>What raw material are you beginning with? Mild steel, for instance, will
>have very different physical properties as compared to the material in
>your historical samples. That could make a big practical difference in the
>ease of these operations. Iron used for drawing was special stuff and very
>ductile. Quite possibly also more easily cut with shears or whatever.
>
>Somewhere I have an article specifically about the history of the slitting
>mill. I'll try and dig it out - I thought someone else would mention it
>here and save me the bother of looking for it.
Stephen if you can find the article I would appreciate the reference or
possibly getting a xerox.
You have a good point Stephen. My initial experiment was with mild steel
because it was easier to obtain. I think the basic forming will be similar
with actual wrought iron. Now that I have obtained some actual pre 1700
charcoal based wrought iron I will be repeating the experiment to check.
Your comment on the iron used for drawing is very much to the point. I am
having great difficulty finding out what made "drawing iron" special and how
to tell if a sample meets the required characteristics, purity?,
distribution or percentage of slag? etc.
My attempts at forging and drawing two 19th century wrought iron pieces
recovered from a water tank and a bridge produced a wrought iron that I
would not describe as ductile. I have even tried to anneal the iron after
forging without a big improvement. It makes for an interesting puzzle when
viewed from the point of view of the medieval smith. How did he know his
bar of iron was now at a point that was suitable for wire drawing.
Mark
|