First attempt with wrought

Keith Willis

Keith Willis

Well-Known Member
First attempt with wrought,need help

This wrought iron came to me from Greg(G.Shahan)here on the forum.
I am hoping someone can tell me what I did wrong.
I looks as though I may have etched a little too long,but
I am not sure.I did 2 sets of bolsters,all were done in the
same mixture of Ferric and water,all were done at the same time
but one really came out different,Is this normal?I have one set mounted,and I was thinking they may have etched a little deep,
Just kinda unsure.Thanks for the help

God bless,Keith
 
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Some peices may have a lot of stuff going on and other parts may not have much at all. You likely just have a more ineresting piece of the wrought and a less interesting piece.
 
Also etching wrought is a game.Each piece is different,etch,rub with steel wool, check,etch some more till you get he effect you want.If you put 3 pieces in the etch for the same amout of time they will all come out different.
Stan
 
Stan is right. If you want the bolsters to match you need to do one at a time and keep checking with the first one you etched until ( hopefully ) you get them to match somewhat. Have fun.

Larry
 
What causes the color variations is impurities (silica) in the wrought. Wrought is made by taking Pig Iron which is a cast with lots of carbon, heating to a welding heat and hammering it out (therefore Wrought) and welding it together, thereby burning and forcing the carbon and silica out. The linear folding and welding causes the fibrous qualities. It is very similar to what we do when we are welding up Damascus, except with Damascus we start with a higher quality product with more predictable results. There are also different grades (qualities) of wrought iron depending on the quality of the original product, how many times it is folded, etc. Because of all of the variances you can get many different looking products. You can fold and weld your wrought and further refine it.
 
Thanks for the help guys,
I know the pics are not that good,but does the etch
I have look to deep,or is the depth just a personal thing?

God bless,Keith
 
I have a few billets of WI that I forged round the twisted it . It gave it a nice pattern.:5: Between etches, I bead-blast it.
 
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