Sure, I'd volunteer for finishing the test pieces. I'll be starting another run in a few weeks.
I am happy to provide test samples. I’ll PM you to share contact information.
One thing I've noticed is that during an aggressive etch small inclusions in the WR actually appear to "Sparkle".
I’ve seen the same “sparkle” in the wrought iron of a barrel tube that I etched with FC. It appears that the sparkle is near the center of the wrought strand, with the edges of the strand not showing this effect. Perhaps the edges are changed by being amalgamated with the steel through the forge welding. Below is a micrograph of an etched damascus barrel.
Below is a micrograph image of a broken section of damascus barrel tube. I literally bent the tube over and snapped it in two. The smooth material is the steel, with its much finer grain structure. The very coarse material is the wrought iron. The black stuff in the wrought iron is the silica. The “sparkle” is the iron grain structure. The sparkles in the broken tube, appear very nearly the same as the sparkles in the etched barrel tube. The material below the gaping split is the chemise.
I have some wrought iron anchor chain material, as well as some wagon tire wrought. The anchor chain appears to me, to be of fairly high silica content. I’ve not had a look at the wagon tire to see how it compares.
The silica strands in wrought are very directional. Below are micrographs of the anchor chain iron. The photo of the end of the iron bar displays small dots of silica. The side of the bar shows long strands. It may be best if I do some manipulations of the wrought material to provide multiple angles of the silica strands. I can twist and then flatten it.
It’s interesting to see in the photo of the end of the bar, all of the pieces that were forge welded together during the piling process of making the wrought iron.
