So, I've really liked the looks of some of the wrought iron guards that I have seen some people use. It looks really cool when etched. However, here's my question. Do you re-forge the wrought iron before you use it for your guard. I cut a piece and started slotting it for a guard, and noticed after a lot of work, that the piece had a crack running down the middle of the piece I cut. Due to the fibrous nature of the wrought iron, I'm assuming this could always be and issue on really old pieces. Do I try to basically do a quick forge weld of the piece to make sure that it is solid, before I try using it as a guard?
Casey, Every material you decide to use will bring with it it's own set of problems. Wrought iron has them too. Also, as with other materials, you will find ways to get around the issues and use it to your advantage.
The only reason that wrought iron has problems is because we are treating it like the other homogenous materials that we've become accustomed to. Wrought Iron is made for forging. It's character , being fibrous, almost requires forging in every step of it's becoming the final object. It may be that the original object only needed a lower level of refinement to do the job. Now when you repurpose the material you see that it needs more refinement. If you plan to use more of that same material just plan to refine it, working at welding heat and fluxing at first.
Here's an additional possiblity if you're comfortable with it. You're already at heat, after the welding and compacting, just forge the part to shape.
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Casey, Every material you decide to use will bring with it it's own set of problems. Wrought iron has them too. Also, as with other materials, you will find ways to get around the issues and use it to your advantage.
The only reason that wrought iron has problems is because we are treating it like the other homogenous materials that we've become accustomed to. Wrought Iron is made for forging. It's character , being fibrous, almost requires forging in every step of it's becoming the final object. It may be that the original object only needed a lower level of refinement to do the job. Now when you repurpose the material you see that it needs more refinement. If you plan to use more of that same material just plan to refine it, working at welding heat and fluxing at first.
Here's an additional possiblity if you're comfortable with it. You're already at heat, after the welding and compacting, just forge the part to shape.
Thank you! I had actually thought about forging the guard to shape, if I was going to have to forge it to weld the crack. I will definitely try that out. I sanded and test etched a section to see what it would look like. It will be interesting to compare after forging and etching.
