Frank Fusco
Member
- Messages
- 12,793
- Location
- Mountain Home, Arkansas
The discussion I fired up re: Grizzly vs. Jet brought a question to (my) mind. First a qualifier. I've told y'all my knowledge of electricity is about a .1 on a 1 to 10 scale. When it comes to metallurgy, I'm probably a 2.5. I know steel is iron with carbon added and whole varieties of steels can be made by varying the amount of carbon and adding other stuff. I know that pure iron is the stuff dug out of the ground and smelted down. Y'all also know I hang around a lot with guys who live in the pre-1830 world. Some of them are blacksmiths who bemoan the fact that they cannot buy pure iron anymore. What they are able to acquire comes from junked antiques, like decorative fences from old, very old, houses. What they can buy is usually really a steel. I had a Vermont Castings woodburning stove that was advertised as 'cast iron' but the fine print in the literature said it was made from old engine blocks. Methinks those are really some kind of steel rather than pure iron. We are also all aware that much of the merchandise coming from China that is steel/iron was first sent to them as scrap iron/steel from the U.S. So, with regards to the lathes, and other tools, we talk about here, I'm wondering just what the 'iron' is that they are made from. Whether it is the Grizzly's I talk about or Bill Grumbines big Robust. Is that cast 'iron' really iron or sumptin' else? And, while we're at it....why does cast iron benefit from being aged? I hear old iron is better than new iron. This ain't wine. Wassup?