Maybe a silly question...

M

Mook

Guest
...but what's the difference between wrought iron and cast iron?

Well, that's not the silly question. What I'm really wondering is could one take an old cast iron skillet, grind it up, mix it with a source of carbon (a la tamahagane) and make carbon steel?

I realize of course that there are endless sources of knife steel to be found, but is cast iron theoretically a good source of iron as a starting point for steel, or is it adulterated and just junk?
 
Wrought Iron has very little carbon in it, probably less than .1%, steel would be more than .1% carbon in the iron, and cast iron would be iron with more than 2.5% of carbon. I don't think those numbers are accurate, but you get the idea. unsure

To make steel from cast iron, I guess you would have to burn the carbon out of it, much easier than adding carbon.
 
Aaaahhh! I see! Thanks for the info before I chop up the old lady's skillet and throw the pieces in the chiminea. :)
 
As I understand it, cast iron is badically what all steel starts out as out of the furnice as. It is cast in large ingots called pigs (pig iron). It is over 2% carbon with a lot of silicates mixed in. Wrought iron is forged (wrought) to decrease the carbon and silicates ending up with almost no carbon content and the silcates distributed in strands. As is, cast iron is too brittle due to it's carbon content to forge and I understant it's a mother bear to weld too. Wrought iron can be forged and is weldable.

Doug Lester
 
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