Raw Materials - Forged Earth Back to the starting point, to the heat of the forge. The blacksmith would then have to beat those out by hand or using very simple machine hammers to make the size bars he required. So therefore the cost was prohibitive so only institutions like the church and government institutions, royalty, the aristocracy could afford ironwork.
Wrought iron is a fibrous iron-based material.
The material is actually made by smelting iron ore, coke and limestone in a furnace known as a puddling furnace. Wrought iron now is I believe available from only one furnace that's left in the world as somewhere in England. The only wrought iron that we can get now is what we salvage from building sites and people who bring wrought iron railings or old gates to us which are beyond repair, we salvage the bars out of that to use in other repair work or restoration work. It's beautiful material to weld with. And until the advent of the electric arc welder, round about the 1920's, this was the only way of welding metal.