[TheForge] Re: File Making, sniffing up wrought iron

[paul]

Jerry Frost wrote:
> snip
> There's undoubtably a big difference between wrought from the WWI era 
> and WWII. By time WWII came around wrought was being replaced by mild 
> steel and what wrought was still being produced was machine made on a 
> fairly large scale. When you're making "wrought" by adding silica to 
> Bessemer converted "pure iron" and running it through rolling mills at a 
> high rate of speed you're going to end up with a different product.
>> From what I've read about this kind of wrought it was 
> much more uniform and refined from the start. Advertisements for it made 
> a big deal out of it's higher degree of refinement at lower cost.
> 
> I know there was wrought being made this way before WWI too but by WWII 
> it was about the only way it was being made. I don't think much if any 
> wrought was made after WWII.
snip
> Frosty
> -------------------------------
> If it ain't forged
> it ain't real.
> Wrought iron is.
> The FrostWorks
The A.M.Byers Company, Pittsburgh, PA, manufactured wrought iron until 
1969.
see:
http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/Industry/AMByersCo/AMByersMSP84.html

I have installed what was in the 'trades' referred to as Byers pipe as 
late as 1969 or 1970. Byers pipe was available both as galvanized and 
plain steel. It was touted as being highly corrosion resistant, and was 
used in the construction  of the Milwaukee County Stadium, completed in 
time for the 1953 season, which was the home of the Milwaukee Braves at 
the time. It was easy to recognize, as it was marked with a spiral 
stripe over it's entire length. It may have been corrosion resistant, 
but it was not a favored material. The wrought iron pipe was but welded 
out of flat stock as is much pipe today. The fibers of the wrought iron 
ran lengthwise and made the threading of the pipe a nightmare. Lots of 
torn threads... it was also a p.i.t.a. to stick weld.
 From the description on page s 28 to 35 of 'Wrought Iron, Its 
Manufacture Characteristics and Applications' published by the A.M. 
Byers Company 11th printing 1957, it seems that even though the process 
indeed started with Bessemer converted iron, when the molten refined 
iron was added to the ladle of molten flux, which was held a temperature 
below that of the molten iron, it caused the stream of iron to chill and 
settle to the bottom of the molten slag and form a sponge there that was 
very like the more traditional sponge  from the earlier process of 
making wrought iron. Wish I had some of old piping from the stadium that 
was demolished: February 21, 2001. Check your local junk yards for black 
iron pipe with a red stripe. 20' of 8" pipe would yield a hell of a 
piece of flat stock once it was slit and opened up. Thickness will 
depend on age and condition but for 8" would be about 1/4".
-- 
Paul Sperbeck
WB9HCO
jadap

  "The difference between genius and stupidity is that
genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein