Wrought Iron, or not?

C

Chris Meyer

Joined
Aug 15, 2005
Messages
1,297
Greetings guys,

I took a walk along the lake near my house today. The lake, actually a reservoir is waaay low. If you look at the rock outcropping in my first picture, you can see where the water level was in the spring.

Shenipsit-Lake-very-low.jpg

Anyway, along what's now the shore, I found a large piece of metal that I'm hoping is wrought iron. It looks like part of an old gate hinge or something, but there haven't been any houses on this part of the lake in about 100 years. I carried it home, cut off about 1" on one end, ground it flat, then etched it with Ferric Chloride.

Old-gate-hinge.jpg

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My question is, is this wrought iron, or did I lug this home for nothing? The flat part in the pictures was about 1" in from the end of the piece of metal. It looks like there are some slag inclusions along the part I ground, but what the heck do I know?

wrought-iron--possibly-.jpg


wrought-iron--possibly-02.jpg
 
It looks like it but the best way is to bend a piece until it breaks. If the fracture looks fibrous it's the real thing !
 
It does look like wrought iron to me from the picture but the best way to tell is make another cut except stop when your about 3/4 of the way threw. Then bend it back where the cut is. It should bend and break and expose what looks to be fibers.
 
Do the bend & break, and it will look sort like a piece of wood when it breaks, if it is wrought--Fibers 47 knuck
 
I agree with Kevin, just from looking at those pictures, it's either wrought iron, or it's a very very poor quality steel. If you hold the bar in the light and turn it side to side looking lengthwise down the rusty side, can you see anything that looks sort of like wood veins, IE how a well worn hardwood floor looks with some ridges protruding slightly more where it's harder than the area around it? The bend test is a fairly good way to tell if it's wrought, although it doesnt always work that well, another is to forge a little piece of it, if it moves really easy at a bright yellow / almost white, but tends to come apart at a dull red into crumbly strands, it's a sure bet to be wrought.
 
I tried cutting the metal part way, then bending it. However, every time I tried to bend it, it would just break. I took some more photos, but my camera could not seem to focus on the small piece I was using, so the images didn't come out very well. My apologies.

Suspected-wrought-iron-03.jpg


Suspected-wrought-iron-01.jpg
Suspected-wrought-iron-02.jpg


Suspected-wrought-iron-05.jpg


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The main reasons I thought/hoped it might be wrought iron were that it presumably is old, having been under water for many years, the eye appears to be forged, and there is a woodgrain like texture where it bends. I don't know if rust itself can create that affect but, hopefully, you guys do.

Suspected-wrought-iron-07.jpg


Suspected-wrought-iron-04.jpg

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You need to cut it width wise 3/4 of the way through and then bend it. It still looks like wrought to me.
 
If it doesn't bend it's just poor quality steel .Keep looking and you might find some other treasures in the lake ! In PA a man was walking in a reservoir during a drought and saw something reflect sunlight.It was a school ring and he was able to return it to the owner who had lost it 30 years before !!
 
mete said:
...Keep looking and you might find some other treasures in the lake !...
Click to expand...

Thanks Mete. So far I have found the above piece of metal, a 10lb boat anchor, and a few fishing lures. Last month, someone found a handgun along the shore. We're assuming that some criminal threw it into the lake to get rid of it, never imagining that the lake would get so low. I didn't get to see the gun, so I don't know what kind of shape it was left in.
 
That is an old hinge, with a forge welded eye, of the pintle type probably. It is probably MOST LIKELY wrought iron.
 
Sam , it didn't bend ,it should have.....Guns taken out of water can be salvaged , sometimes just by cleaning them .I've seen that a few times !!
 
Well, I tried again. After it finally dawned on me that I should cut and bend it with the grain, it held up much better. I think I got some better (though not great) pictures too, but I still only see a wood-like grain on the raw edges.

Suspected-wrought-iron-08.jpg


Suspected-wrought-iron-09.jpg


Suspected-wrought-iron-10.jpg


Suspected-wrought-iron-11.jpg

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100% definate that is wrought. You wont see a 'wood like grain' in the fracture, but you'll see, as in yoru 3rd picture down, the 'strand' like structure whre it's not a smooth break, but more like pulled apart
 
mete said:
Sam , it didn't bend ,it should have.....Guns taken out of water can be salvaged , sometimes just by cleaning them .I've seen that a few times !!
Click to expand...

Yeah it should have but the way it was cut then bent might have contributed to it bending only slightly then breaking. Might also have been a BIG flaw on where he cut.
 
Cool! Thanks guys. I would have hated for it to have been a waste of my time to haul that rusty think home!
 
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