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

Mon Dec 31 12:20:46 EST 2007

An interesting way that some old draw knifes were "steeled" was to start 
with two pieces each about 1/4 x 1/2. One was of steel, the other wrought 
iron.  These were forge welded to make a square section about 1/2 x 1/2. 
The wrought iron could be longer so the tanges would be 100 per cent 
wrought.  After the weld, the square section was then forged on the diamond 
to the blade section.  This resulted in a  thin steel edge backed up by 
wronght iron.

In my example above I had both the steel and the iron of the same starting 
cross section -- more likely the steel was 1/8 x 1/2 and the iron 3/8 x 1/2 
but you get the idea.

Dave
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Childers" <munlaw2 at hcsmail.com>
To: "'Sponsored by ABANA'" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 8:26 AM
Subject: RE: [TheForge] Fwd: bog iron/pig iron to wrought iron

> John Butler did a demo "steeling" a piece of wrought iron. He started with 
> a
> piece about 1/4" wide and chiseled a groove on the edge into which he 
> forge
> welded a piece of 1/4" square high carbon steel. He then finished forging
> the knife blade and heat treated.
>
> Ron C
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Daniel Kretchmar
> Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 3:41 PM
> To: Sponsored by ABANA
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fwd: bog iron/pig iron to wrought iron
>
> Andy and Bruce,
>
> Both were very helpful! Thank you!
>
> 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?  Does normalizing work on
> wrought iron in the same way as steel?  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..
>
> Inquireing reenactors want to know  :)
>
> Daniel Kretchmar
> who plays the part of Danr Ketilsidr ("small cooking pot" craftsman in
> old norse)
>
> On Dec 30, 2007 12:43 AM, Andrew Vida <osan at netlabs.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Daniel Kretchmar wrote:
>> > Greetings,
>> >          A few months back I participated in an iron smelt at the home
>> > of Stewert Stone in Ripon, WI.  He built the furnace out of clay and
>> > pulled out a sizable bloom.  A bunch of us (SCA blacksmiths) heated up
>> > the bloom in a stone forge and pounded it into managable ingots
>> >
>> > .....Now a question.  I took the ingots home and I have used my JYH
>> > Tire hammer to pound it into bar stock but somewhere I remember
>> > reading that I should fold and weld it several times to convert it to
>> > wrought iron............Can anyone help me out here?  What's the next
>> > step?
>>
>>        Drawing and rewelding comprise the process of refining.  As it
> comes
>> out of the furnace, the bloom is worthless.  There are numerous voids in
>> the iron, much of which is filled with slag.  The purpose of drawing the
>> bar is twofold.  It alters the bloom into a useful form (bar, sheet,
>> etc.) and also it drives out the excess slag.
>>
>>        As the slag and the iron are drawn, they intermingle with each
> other,
>> forming long threads of iron and iron silicate which orient themselves
>> parallel to the direction in which the bar is being drawn and resulting
>> in an almost wood-like structure.
>>
>>        After the first drawing, most of the slag has been forced out, but
> much
>> remains.  The grain structure is coarse and under the hammer may have
>> some rather undesirable characteristics, such as splitting like wood
>> when forged at anything less than bright yellow heat.  Such iron is
>> called "muck bar" and is good for many applications, but not all, e.g.
>> the creation of fine architectural work including gates and window
>> treatments, or furnishings such as tables, or utensils such as forks.
>>
>>        Nicking the muck bar and rewelding/redrawing results in a
>> single-refined iron.  Such iron will be a bit more forgiving than muck
>> bar in terms of temperature, but not so much.  Nevertheless, it has its
>> uses - e.g. some of the simpler straight elements in a garden gate such
>> as uprights.
>>
>>        Another reweld/redraw produces double-refined iron, which has yet
> more
>> slag forced from it, a finer grain structure, and is therefore a finer
>> product.  Such iron may be suitable to the decorative elements of that
>> garden gate including scrolls, leaves, animal figures, etc.
>>
>>        Yet another reweld/redraw results in triple-refined wrought iron,
> the
>> highest grade commonly available.  This iron is very fine-grained, far
>> more forgiving in terms of cold-shortness, and would be used in the
>> production of the finest items such as instruments, tools, household
>> utensils, etc.
>>
>>        There was another grade that was finer yet and that was called
> king's
>> bar.  There is not much in the literature about it, save to say that it
>> was the finest iron available, was very costly, extremely fine-grained,
>> and not very common at all.
>>
>>        That's wrought iron refinement in a very small nutshell.  I hope
> you
>> find this marginally helpful at the least.
>>
>>        Regards,
>>
>>        -Andy
>>
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