The Sellwood Bridge- is it wrought iron? | The Tools of the Trade | Forum

Hmm, you might be on to something. The Sellwood Bridge was built in 1925. At one point in the design phase, the plan involved re-using the deck span from the original Burnside Bridge, built in 1894. That didn't come to fruition, but approach girders from the 1894 bridge were used in the construction. According to the book Bridges of Portland, the 1894 Burnside Bridge was built from both wrought iron and steel.

On sellwoodbridge.org's FAQ page, they talk about the plan to likely recycle the material, or it could be moved at the new owner's expense. There's lead paint to remove.

I wonder if one could get permission to test parts to determine if they're iron or steel. 'Cuz yeah, I wouldn't mind having a few tons of wrought iron laying around!!

Steve H;17178 wrote: You could pay me to come down and I'll tell you what material it is. I've done some ndt tests on wrought samples and you can tell plain as day with ultrasound. Wrought is dirty and attenuates like crazy, also has very large grain size which further attenuates sound. Steel gives a clear echo in comparison.

Don't worry, The city engineering dept.can tell you the specification for the bridge construction material.Bridges (especially large important bridges) have always been an expensive construction project ,therefore requiring the most modern techniques and records.Also requiring highly sophisticated engineering procedures.Rest assured ,somewhere in the basement of the city hall,there is an engineer who would love to look up that information for you.You just need to find him.

Bruce Crittenden;17181 wrote: Don't worry, The city engineering dept.can tell you the specification for the bridge construction material.Bridges (especially large important bridges) have always been an expensive construction project ,therefore requiring the most modern techniques and records.Also requiring highly sophisticated engineering procedures.Rest assured ,somewhere in the basement of the city hall,there is an engineer who would love to look up that information for you.You just need to find him.

Bruce, you're assuming someone still cares. Obviously they don't if the thing is sitting in a pile.
I was recently contacted by a Washington state DOT engineer who was re-evaluating our state's riveted bridges. He told me '...according to our analysis, none of them should be standing'. Why is that? The term forgetting more than you know comes to mind.

At our western state conference Jeffery Funk brought some wrought iron that had carbon in it (say what?) from one of three bridges he has recovered. I've known Jeffery a long time and appreciate is analytical approach to every forging he does. I got a hunk of this stuff, brought it home and forged it. Wow, so creamy and easy to work with, forging it down to where I could almost see through it with no delamination. Etching it shows tight grain patterns and very homogeneous throughout. So is it steel or wrought? Not sure and really don’t care, but would love to get some more. To say the least.. it would be a big undertaking to break this bridge down into bite size pieces, then move and store it. In my opinion, pieces that where round, square or flat stock could fetch as much as $3 per pound. As I club I am not sure we have the man hours required for such a project, but maybe subcontract it out and recover expenses through sales.