plows and misc. steel or iron stuff laying everywhere. What do you look for when trying to find old wrought iron? How do you tell it from old steel? Or, is it just better to buy it and where?
 
First read the recent post "Troubles with Wrought Iron". You can tell the difference with chemical analysis but that's not practical. So that leaves cutting and bending as shown in that thread. Some items are more likely to be WI than others. Plow blades will certainly not be .Some of the makers will give you a better idea exactly what to look for.Remember that you're looking for something about 100 years old or more.
 
If you are looking for wrought Iron the first place I look is old wagon wheel tires. These are not the steel spoke numbers but the one with old wooden spokes. Most but not all are wrought. I can usually tell just by looking at the metal. you can see the grainy nature of the material. Pieces of it have been pushed out of place. The best way to tell is cut part way through then bend it over. If it splits out all kinds of fibrous shards then you have wrought. Another way to tell in polish the end and etch. You should see the slag and fiber structure much like damascus. Once you figure out what you are looking for it is pretty easy to spot. Other items are old buggy axles, anchor chain, structural materials from the 1800's old gold mines used a bunch, large bolts etc. Good luck. I am on the way to the scrap yard today to see if they have any new stuff specifically WI.
 
Could Cast Iron be truned in to wrought? I'm thinkin with the abundance of old iron v8's engine blocks in scrap yards one could get alot of iron for a little to nothin...
 
No. Cast is a completely different animal. Wrought Iron was the waste product from the old steel manufacturing process. The stringy appearance is from the slag inclusions and impurities found in the iron. It was skimmed off the top and puddled then used in things like anchor chain and wagon wheel tires. Due to the newer processes this waste is no longer produced thus a lack of new material. There is a company in England that make wrought but it is pretty expensive and the last time I chaecke they required a 1Klb min order. Old material is still available if you look long enough.
 
Also if you over work wrought, IE forge weld it to remove impurities, you will loose the pattern. It is best to use it as is however you do take a chance of a big opening shoing up in the middle of your work piece.
 
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