[TheForge] Fwd: bog iron/pig iron to wrought iron

[Bruce Freeman]

Andy is right.  You can either carburize the
knife-shaped-object (AFTER THE GRINDING OPERATION!) or
just turn the wrought iron into steel by blistering it
and re forging it down like (layered) pattern welding.

If you choose to carburize it, you then must sharpen
the knife by grinding from one side only, or you'll
grind off the steel from BOTH edges and be left with a
knife-shaped object.  By grinding from one side only,
you will retain steel at the edge.

The other general approach is to simply weld steel
into the edge of the knife.  This is not necessarily
easy to learn, as steel and wrought iron want to weld
at different temperatures.  

I have never done this, so can only make a suggestion
from what I have read.  I'd suggest you make your
knife by folding a sheet lengthwise so the fold will
become the back of the knife.  This metal can be a
good deal thicker than the final knife, as you will be
able to forge it to shape after the welding operation.
 Make the fold, but before welding, slip in a piece of
steel about the same thickness as the wrought iron. 
Remember to scarf to avoid cold shuts. Then weld it up
with the steel sandwiched between the wrought iron. 
Draw out to shape, and sharpen by grinding from both
sides.

Hope this helps.

Bruce
 
--- Andrew Vida <osan at netlabs.net> wrote:

> 
> 
> Daniel Kretchmar wrote:
> > Andy and Bruce,
> > 
> > Both were very helpful! Thank you!
> 
> 	You are most welcome.  I'm glad you found things
> useful.
> > 
> > Now another few questions:  I would like to make a
> knife for my wife.
> > My wife is in the SCA (like me) and protrays the
> part of a woman
> > living in Viking Dublin (890 AD).  I know she
> should be carrying a
> > wrought iron knife.   I know how to make steel
> knives and carving
> > tools and have made a few in medium and high
> carbon steel as well as
> > with pattern welding, but I have never made one
> from wrought
> > iron....How do you harden and temper it? 
> 
> 	You don't.  Wrought iron has virtually no carbon in
> it.  Therefore you 
> have to carburize it, which will produce blister
> steel.  Placing your 
> billet into a sealed retort with carbonaceous
> materials is one of the 
> traditional methods and works well.  I do not recall
> offhand how long, 
> though.  I am sure there are others here who will be
> able to say.  I 
> remember that Kase-n-ite would penetrate to about
> 1/16 inch per hour. 
> It has been a LONG time since I have carburized
> anything, so check for 
> good information sources before starting.
> 
>  > Does normalizing work on
> > wrought iron in the same way as steel? 
> 
> 	I doubt it, though I don't know for certain.  I've
> never thought about 
> it, actually - interesting question.
> 
>  > Should I quench in water or
> > oil? or wax?  Should I do a full straight down
> quench (like I do for
> > my pattern welded blades) or do an edge quench
> like I do for my
> > carving tools..
> 
> 	If you carburize the wrought, you will then have
> steel.  I would HT the 
> way you do any knife.
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