Several questions about wrought iron

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Grayzer86

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Jan 15, 2012
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Hey guys, i have done some searching as far as how to identify wrought iron and common sources but have a few questions still. I read that old wagon wheels sometimes had a wrought wear ring on them if they were old enough, and remembered we had some of those rings behind the old outhouse at our cabin. Went out to my cabin today with a saw and did the break test, and sure enough they seem to be WI. After cutting part way through and breaking the rest off with a hammer it shows a fibrous, almost stringy grain. All rings are about 1/2 inch think and 3 inches wide, and i have 6 rings. Two are about 36 inches in diameter and 4 are between 44 and 48 i would guess without measuring. My question is does it need any type of annealing before i work it, I know its not a high carbon or hardening steel but thought i should ask. Also when guys etch to show the grain or fibre look, are they using Ferric like you would for damascus? Hopefully i can use it for guards or accent pieces because i have roughly 70 feet of 1/2 x 3 stock. May even try some san mai on the thinner pieces and shim rings that were used to tighten the fit to the old wood rim. These pieces would be around 3/32 i would think.
 
Sweet! Sounds like a nice score. I have wrought from wagon wheels and from anchor chain. Chuck Richards and I made a sanmai billtet with a layer of nickel tape between the wrought outer pieces and inner 1084 core.

You could make hawk heads and forge weld in a tool steel bit. Trade pieces to other makers for stuff like handle material.

I personally love the look of etched wrought. I'm working on two hidden tang knives and one through tang all with wrought guards and fittings. Be sure to share pics when you make something from it!!

Again, congrats!
 
Very good idea with the hawk heads. I am not set up to forge yet but hope to be soon. I will have to give it a try once i am set up, and considering the amount i have, as well as what else i could get if i wanted, i will have more than enough to experiment with. When you etch your wrought are you just using the same strength ferric as you would use to etch damascus? Or should i be going stronger or weaker?
 
I use the same Ferric Chloride for WI that I do for everything else. Leave it in for about 10 minutes or longer to get the grain to show.
 
Also after etching,soak it down with windex to nuetralize the acid,warm it up with a propane tourch to get rid of the moister,then soak it in oil for a day.This will keep the rust from crawling from the inside out.

Stan
 
true wrought needs to be forged at a bright yellow heat, if you work it at blade steel temperatures it will kind of crumble. I make medieval blade reproductions with a wrought spine forgewelded to a steel edge, and it is kind of tricky because the working temps of the wrought are very close to overheating the steel, and the thermal expansion characteristics are not well matched

-Page
 
I see you're in Saskatchewan.

I've seen some WI for sale that was said to be from a grainary that was torn down.

Apparently they were constructed of wood laminations with WI rods running for reinforcement.

Keep your eyes peeled for things like that if they are tearing anything down near you and you may find lots more.
 
Thank you for the info Count. My friend has a very old grain elevator on their property that will be torn down so i will be inspecting that forsure as well. The elevator 7 miles from my house was the oldest in Saskatchewan and i believe the oldest or second oldest one still standing in Canada. I would imagine it was right full of WI, but it burned down 2 years ago. They found out it was arson and the 20-something guy who did it got 3 years in jail. Strange thing is he was not even from the area. It was a real waste of a historical site, and likely a huge amount of WI that got hauled away in dump trucks. Anyway thanks for the advice everyone, i will see how this goes, and i will give it a shot with the ferric i use for hamons and damascus. Thanks again.
 
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