[TheForge] Re: Identifying Wrought Iron

[Ron Childers]

Jim, the methods mentioned are good and foolproof but a spark test is the
quick & dirty way to id wi out in the junkyard. The sparks do not sparkle @
the end like modern steels. Get a piece you know is wrought and compare the
sparks with the same grinder. You can put a grinding disk on a cordless
drill for the few seconds it takes if you don't have a cordless grinder.
It's good to have samples of several steels of known composition for
comparison if you like to use junkyard steels. There is a spark test chart I
saw somewhere- maybe Anvilfire or Magic Hammer..

Ron C

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Mike
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 11:41 AM
To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [TheForge] Re: Identifying Wrought Iron


> ...few large chain links.  The links were over a foot or more long,
> and the metal was about 1.5" in diameter.  The metal had been painted
> over...  thick layer of dirt....seem like it had a grain to it.....The
> links look like they had been lap welded on one end (as opposed to the
> middle of a side, which is what I have seen examples of..).

When I was first getting interested in smithing, I had (and still
have) a hand-forged stone boat chain that had very prominent welds at
the ends of the (rather long) links.  I asked Bert Shaw about that and
he replied that the welds should always be at the ends of the links
with considerable overlap so that part of each half of the weld curved
completely through the next link.  The whole weld is under bending
stress and is more likely to fail gracefully.  In the side of the
link, the weld is under tension and is more likely for fail suddenly
and catastrophically. (He didn't use all those words but that was the
gist of his reply.)

As Bert had 50 or more years of experience making horse and mule gear
for farming and logging as well elephant chains (!) and rigging
for the circus, I assume he knew what he was talking about.

Get one of those links, strip the paint, pickle in phosphoric or
electro-clean, give it a light coat of spray-on lacquer and you'll
have a nice demo piece when people ask *you* about wrought iron.

> Anyway, I wondered if these were old Wrought Iron links.

Probably. AFAIK, almost any application these days that requires heavy
chain has to meet mil spec or various marine, transport or safety codes
so piles of really spectacular wrought chain just lie about waiting
for the scrap man or the heat death of the universe.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
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