Wrought iron knife question

[zampilot]

The weather has warmed and I've made two really crappy RR spike hawks (that darn hole is a pain to get right), one fairly good small patch knife out of an old Nicholson file and one 'camp style' knife out of wrought iron wagon wheel rim. Being very new to this my question is: how do it treat the WI knife when I've got it to my desired final shape by forging? Do I simply file away any burrs and set an edge, since there is very little carbon to harden with a heat treat+quench? Or is there something to do as a final treatment?
Thanks!
:hmm:

 

[LRB]

Only thing I know of would be to "cold forge", cold hammer, the final forming of the edge to work harden it. Maybe Graywolf would have a better suggestion. I think he has made WI blades in the past.

 

[zampilot]

Thanks Wick, I'll do that and see how it turns out.

 

[LRB]

I am sure you realize, it won't hold a good edge, but there are surviving examples of originals.

 

[zampilot]

That's why I'm making it, just a creation based on something found late 1700's to mid 1800's, like those in Homespun Knives. I suppose they carried a steel, a file or some other sharpening device as it would be needed often

 

[LRB]

Yes, they should be easy to sharpen. Another thing I trust you also know, is that WI knives were not the norm even then. WI blades would be more of a last resort, or a matter of convienience in most cases. Madison Grant labeled many knives in that book as wrought, but we really don't know how many, if in fact any, were acually wrought iron. Could be all he labeled as such, or even possibly none. His dating is also considered very questionable. If you are really interested, you might also want " THE KNIFE IN HOMESPUN AMERICA" by Gordon Minnis. A very similar book, but Minnis was more cautious in his dating. Don't mean to discourage you at all. Should be an interesting project, and you can have some fun doing it, and even learn a lot. Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[ohio ramrod]

You could try to raise the carbon content of the surface by wrapping the blade in leather and then placing it in a hot forge fire to burn the leather, repeat three times, to increase the carbon. I have tried this method and it does work fairly well. :hmm:

 

[rich pierce]

I don't know the basis for some knives being called wrought iron; what tests were done, etc. or why. W/o grinding on an original, I'm not sure one could tell. I'm a little unconvinced at the moment that wrought iron knives existed in any numbers. If case hardened, deep and long, a wrought iron knife would then be a steel knife on the outside, and soft and malleable on the inside.

 

[Jblk]

When they made axes from wrought iron they folded the iron and forge welded a section of steel for the blade edge.I don't know if you could do that with a knife blade.