Wrought Iron

[2treks]

Is there an accurate or sure way to tell a piece of wrought iron from another metal?
CTT

[Lamey]

if it has some age it will rust with an almost "woodgrain" look.  Otherwise you can clean off a piece and etch, generally wrought is going to look amlost like very low count, dirty damascus... think big weave cable damascus.

[srtben]

Cut through it most of the way and bend it , it should have a fiberie look to it. Almost like splintered wood.

[osageo]

touch it to the grinder and wrought will have orange sparks , high carbon will be white.

[Lin Rhea]

All of the above. The only problem is that each of the above methods is somewhat invasive to the object if it is something you cant scuff or damage.

A good eye can sometimes tell, depending on what the object is and if the light is right.

[2treks]

Thanks guys. I have spent 12yrs cleaning up around the old farm house and barns, and I sadly scrapped  TONS of scrap iron, but as of late I have wanted to keep the wrought. I will keep the above methods in mind and give them a try.

What is wrought iron best suited for in Forging/Smithying? I am thinking edged tools. Maybe some old time broad heads(bodkins/medieval).
I have a friends 13 year old son that has been pounding some steel and wants to do more. He has been to a number of hammer-ins and may even belong to a local club. This is not my friend but this is the club.   http://woldumar.org/cabinhistory.php

[Lin Rhea]

Chuck, wrought iron is a unique material and was once the only material for blacksmithing, other than some steel that the blacksmith could make by infusing carbon into iron or aquired by recycling.

Its made up of bundles of linear strands, which although fused together, are recognizable as separate. This gives the material similar characteristics as wood since the direction of grain of the iron needs to be considered when making and designing an object.

It was, and still is, used by the blacksmith for general non-hardening applications. Hinges, latches, chain, etc. When a cutting tool was made, which had to have the hardenability along the edge, often a steel "bit" was welded into the iron body of the tool to serve as the cutting edge.

As an example, here is an axe before the bit was welded and after. The body is iron and the bit is steel.
   

       

Here is a bar of wrought that Karl cut from an old bridge and it shows the end grain layering and bundling of the fibers even though this is not etched. Notice that there is small voids here and there. This is also very common in wrought.
   

[2treks]

Thank you much Lin. Your axes still keep me awake at night, I really like them. Thanks for showing and explaining.
CTT

[halfseminole]

Gives me pause at all I've tossed to the recyclers over the years.  I honestly feel bad now.  Some of you guys would have loved to have it.

Thanks for all the identifiers, I think I know a good recipient if I find any more wrought.

[tippit]

Lot of wrought iron on east coast as most old ships anchor chains were made from it...tippit

[Ray Hammond]

Yep. The stuff I found was an ancient set of wagon springs.

[Bobby Urban]

Chuck - all good information above and I am getting in on this late but FYI - I have access to tons, literally, of WI so if your friend needs a little piece to play with let me know and we can get together sometime.  My friend who owns the shop I work in rebuilds decomped bridges - (think 100+ yr old truss bridges)  Most of these are completely wrought and wen you have two or three bridges laying around the shop yard at a time there is a lot or WI.

Also note that WI is not all equal and differences can be identified even in the same piece if it is big enough.  Some etches nicer than others as far as pattern goes.  In the etchent the silica gets eaten away leaving voids that can look much like damascus at times.  I think some has more silica than others.  On another note - WI forge welds really easy and makes great san mai blades or, as Lin has shown, hawks with a hardenable blade center or hawk bit forged in.  

Be careful - you already have plenty of hobbies/obsessions and getting involved in steel pounding is not different.  Once you get started it is hard to stop - even for dinner.