***APP USERS, PLEASE USE THE WEBSITE FOR PLACING YOUR PRE ORDERS.***
 
PRE-ORDER: Opens Monday, October 5 · Closes Saturday, October 10 at 8 PM ET · Ships October 16–20
 
THE HOLY GRAIL OF WROUGHT IRON
Many smiths consider pre-1900 wagon wheel iron the Holy Grail of wrought iron, and that's exactly what this batch is made from. We took the iron rims off very large antique wagon wheels and forge welded that iron to both sides of a 1084 high carbon steel core. It's genuine antique wrought iron, and nobody makes it anymore.
 
The Iron
Every rim in this batch was made before 1900. Iron from that era was made by hand in a puddling furnace. A puddler stirred molten pig iron until the carbon burned out, and the iron was then hammered and rolled into bar. The result is nearly pure iron with fine, glassy slag fibers running all through it. Those fibers give wrought iron its wood grain when you etch it. By 1890 steel had taken over most ironwork, and the last wrought iron plant in the U.S. closed in 1969. What's still out there is all there is.
 
Wagon wheel rims are the best of it. A wheelwright heated the iron rim, dropped it over the wooden wheel and quenched it so it shrank down tight. The iron had to survive that and then decades of pounding over rough roads, so it had to be good iron. Big wheels also mean heavy rim stock, which gives us plenty of solid material to forge. That's how wagon wheel iron earned its reputation.
 
The Build
This is a three-layer SanMai: wrought iron on one side, a solid 1084 core in the middle, and wrought iron on the other side. When you grind your bevels, the 1084 core becomes your cutting edge, and the wrought iron stays on the flats. 1084 is simple and forgiving to heat treat, gets hard and holds an edge. You get the look of antique iron on the flats and a real working steel at the edge.
 
Built to Your Size
This isn't a normal drop, and there's no fixed batch list. Pick the length, width, thickness and finish your build needs, and we'll make it to order.
Length: 8" to 18", every inch
Width: 1.5" to 3", in 1/4" steps
Thickness: six ranges, from 0.250"-0.220" down to 0.110"-0.100". Your bar will finish somewhere inside the range you pick.
Finish: Forge Scale, or Surface Ground (+$35)
Each bar is priced by the cubic inch based on the size you pick.
 
Etching
A light ferric etch brings out bright, shiny grain. A deep etch gives a true wood grain texture. Gator Piss® handles both.
 
Good to Know
Wrought iron naturally has small slag inclusions. If you hit a small spot while grinding, that's normal and part of the character of iron that's over 125 years old. The core is solid 1084, so you give up nothing in cutting performance.
Pre-orders close Saturday, October 10 at 8 PM ET. Production starts right after, and bars are expected to ship between October 16 and October 20.
Bars ship fully annealed.
This product is steel only, not a finished knife.