[TheForge] Tool Steel--This should be OT I think

[Smoky]

I am not really sure that Wrought Iron would be commercially viable 
nowadays.  Most of the fab shops wouldn't know how to work with it and would 
drill holes where they shouldn't leaving it weak.  Not understanding the 
concept of the grain in something like metal, they could make a lot of 
something worthless.  Just some thoughts off the top of my head.

Rick Crawford at Smoky Forge
Home of Lem the Wonder Mule and
Mol ASS es the slow Donkey
in the middle of Northern Illinois



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Vida" <osan at netlabs.net>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 11:14 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Tool Steel--This should be OT I think


>
>
> David Childress wrote:
>> The real pity of all these changes in steel is that the cheap used
>> steel that hobbist smiths depend on is all going to the steel mills
>> somewhere and not staying around for you and me.  It is even worse
>> when it is old steel or wrought iron.  The mills do not care what it
>> is and soon there will be no more "pure" steel or wrought iron since
>> it is not made any more.
>
> I found a load of about 30 tons of very high quality wrought iron this 
> past fall.  I got about 3 tons of it out before the scrap yard came in for 
> the pile.  There is a lot of wrought out there, but you have to keep your 
> eyes open and know what you're looking for.
>
> As to not making it anymore, this is a pure matter of economics.  Were 
> there demand, someone would probably make it.  I say probably because 
> market research isn't always tuned in to the real world.  I've been 
> thinking that there may be a good demand for WI in applications where good 
> corrosion resistance is desired but the cost of stainless steel cannot be 
> justified.  A great multitude of applications come to mind.  I wonder if 
> anyone in the industry has pinged the market for this.  When good cheap 
> steel became available, people seemed eager to run away from the old 
> standard, but in the years since Byers stopped making wrought, I think the 
> shortcomings of steel for certain applications have become apparent.  I 
> don't think too many people in industry are aware of the old material's 
> virtues.
>