tough wrought iron

[rich pierce]

I have often seen folks write that wrought iron is so soft you can shave it with a pocketknife.  I'm using a piece of a wrought iron horseshoe I found in a ditch to make a rear sight and I'll tell ya, it's tough stuff.  I am sure it's wrought because I can see the grain and the spark pattern is consistent with wrought iron.

[huntinguy]

I haven't been around too many horses... But, I don't recall them, at least in modern times being wrought iron. I am thinking they are an alloy steel... Could be wrong though.

Might want to check over on some horse site.

[dannybb55]

Around here we have a lot of recovered anchors and chain, all wrought stuff. The best anchors were supposed to be made from Russian iron because the ore had a high nickel content. American iron from the southern mountains was relatively pure and soft. I know smiths liked to sort their iron from different sources for different applications because they wrote about it in The Blacksmith and Wheelwright Magazine in the 19th Century. Moxon also says the same thing in 1701.

[flintriflesmith]

I've worked a good bit of wrought iron and never found any to be as soft as the "carve it with a pocket knife" folk tale implies. It always struck me a being a lot like 1010 or 1020 steel in hardness. It does file a bit differently--tending to cling to and gum up file teeth. That is a PITA when draw filing a barrel and I used chalk on the file to reduce it.

If one of you out there has a sample of that super soft stuff, show us some pictures of cutting it with a knife. Be sure to include the info about the knife because it would be a great advertisement!
Gary

[bgf]

Is there perhaps some work-hardening going on, esp. if the horse was on the road much, as would appear to be the case if you found it in the ditch?  My brother (was a full-time farrier at one point) mentioned something about used shoes being harder/tougher than new ones, but I don't think those were wrought iron, just mild steel.  They were a good source of material for our forge projects, anyway.  They also sometimes harden them for better wear, I think.

[LRB]

  With a good  sharp knife, one can carve thin slivers from annealed 01 tool steel, on the corner edges.

[Ben I. Voss]

Some of the shaping of japanese swords is traditionally done using steel scrapers (with the sword still in the annealed state). FWIW

[Daryl]

I used a pocket knife and a piece of used 320 emery to nicely radius crown a TC .50 so the guy could load a decent ball and patch combination.  It was pretty soft stuff. I cut the chamfer 1/2 way around from each side by turning the rifle as I cut. Nice sliver came off- just about perfect. The emery on the end of my thumb did the rest.

[James Wilson Everett]

Wrought iron is really fun stuff to work with, but there are some significant differences between how wrought iron and steel behave.  Certainly wrought iron quality and characteristics vary widely, most especially depending on the degree of refining of the metal.  Coarse or unrefined puddled wrought iron has large slag streaks that tend to cause problems when trying to make little pieces from it.  Refined wrought iron act much more homogeneous as the slag streaks are much thinner and more numerous.  If you wish to make small parts, try to find the refined stuff or you will get frustrated.

Coarse wrought iron shows obvious slag streaks after filing the surface with a rough bastard cut file - good for big pieces like lockplates, sideplates, buttplates.  Refined wrought iron requires a better surface finish to see the slag, like 220 grit polish - good for tumblers, sears, screws.  I have a piece that didn't show streaks until etched with muriatic acid (I guard this piece so keep your hands off).  However, for really tiny parts like that #4 screw that holds the wood patchbox spring, I still use leaded steel.  Coarse wrought is alright for making barrels, but if you rifle a coarse wrought iron barrel the rifle cutter will tend to give an irregular cut as it passes over a slag streak.

Wrought iron is much more ductile than steel which probably has resulted in the pocket knife thing.  Check out the tutorial on making wrought iron wood screws to see how very ductile the stuff is.

Jim Everett

[Telgan]

Have got access to some buggy axels - probably 1880's or so. Any idea if these might be wrought? Once I can look at spark patern from grinder, will probably be able to tell. Just curious - before I lug them out of the woods.

[rich pierce]

Less likely that axles would be wrought at that date compared to wagon wheel rims.

[Telgan]

Thanks Rich for the quick reply. Just in case they may be earlier ( one of the two axles still has remnants of the wood hubs attatched ) What tome period might have wrough still been used on a axle - if at all?

[James Wilson Everett]

Take a coarse and a fine file to the site with the buggy axles.  File a patch across the grain (file 90 degrees to the axle centerline)  You should see thin black lines - like black hairs - parallel to the centerline.  These are streaks of silica slag that are always present in wrought iron.  If the iron is refined you may need to go to a smoother surface than a file, like down to 220 grit.  If you see the streaks after filing you have wrought iron, if you can only see the streaks after the fine sandpaper be very happy since it is refined.

The last wrought iron was made in this country in the 1920's for water pipe/tubing systems.  Wrought iron is very rust resistant and was used for these systems until the advent of more corrosion resistant 300 series stainless steel.  It really is great stuff!  When on a trek with rain, mist & dew everyones modern steel muzzle loaders turn that bright orange we all hate.  While the wrought iron guns stay clean.

Here is a photo of a pin blank to make a wood screw.  It is once refined puddled wrought iron put into service 1860 - 1880.  You can see the black slag streaks.



Jim Everett

[dannybb55]

Less likely that axles would be wrought at that date compared to wagon wheel rims.

M T Richardson's Practical Blacksmithing Vol. II chapter 3 Deals with the repair of broken Fire Engine and Stone cart axles in 1890. So far as I have read, all of the axles were Wrought Iron. Log cart axles, 3 in square, that I have used for making sets and hammers were iron and so were farm cart and buggy axles that I had, 1 1/4  square. I only had to nick the stock on all 4 sides, heat it red and smack it over the edge of my anvil for it to break off. Try that with steel and it will laugh at you or bend at the hot spot, depending on it's C content. If you can spare one of the box bearing sleaves, I will make you an offer as they are useful as Tue Irons.

[Telgan]

Thanks guys, Just what I was looking for. Should be able to get back in to get them within a week or so depending on the weather. I'll let you know what the yield is on the box bearing sleeves are. Thanks again, Tom

[Dphariss]

I once made a Colt SAA front sight from a piece of rod a friend had in his scrap pile (he is a knife maker) turned it to the proper diameter cut off at the right thickness. Silver soldered into the cut in the barrel and in final shaping part of it broke off at a flaw. Not sure it was wrought iron but it certainly had a serious flaw in the bar.  Fortunately I it broke in a manner and place that did not require removal and making another.
I saw no sign of a flaw at all in the the turning and filing until it broke.
I have seen an original Sharps receiver actually develop fins at the flaw lines, quite a few of them, when run through Shiloh's cyanide process case hardening and quenched.

Dan