Wrought Iron availability and price

kuraki

kuraki

Fimbulvetr Knifeworks
Joined
Jun 17, 2016
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2 hours from me there's a pile of wrought iron. It's $5.20/lb.

I haven't really bought any other than a chain link from HighTempTools ($5.95/lb plus shipping), all the rest I have has been given to me or found, so I haven't really looked for it or priced it. I have however fallen in love with it, and since it's no longer being made I would like to stock up on it.

Is $5.20/lb (all 5/8" round bar) a "buy it cheap stack it deep" price?
 
No. $1-2 a lb is.


That's retail price at a minimum. Yes, wrought iron is a bit of a commodity that isn't being made anymore, but there's still tons and tons of it laying around, or in bays and shipyards. Other than smiths, nobody needs or wants it, and it's worth scrap iron price to the rest of the world.
 
To add, I'm not saying it's not worth that price, especially if it's particularly clean, nice bar, with whatever characteristics you want, get a bit. I'd consider flat stock/plate to be significantly more valuable personally, and if you're gonna forge it anyway, larger diameter anchor chain is my preference.

Last time I bought 2"+ diameter chain that gives great etched figure for $1 a lb. Maybe 5 years ago? Yeah I probably should have bought all I could from the guy, but every year or two I hear about more in the $1-3 range.
 
kuraki said:
Thank you. I will pass then.
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I think even Aldo had some a couple years ago for like $3 a lb? I may be misremembering the price, but I recall it wasn't bad, and it was square bar maybe?

I need to stock up on some more wrought soon, I'll put some feelers out and see what I can find, and if you're interested in stocking up a bit yourself, I'll be happy to send some your way when I find something good.
 
javand said:
No. $1-2 a lb is.


That's retail price at a minimum. Yes, wrought iron is a bit of a commodity that isn't being made anymore, but there's still tons and tons of it laying around, or in bays and shipyards. Other than smiths, nobody needs or wants it, and it's worth scrap iron price to the rest of the world.
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Maybe, but how much of it is close to you ?

Maybe it's cheap half a country away, but shipping is $$$

If you like it, it's close and you have the cash, buy it.
It's not like ivory or scarce wood they are likely to ban.

Plus you still have the option to chew down the price

It's better to be looking at it than looking for it.
 
Just as a reference, the Old Globe Elevator WI sells for a bit under $4 a pound. Most folks consider it on the higher price side. have picked up big anchor links for less than a buck a pound. That said, if it is flat, clean, and good grade (nice and fibrous), then $4-5 a pound isn't terrible.
 
This is old globe I'm talking about.

It's over $8 if you ship it. They wouldn't talk price with me outside their eBay listing.
 
kuraki said:
This is old globe I'm talking about.

It's over $8 if you ship it. They wouldn't talk price with me outside their eBay listing.
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Well, if you contacted them through ebay, they're sort of obligated by ebay policy to not communicate directly. If they're close by, you may wanna just drive over and shoot the shit with them.


I'll admit also, my perspective is skewed. If I buy wrought, unless it's really flat, clean, and has good etched pattern, as Stacey described (where yes, I may be willing to pay $4-5 a lb for nice flat stock that I can just use without having to forge it), I expect to get it cheap, but I also expect to either pick it up, in 1000lb increments, or have it shipped freight, which works out to be significantly cheaper than shipping small amounts, when you factor freight cost vs price per lb.
 
kuraki said:
This is old globe I'm talking about.
It's over $8 if you ship it. They wouldn't talk price with me outside their eBay listing.
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If you have it sent via USPS in a flat rate box then weight doesn't matter as long as you stay under 80 lbs.
 
Burl Source said:
If you have it sent via USPS in a flat rate box then weight doesn't matter as long as you stay under 80 lbs.
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That's true, however much of what you're paying for at retail price isn't just shipping, it's processing. Cutting up large diameter anchor chain for instance, to even fit in a flat rate box, is time consuming, and not the easiest task. It's also trick to get those chunks into a flat rate box in such a way that the box doesn't get destroyed.

Yeah, flat stock isn't that bad, but it's significantly more rare material. Most of this stuff is large chain, or big wagon wheel rims and such. I'd say that $5-6 retail for stuff like that isn't outrageous. From a "find a good deal and buy a bunch standpoint" however, you're gonna find people much more interested to sell cheap when you say "I'm coming to load up 1000lbs" or strap all of it to a pallet and ship it to me freight.

Last time I got over 1000lbs shipped for around $200 freight, think I paid $1 a lb for the wrought. Previously I had the guy cutting it up and shipping it in flat rate boxes, but after a few he wasn't willing to process it anymore even for $3 a lb plus shipping, and half the boxes arrived busted open, even with some elaborate packaging.

Bear in mind that if you do buy large chain or other items, there may be some loss in weight from residual components, large diameter anchor chain for example, usually has a cast iron spacer in the middle of the links, depending on the chain, this can add up to quite a lot of weight overall, although you can scrap the cast iron and recoup a little, but factor that in to your PPP (price per pound) formula.
 
WI is the sort of stuff I like to scrounge and find, as wagon wheels, pioneer iron, whatever... if you have a scrap yard that will let you in, a hunt around will turn stuff up pretty often. I've never bought it and have enough for my limited needs. Do forge some, etch it, etc to see what you have before buying much I'd say. I've had WI that was terrible to work with and did not etch out pretty, other stuff that was just awesome on both counts...
 
kuraki said:
Next you'll tell me about all of the pre-86 transferable M16s you bought for $600 and the crates of South African 7.62x51 surplus you stacked up for $80 ea. :oops:
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No, I missed that. But most of what I have was bought years ago, so I have some value for sure.
 
jdm61 said:
How many USPS carriers did you turn into mortal enemies with Priority Mail packages full of round bar? :D But seriously, how much of that stuff did you sell?
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Shipped a bit over 20,000 lbs out of a tiny one room PO in Success Mo. I had to limit it to no more than four boxes per day because the rural carrier that picked up the mail was complaining about wearing out his truck. :)
 
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