Wrought iron-how do you know it's wrought iron?

R

Railrider1920

Joined
Dec 14, 2010
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Hey Folks,
I went looking around a few salvage stores here in New Orleans for some wrought iron. I found plenty of pieces of porch railings, fencing, burgler bars and plenty of other types of things that they call "wrought iron". Most everything is painted. If it isn't painted or where the paint is gone, it's rusted. Some surface, some pitted. Is there any way for me to tell what is wrought iron and what isn't? One of the workers said that wrought iron will be solid and not tubular and heavy for the size of the piece. Aldo showed me a piece that he has and pointed out the striations, or grain, that it has in it. Some of the bars are straight and square and look like they might be factory made. Some are straight and square with decorative scroll work on the ends, like the first picture. Thanks for any suggestions offered.
Rob
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These grapes are heavy and are pretty much look identical to each other. The guy there in the store said that they are wrought for sure. I didn't see any lines on the sides to indicate that they were poured in a mold. They are solid pretty heavy.
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These things are heavy as sin and very heavily rusted as you can see. The grape vines are a single piece. The bar stock on the top and bottom are screwed to the vine piece. The vines are solid and the bars are solid as well.
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I did pick up a small set of burgler bars. Just by the fact that they are burgler bars, I'm guessing that they are probably not wrought iron. I sanded down a small area of the metal. I did see some marks that might be the grain or it might be marks left by a grinder after grinding off the welds. It is now in a paint stripping tank. I'll get a better look at the metal when the paint comes off. Any suggestions on how I can tell wrought iron from just old steel?
Sorry for the crappy pics. Only had my cell phone.
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None of that is "wrought Iron". It is what is called "Ornamental wrought iron". The real wrought iron would most likely never be painted black . It is going to be pieces from 100+ year old hinges, bolts and straps, and specially old anchor chain. To check, take a piece and cut half way through it. Stick it in the vise and bend it 90 degrees. If the break looks like cracked wood, with lots of fibers and striations, it is wrought iron. If it just cracks in a random pattern, it is just steel. Once you see a piece of wrought that has been break tested, you will never mistake the ornamental black stuff for the real thing.
 
Thanks Stacey. I don''t think that they had any hinges, straps and things, but I'll look around when I go back. The burgler bars will be nice for practicing on anyway, much cheaper than stuff from at a big box store too.
 
Thank you guys. It's just that I saw these things sitting there in the shop. They are called wrought iron. I figured if it really is WI, I might as well get some while I am here. I might be getting a couple of small pieces of the real stuff from Mike Turner
 
I have been looking for old wrought iron here. They are always reclaiming old mines and I want to save that stuff from the bulldozer. I don't touch anything with any historical signifigance, there are loads of old mine dumps to dig through.

Doe wrought ever get super rusty? Develop a flaky scale?

I'm always looking for the less rusty stuff, maybe it is wrought? I have access to loads of old cable too, probebly way too rusty being 130 years old...

I need to bust out the friction saw!
 
What part of the bulldozer do you think might be wrought iron? How old is the dozer? Or is it stuff the dozer pushes together? If there would be enough clean metal left from that cable, it would make a good conversational piece anyway. Get a piece and check it like Bladsmth mentioned.
bladsmth said:
To check, take a piece and cut half way through it. Stick it in the vise and bend it 90 degrees. If the break looks like cracked wood, with lots of fibers and striations, it is wrought iron. If it just cracks in a random pattern, it is just steel. Once you see a piece of wrought that has been break tested, you will never mistake the ornamental black stuff for the real thing.
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Railrider1920 said:
What part of the bulldozer do you think might be wrought iron? How old is the dozer? Or is it stuff the dozer pushes together? If there would be enough clean metal left from that cable, it would make a good conversational piece anyway. Get a piece and check it like Bladsmth mentioned.
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When they reclaim old mine land they bulldoze any old mining stuff up including the first few feet of topsoil. There are literally piles of old debris everywhere. A lot of the stuff I look at was made around 1870-1890 and I'm sure some of it was blacksmithed, most larger mines had a full time blacksmith. I have a turnbuckle that I'm almost sure is wrought, just need to cut it up, it is probably 20#.

On a side note I am always finding what I'm pretty sure is "micarta" or a phenolic soaked canvas used in the electrical fittings, it is trashed from the UV but pretty neat seeing it.
 
That looks just like the stuff I run into!

The snow needs to melt, I usually can't make it up there untill august when the snow at the mine is melted! Last year they got 30 feet! It is actually the same mountain that Shaun White had his secret halfpipe on.
 
Wagon wheel tyres are always wrought iron... and easy find in your neck of the woods.

Heat blued wagon wheel: cool as it gets and; free.

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Hey Railrider,

I see in your profile you work for the rail road.
Most of the wrought iron I have I got out of an old
wood passenger train car.
If you cant find any PM me your addy and I'll share a couple of pounds.

Anvil ring is right, last time I was in Florida the stuff was laying around every where.

Greg Shahan
 
anvilring said:
Wagon wheel tyres are always wrought iron... and easy find in your neck of the woods.

Not all wagon wheel tyres are Wrought. I had several that were mild steel. They had been replaced by modern steel. It was pretty easy to see they just looked too clean. If you do a bend or etch test on the cut and polished ends you will see pretty easily if it is actually wrought.
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In Western Australia the old railway dog spikes are also wrought iron. I pick them up walking along old lines which have had the rails taken up. If you can pick the difference between old and modern head shape on the spikes try what you find locally and see how you go.
 
Thanks for the additional info guys. Sorry I didn't come back to this thread sooner. There is an old abandoned RR track system in my area. I was out looking at it yesterday. I picked up some of the old spikes. I'll give them a try. Pretty sure there is an old car on a piece of the line, but haven't found it, yet.

Anvilring, I really haven't seen any wagon wheels around my area. I do have one from an old wheel barrow I'll have to check. Nice looking knife BTW.

Greg, I left you a visitors message. I can't do the PM's yet. My email is railrider19n20 at gmail.com Thanks for the offer, might just take you up on it.

Rob
 
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