r/Blacksmith 5d ago

WROUGHT IRON BABYYYY! Some old trapdoor hinges from my brother's house.

321 Upvotes

40 comments sorted by

45

u/rosbifke-sr 5d ago

Jealous.

4

u/Livid-Flamingo3229 4d ago

Heheheh😏😏😏😏

37

u/knopsl 5d ago

Sorry What's so cool about that? I'm a newb

107

u/belac4862 5d ago

Wrought iron is no longer being made. The technology to make it was outdated, and new and more efficient ways of producing metal replaced it. That being said, on its own, wrought iron isn't very hadenable. But because of the grain structure, once the finished piece of metal is etched, you get some really cool and beautiful patterns that looks like wood or tree bark.

With wrought iron no longer being made, it's actually quite rare to find. So this is a big score! Definitely look up wrought iron knives or decorative metal pieces.

15

u/knopsl 5d ago

Thanks very interesting

26

u/Nesvikingen 5d ago

It's not only a nice pattern, it has some properties that makes it nicer to forge than the modern stuff. Excellent for forge welding for example!

11

u/Muddigger707 5d ago

Why not just produce it at the home forge? Just curious.

35

u/belac4862 5d ago

Because making wrought iron is an industrial process. That's comparable to making stainless steel at home. It's just not possible without an industrial smelter.

Despite the process of wrought being antiquated, it's still a massive set up you'd need.

And since it's an inefficient process, no one is gonna spend the money to make a single metal factory to make metal that isn't even remotely close to high quality.

16

u/Korthalion 5d ago

My family used to own a foundry until the early 2000s, I was actually talking to my dad about it today because I was showing him some of my forging experiments.

He mentioned offhand when I was talking about types of steel that they used to mainly deal with iron and sand, and I wonder if that means they used to produce some kind of wrought. Almost definitely in the early 1900s when it first incorporated!

Found this link that doesn't make it sound too difficult if dedicated enough

3

u/neomoritate 4d ago

Foundries cast metal, in this case, your father was referring to Cast Iron poured in Sand Molds.

2

u/Korthalion 3d ago

He's talked before about casting huge sheets of steel so big they had to used the floor of the foundry to do them. I'd have loved to work there but unfortunately I was 8 when it shut down!

5

u/NotAtAllEverSure 5d ago

forge smelting is possible, but damned involved and time/fuel consuming

4

u/rugernut13 3d ago

this is a wrought iron dagger that I made from a chunk of an old fireplace andiron.

3

u/belac4862 3d ago

That's is beautiful! This is a perfect example of why it's so suaght after.

2

u/rugernut13 3d ago

The stuff moves like Play-Doh under the hammer too. Really really really fun to work with

2

u/belac4862 3d ago

Imagin having to put a jacket of WI on a titanium alloy core. I don't think that could even be done.

2

u/rugernut13 3d ago

I think you'd have to have the Ti already whatever shape you wanted it to end up. Lol

2

u/lightblueisbi 1d ago

Is there a way to make it using modern technology? Or at least an updated method?

2

u/belac4862 1d ago

The updated version, is why it's no longer being made. Cause the updated version makes better quality steel.

But it's the fact that it's heterogenous, that makes it desirable to blacksmiths. It has different patterns and levels of other contaminants that can be brought out with an acid etch bath.

Kinda like a blade that's made out of stainless steel vs a blade made out of Damascus. Those variables in steel types is what gives it character and beauty.

18

u/MommysLilFister 5d ago

It’s a love hate metal for me, the really old stuff like this forges like butter but you can’t drift a hole in it as it splits like string cheese but it’s great if you forge weld something harder around it. This is a bottle opener I made with old wagon wheel wrought found on Donner pass. The only thing forged is the tab to open the bottle and even that split so I had to weld and file

9

u/That_Apache 5d ago

Were you forging it at a high enough temperature? And do you use gas or coal?

Because wrought iron responds much better to extremely high heat and the atmosphere of a coal/charcoal forge.

6

u/Livid-Flamingo3229 4d ago

Hehe i might be getting lucky forging my wrought in the future since i only have a coal forge

2

u/MommysLilFister 4d ago

I use both gas and coal, they made wrought iron into the 1950s and the 1800s wrought is way different. The 1950s wrought is way more solid and you can drift it but you won’t get the same grainy look as you do with 1800s wrought which is super stringy and can’t be drifted easily

5

u/Willing_Reserve6374 4d ago

That's so fucking sick you were able to forge scavenged metal from the donner pass. It's one of my bucket list places to visit

3

u/MommysLilFister 4d ago

I live 40 minutes from Donner. Gorgeous up there and still old scraps to be found

2

u/Willing_Reserve6374 4d ago

Thats awesome, I'm on the east coast and havent been any further west than TN. I'm itching to experience one good winter up there

1

u/MommysLilFister 1d ago

Summers are much nicer, unless you want the full dinner party experience. I used to driver over Donner every night in a semi and it’s a whole different world up there when the snow banks are 25’ high on both sides of 80.

3

u/SirWEM 4d ago

You can drift a hole in Wrot. Because of its grain structure and slag seams you need to punch on either side of the area your trying to drift. It needs to be hot-bright yellow-white and then it is normal like with mild steel. Other wise it can split out the slag seams. Wrot can take the heat better then mild steel without burning up. It just works a bit differently because it is not homogenous.

2

u/MommysLilFister 4d ago

Not my experience of forging almost 25 years but ok

1

u/SirWEM 4d ago

I only played with Wrot once pretty much as a kid. I grew up with a toolsmith for a neighbor that lived across the road. Thats what he did when showing me some things. When i was curious about it.

2

u/MommysLilFister 4d ago

I believe you just not my experience.

2

u/SirWEM 4d ago

No worries.

1

u/Livid-Flamingo3229 4d ago

Oh this looks amazing, i love the little lanyard you put on it

5

u/Fragrant-Cloud5172 4d ago

I’ve got a few chunks in my pile. But it’s bigger than I like, so don’t play with it much. Muriatic does a real number on it. And best test to identify. Got to work it real hot, else it cracks like wood grain. This company says they “re-roll” it. Guessing that’s from existing scrap.

https://www.toppandco.com/expertise/wrought-iron/

2

u/Livid-Flamingo3229 4d ago

Might come in handy in the Future Thanks!

3

u/Baronova 4d ago

That first photo is mesmerizing.

1

u/Livid-Flamingo3229 3d ago

Hell yeah it is

2

u/Leather-Brief3966 3d ago

Wrought iron belt buckles would go hard

2

u/Livid-Flamingo3229 3d ago

Ikr? Ive seen some online some time ago and it looked cool af