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

[ries]

As I understand it, this type of pipe was the last product made of  
real wrought iron, and was made at least into the early 70's.
I have heard the last mill making it was in Sweden.
It had certain chemical plant uses that kept in production until  
various alloys of stainless and newer metals finally did it in in the  
mid 70's.

Ries



On Mar 23, 2008, at 4:47 PM, paul wrote:
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

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Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist
http://www.riesniemi.com/