Iron pipe - any ideas about composition?

[doggonemess]

I found this pipe in the woods today. It's about three feet long, at least 70 lbs, and looks to be iron with some kind of coating on the inside. The outer diameter is 6.75 inches, the inner about 6 inches.

Are there any metal people out there in primitive land that might be able to give me an idea what kind of pipe this is? Is it cast iron, or wrought, or something else?

Thanks!

Before I dug it up:


Looking straight down:


Close-up with a flash:

[Thesquirrelslinger]

I am going to say thats cast iron sewage pipe. Smack it with a sledgehammer, and see what color it is when broken. If it breaks sort of like glass(e.g with sharp edges, seems brittle) with a gray or whiteish inside it is probably cast. To me, that looks like cast iron because it is resistant to corrosion and it doesn't show flaky rust. The liner is probably plastic, to prevent the sewage or water flowing through it from damaging it. new cast iron pipe often has it in my experiance.

BTW, you can't forge it easily. It does melt decently though. if it as thick as you say, what else would it be?
I just realized you probably won't be able to break it.

it has a lot of impurities in it, and a LOT of carbon.

[jeffhalfrack]

That's old cast iron concrete lined water line used in city water lines,,,new stuff is similar but is ductile steel  hard stuff  ,,, to tell  them apart  is hit it with a sledge hammer ,,,cast  would  break,,ductile  well  you'll  have to explain why the  hammer is in your neighbors tree    JeffW

[bubby]

That's old cast iron concrete lined water line used in city water lines,,,new stuff is similar but is ductile steel  hard stuff  ,,, to tell  them apart  is hit it with a sledge hammer ,,,cast  would  break,,ductile  well  you'll  have to explain why the  hammer is in your neighbors tree    JeffW

x2

[Thesquirrelslinger]

That's old cast iron concrete lined water line used in city water lines,,,new stuff is similar but is ductile steel  hard stuff  ,,, to tell  them apart  is hit it with a sledge hammer ,,,cast  would  break,,ductile  well  you'll  have to explain why the  hammer is in your neighbors tree    JeffW

it looks like it is lined with blue plastic. are you sure its cement? I did not know it was blue. Thanks for info.. maybe that explains why my piece ( found a fragment in street) wouldn't melt...

[Poggins]

Watch out ! Some of the old steam pipe had asbestos in it , if it looks like plastic or fibrous you may not want to mess with it. No guarantee what it is but back in the day they used asbestos for just about everything, so when you run across the old stuff you might try to find someone that knows this stuff, maybe a scrap yard .

[doggonemess]

Thanks for all the info! I went back to the woods today and brought a hammer. I'm pretty sure it's cast iron.



I did have fun, though. And took video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aplr7desExE&feature=youtu.be

[doggonemess]

One more detail - I took some pics of the other pipe that was too heavy / stuck to move:



Another thing - I got a piece of the inside coating, and it's very much like concrete. So this is most likely as mentioned before - an old cast iron water pipe. Thanks again!

[Dalton Knapper]

If you are looking for wrought iron, look for old wagon tires. Lots of times they have whole wheels for sale at places, but the wood is so far gone that it is pretty much worthless to sell as a wheel - you just want the tire anyway for smithing uses. So offer them $5 or $10 for that "usless" hunk of iron. You can confirm it is wrought iron by cutting it in two, smoothing off the cut (if needed) and look for layering.