Wrought Iron Guard

G

garrisonknives

Joined
Jan 10, 2006
Messages
43
Hi all,

I'm looking to try forging a wrought iron guard for a bowie knife I'm making, which leads me to two very important questions.

One, where is a good place to get some wrought iron?

Two, any suggestions that might make the process a little easier,(I have never forged anything before)

Thanks in advance!
 
Ellis sells wrought in chunks, I picked some up at an auction for a whole lot cheaper, but if you don't know what you're looking for and how to tell the difference between that and normal rusty mild steel best to buy from a reliable source. I am currently working on making some, but that's another story :)

As for forging it, work it hot!
Oh yes, if you have never forged before, practice on some inexpensive mild steel scrap or old leaf springs AND WEAR YOUR SAFETY GLASSES

-Page
 
Work it as hot as possible, high welding temps. Wrought is stringy and full of slag. If you work it too cold it will fall apart. It has no carbon so you do not need to worry about burning it like you do steel.

Chuck
 
:confused:Why would you go to the trouble of forging junk metal when you can buy flat iron in any size you want ???
 
Tinbasher said:
:confused:Why would you go to the trouble of forging junk metal when you can buy flat iron in any size you want ???
Click to expand...


When polished and etched the slag makes for a very nice pattern in the wrought iron. Flat clean iron won't have the attractive pattern.
 
Tinbasher said:
:confused:Why would you go to the trouble of forging junk metal when you can buy flat iron in any size you want ???
Click to expand...

Wheres the fun in that?:jerkit:

Seriously though, If I was looking for easy I would have never picked up a hammer, I'd just bandsaw blades out of a slab of flat stock, throw a quick hollow grind on them, pay Paul Bos to heat treat them, paracord the handles and be done with it (Have I offended everyone yet?)

As it is my latest adventure is making wrought iron by cooking rocks, I will eventually turn some of that into blister steel and forge it into blades.
I had never thought about the artistic uses of wrought until someone (Kevin Cashen I think) mentioned using it for blade furniture because of the almost woodgrain effect (especially the really stringy stuff) now, like GarrisonKnives I will be experimenting with forging some gaurds out of it.

Hey GarrisonKnives, when you've had a chance to practice on some mild, email me a pic of what you've done, and if you cover the postage I'll mail you a small chunk of some of my auction find, it's not the grainyest stuff in the world, but I etched a sectional cut and it did hae some interesting patterning.

-Page
 
sunshadow said:
.......

Seriously though, If I was looking for easy I would have never picked up a hammer, I'd just bandsaw blades out of a slab of flat stock, throw a quick hollow grind on them, pay Paul Bos to heat treat them, paracord the handles and be done with it (Have I offended everyone yet?)

......

-Page
Click to expand...

Nah, I wouldn't worry about it. The likes of Gil Hibben, Lloyd Hale, Bob Loveless, Arpad Bojtos, Steve Olszewski and a somewhat long list of other very successful stock removal makers just listen at the arrogance of blade pounders and chuckle, unaffected by their self-assumed superiority for having beat on the steel before grinding it anyway. :D
 
Tinbasher said:
:confused:Why would you go to the trouble of forging junk metal when you can buy flat iron in any size you want ???
Click to expand...

I enjoy the character and the novelty of using very old iron when making a very old style of knife. Quite a few other knifemkers also like it since I sold 500 Lbs of it in three days and everyone that bought it was a knifemaker.

bowieguard-web.jpg
 
You can also get electrolitic Iron in bar form, I heard Rick Furrer had gotten a hold of some.
It does not have the patterning in it though that wrought does. The sight Fitzo linked to is the only place I know of that is commercially making wrought still.

Chuck
 
But they are not interested in us small patato bladesmiths though. I emailed them three times before they told me what the minimum order was.

I even hooked up with a wrought iron restoration contractor in the UK that was willing to piggy back my order with his and it still was not big enough.

BTW, I will be getting another load of wagon wheel rims this spring now that I have a more convenient receiving business to deal with.
 
Their material is highly refined, IIRC, clean and very low in silicates. Not really the characteristics people are looking for in knife furniture.

My friends who use WI a lot on knives say the best thing to find is old wagon wheels, the lowest grade WI with the most "figure". Anchor links seem to have a lot of layering, too.
 
Mike Turner has wrought. I got some last week and it has a really nice pattern to it. It looks good.

Gene
 
I did not mean to upset anyone I was just asking the question .
Could you just acid etch some mild steel bar to get the pattern ??

I would never consider buying a knife with iron furniture because its anothing that will rust if its not looked after.
 
Tinbasher said:
Could you just acid etch some mild steel bar to get the pattern ??
Click to expand...

It's too refined and the silicas are not there. The silicas (ie glass) resist acids and remain shiny while the purer streaks of iron darken (oxidize). Thus you get a very defined pattern.

Forging it at yellow heat just makes the pattens more complex. The anchor chain alot of people are using has a very boring structured grain. By getting the silicas into a liquid state the patterns get more choatic thus producing more character. With enough hammering at yellow heat the silicas will get forced out yielding a more pure but less characteristic iron.
 
wrought iron is very resistant to rusting. i put a small chunk in feric cloride 2-1 and it took 24 hrs to start to see a pattern. i have a bunch of 1/2" wrought iron bar stock but my tresure is a very large chain hand forged by a blacksmith. ill post a picture
 
This pic shows the silica slag after it has cooled. At first glance it just looks like heat scale but it's not flaky. It looks more molten and when you chip off the larger pieces they will hold shape like a casting almost.

Even after all that slag was wrought out it still has a very defined pattern.

wroughthawk-web.jpg
 
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