Welding wrought iron

The problem is the make up, is a semi laminar construction with all sorts of crap between the layers

When it rusts it's like puff pastry

Seems to go bad at random too, some bits rust right through into flake while two inches away on the same surface it's still as good as the day it was first painted

Joint zones seem to be pretty vulnerable too, but most metals suffer from that issue

You can find old edged tools, such as axes, and adzes with the main body of the tool made of wrought iron, with the cutting edge of steel with enough carbon to be hardenable forge welded to it. 200 years ago steel was used in a way similar to the way tungsten carbide is used today. The more the WI is hammered out, the finer the slag layers become, and the better the quality of the piece.

Ian S C

Spoke to a metallurgist who used to work in the steel industry. According to him you could throw any old scrap, wrought, cast whatever into a furnace as long as it had flux and you got it properly molten. The problem nowadays is 'tramp' metals, ie copper and so on that get mixed in

With wrought iron there is no contamination by other metals, or grades of steel, it is the first stage from raw ore, straight out of the ground, and into the furnace. As there is virtually no carbon in the smelted iron, the temperature to melt it to liquid is very high, so the metal got to a paste, this got puddled (stirred) to bring as much as possible of the slag to the surface for removal, as the metal cooled it was bought out in lumps known as blooms, and this is what the blacksmith got to work on. I think there is a group in England who are, in a very small way making wrought iron.

Ian S C