[TheForge] Re: Steel question OT

[David E. Smucker]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Vida" <osan at netlabs.net>
To: <artgawk at thegrid.net>; "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: Steel question OT

Andy, what form or section is this "wrought iron"?  In the late 1800's some 
wrought iron was case hardened.  This was especially true of large nuts and 
bolts and some rod forms.  I am not aware that this was done with structural 
forms.  Some manufactures of equipment would state the higher quialty of 
their machines by saying that "hardware is case hardened wrought iron".

Dave Smucker


SNIP.
>
> Ooooo... I have an iron related question.  Several months ago I nabbed 
> about 3 tons of wrought iron fron a demolition site here in Philly.  I 
> call it wrought iron, but my friend Marshall takes issue with that.  The 
> iron corrodes like wrought, showing a distinct grain pattern.  It has 
> demonstrated good corrosion resistance.  It fails precisely in the manner 
> of wrought iron.  The one place where it departs expectations is in the 
> spark test, showing slight sparklies of a very low-yellow tinge rather 
> than orangey spikes.
>
> This brings up the question of wrought iron's definition, I suppose. To me 
> this is wrought largely because of its clear grain structure, apparent 
> corrosion resistance as the result of the presence of iron silicate, and 
> its failure mode.  My readings, including Byers' book, indicates that the 
> carbon content of wrought, while consistently low throughout history, 
> still leaves some room for variance, particularly in light of the 
> statistically uncontrolled nature of the ancient processes.
>
> I cannot see this material as being blister steel as I'm not familiar with 
> anyone making large structural members (I-beams and channels) from this 
> material.  Could this material be crucible steel?  Doesn't seem right 
> either, for no other reason than most of the impurities were removed in 
> that process.  The iron silicate was certainly regarded as an impurity and 
> the iron I have shows a VERY strong grain.
>
> Everything about this material, save perhaps the C content says "wrought 
> iron".  Anyone have any more definitive information on this?
>
> Oh, yeah, it forges like very high quality wrought, too.
>
> -Andy
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