Wrought Iron & Country Living Resources

Wrought iron is commercially pure iron, having a very small carbon content (not more than 0.15 percent), but usually containing some slag. It is tough, malleable, and ductile and is easily welded. However, it is too soft for blades and swords, at least for their cutting edges, which are usually made of steel with a higher carbon content.

Wrought iron is so named because it is "wrought" or worked from a porous iron mixed with slag and other impurities. The word "wrought" is an archaic past tense of the verb to work. As irregular past-tense forms in English have historically been phased out over long periods of time, wrought became worked. Wrought iron literally means worked iron.

Wrought iron has been used for thousands of years, and represents the "iron" that is referred to throughout western history. It is a fibrous material with many strands of slag mixed into the metal. These slag inclusions give it a "grain" resembling wood, with distinct appearance when etched. Also due to the slag, it has a fibrous look when broken or bent past its failure point.