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

[Ekaterina Harrison]

Hi All,

I must admit that some of this is going over my head. <sigh> Perhaps  
this was already answered and I missed it.
I have spent a few years working in various foundries and have poured  
some ductile iron. However, I really did not get a chance to find out  
as much as I had wanted to about the various aspects of iron. Perhaps  
somebody here can answer this - What is the difference between iron  
that is cast and what you are referring to as pure iron?

Ekaterina

On Mar 27, 2008, at 8:26 PM, theforge-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:

>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:10:52 -0400
> From: "David E. Smucker" <davesmucker at hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: File Making, sniffing up  wrought iron
> To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID: <BAY137-DAV227345FD9B7D86414EDBCADFE0 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> 	reply-type=response
>
> Frosty,  I believe the pure iron made today is being made via an  
> electric
> arc furnace.  It is really being produced as "transformer iron" for  
> use in
> some types of transformer and other magnetic devices.  It is  
> produced in
> sheet form.  This is quite a bit of this produced but not as much as  
> some of
> the other transformer irons with high Si content.  (Pure Si, not the  
> oxide.)
> The blacksmithing pure iron was (is) produced by taking some heats  
> of this
> material and running it to bar stock.
>
> To the best of my knowledge there are no Bessemer Furnaces still in
> operation.  (Air Blast)  There are a lot of Basic Oxygen Furnaces  
> operating
> producing about 60 % of the worlds raw steel.  Some have called BOF  
> the "son
> of Bessemer" as the blast is now Oxygen vs. Air.  The BOF can take a  
> feed of
> about 1/3 scrap vs. little or no scrap in the Bessemer.  In the BOF  
> you
> don't have to heat the N2, so you can melt scrap instead.
>
> Dave
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jerry Frost" <akfrosty at mtaonline.net>
> To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 1:27 PM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: File Making, sniffing up wrought iron
>
>
>> This leads me to delve back into the recollections that I was  
>> mistaken
>> about regarding when wrought was last produced in the US. (lousy  
>> sentence
>> but understandable I hope)
>>
>>> From what I recall reading; after the bessemer process
>> became wide spread, production of wrought fell off sharply and mild  
>> steel
>> became more and more the norm for construction and other things  
>> wrought
>> was used for. Still, there was a large market for wrought iron and  
>> for a
>> period bessemer processed pure iron was sold as wrought, later  
>> specific
>> amounts of silica was added to make "bessemer wrought." (I'm using a
>> descriptive phrase here, that's almost certainly not what it was  
>> actually
>> called)
>>
>> Again, my memory is probably not clear so I'm sure details are  
>> wrong. I've
>> looked through my bookmarks and read myself cross-eyed but can't  
>> find the
>> link I probably lost it in the last crash.
>>
>> Anyway, I strongly doubt fresh wrought is being produced the way  
>> they did
>> it 150 years ago. The ore or scrap is probably refined and purified  
>> via
>> the Bessemer process and silica added back in to make up "wrought".  
>> It's
>> them refined under rolls rather than hammers.
>>
>> Pure iron is probably taken out of the process before alloying  
>> agents are
>> added and actually requires less labor, materials and fuel to  
>> produce. But
>> as all small batch products costs more.
>>
>> I'll go sit quietly now.
>>
>> Frosty
>> -------------------------------
>> If it ain't forged
>> it ain't real.
>> Wrought iron is.
>> The FrostWorks
>>
>> Meadow Lakes, AK.
>>
>>
>> From: "Andrew Vida" <osan at netlabs.net>
>>
>>> The front page is interesting in that mewonders if they have  
>>> confused
>>> pure iron with wrought.  To wit, it states:
>>>
>>> "Pure Iron is a high-purity iron that is very ductile and the  
>>> preferred
>>> material for forging and decorative metal work. While very popular  
>>> in the
>>> first half of the 20th century, its use was reduced by the  
>>> development of
>>> new steel alloys and high production costs."
>>>
>>> I do not recall pure iron being popular in the era up to 1950, but
>>> perhaps I am mistaken.  Also, referring to it as "ductile" rather  
>>> than
>>> malleable leads me to suspect.  Wrought iron is ductile (uni-axial
>>> deformable) whereas pure iron is malleable (multi-axially  
>>> deformable).
>>>
>>> Just an observation.
>>>
>>> -Andy
>>>
>