[TheForge] Re: File Making

Tue Mar 25 08:52:10 EST 2008

Well, SOMETHING happens to metals in salt or brackish waters.  When I 
was in Jersey City 3 years ago, I used to go down to the Passaic River. 
  I found a load of bronze decking nails at the shoreline.  They looked 
beautiful with a golden brown patina.  They looked like they may have 
been manufactured in some closed die process.  hen I attempted to bend 
one, it fractured and appeared to possess zero elasticity.  I was 
surprised to find the insides to be pure- or near-pure copper with very 
large grain structure.  I cannot for a moment imagine that this was how 
the nails came off the line.  Therefore, chemical activity must have 
altered the composition and internal structure of these nails.

Jeffrey Polaski wrote:
> After thinking about this longer, it could be that older iron is more
> porous as it ages. (Especially after sitting under water for fifty or
> one hundred years.) 
> 
> This is just speculation, but perhaps a fine network of pores gets
> etched through the surface as, for example, carbon gets carried away.
> 
> I'm just wondering what would explain this "porous steel" thing I keep
> hearing about. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff Polaski
> RGS Webmaster
> (949) 824-6363
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:theforge-
>> bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jeffrey Polaski
>> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 11:51 AM
>> To: Sponsored by ABANA
>> Subject: RE: [TheForge] Re: File Making
>>
>> I'm not really used to thinking of iron/steel as absorbent, but it's
>> come up several times. Especially with regard to welding gasoline
> tanks.
>>
>> Are there any guide lines on how much a hunk of steel can absorb?
>>
>>
>>
>> Jeff Polaski
>>
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:theforge-
>>> bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Larry Brown
>>> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 12:01 PM
>>> To: Sponsored by ABANA
>>> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: File Making
>>>
>>>
>>> Speaking from the other side or the Arthur Kill, and being 49 I
>> remember
>>> all sorts of nasty stuff on the beaches over the years, being
> cleaner
>> in
>>> more recent times. NJ has and had tons of nasty chemical companies
>> along
>>> the eastern NJ boarder with Staten Island and NY and we had or have
>> the
>>> world's biggest dump in the marsh along the river.
>>>
>>>   I remember working in Whitte ship scrapyard when I was 18 that
>> cutting
>>> sometimes gave some foul odors, usually on the older stuff that had
>> been
>>> soaking or on the bottom the longest. I think the guy who repaired
> the
>>> holes in the bottom of the barges by welding plates between the ribs
>> had
>>> very little left in the way of vocal cords.
>>> I thought it might be the salt absorbed into the metal. I have some
>> pieces
>>> of WI from old docks and a few just foam when heated. I found that
>> steel
>>> and WI are both affected and have seen what looks like a crust near
>> the
>>> edges after the piece cools when you torch cut it. Might be on the
>> surface
>>> or from within
>>>
>>> Larry BRown
>>>
>>> At 09:26 AM 3/20/2008 -0400, you wrote:
>>>> Speaking of fumes, much of the wrought iron I pulled out of Raritan
>> Bay
>>> in
>>>> Perth Amboy gives off a fume that is really nasty.  You get the
>> tiniest
>>>> whiff and everything inside you says "NO!".  I have learned to
> steer
>>> clear
>>>> of this.  Put the iron in the fire awhile and let whatever noxious
>> things
>>>> that are there burn off while giving a respectful berth.
>>>>
>>>> What I could not quite figure is what those noxious things may have
>>>> been.  The fumes are most acrid - very harsh on the nose, and
>> something
>>>> of a singular sensation (please, no lapsing into "A Chorus Line").
> I
>>> also
>>>> notice the occasional strange blue flame.  Not like copper, but not
>> like
>>>> anything else either, of which I am familiar.  Any ideas?  This
> iron
>> has
>>>> lain in the brackish-to-salty waters of the bay for at least 50
>> years,
>>>> closer to 100 in most cases I would imagine - old ship graveyard.
>>>>
>>>>         -Andy
>>>>
>>>> Larry Brown wrote:
>>>>> Thanks for the information in the post, I always try to stay away
>> from
>>>>> the fumes as it stinks, but the cyanide information is really good
>> to be
>>>>> aware of. Don't use it much, got the can 2nd hand and have had it
>> 20+
>>> yrs.
>>>>> Larry Brown
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> 
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-- 

	-Andy V.

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