Any ideas on what this might be?

[RoscoeM]

Anyone know what this is?  They are all the same thing...

 

 

 

 

  

[Fossildude19]

This looks like slag, to me.

[val horn]

I would like to see more of the first square one. The others look like iron stone to me.

[RoscoeM]

Give me just a couple minutes to take some more pictures.  I have a couple other pieces as well... I'll send pics of the first one then send pics of the other 2 pieces...

[RoscoeM]

[RoscoeM]

[RoscoeM]

By the way, this stuff is really heavy! I don't have a way to weigh it but it is very heavy... Also it's magnetic...

Edited March 15, 2022 by RoscoeM

[Mark Kmiecik]

1 hour ago, RoscoeM said:

By the way, this stuff is really heavy! I don't have a way to weigh it but it is very heavy... Also it's magnetic...

 

Weighing it wouldn't help unless you use the weight to weight-in-water ratio to determine specific gravity. That will tell you if it's iron. The specific gravity of iron slag is 3.2 to 3.6 .

[val horn]

Ok thank you for the additional photos.  They do look like the same  material.  Your local geology museum or university geology department might be the place to turn to next.

[hemipristis]

I believe it to be anthropogenic-created iron.

 

The only naturally cubic iron objects I know of are pyrite and limonite pseudomorphs after pyrite. It's obviously not pyrite.  Limonite isn't all that heavy, it's weakly magnetic, and the color is rusty-gray, not gun metal gray.

Some of the pieces have a semi-molten slag appearance, as noted by @Fossildude19

Edited March 15, 2022 by hemipristis

[Plax]

Did I miss the information regarding where this was found? The most important help to identification is where.

[RoscoeM]

I found this in a creek bed in Kansas...

[Mahnmut]

14 hours ago, RoscoeM said:

 

 

 

 

Hi RoscoeM, I think you can see two properties of a cast slaglike substance here:

In the first picture you see a crystal structure that started its growth from  the four surfaces towards the middle, like a cooling ingot. In the second pic you can clearly distinguish several layers of cast material that would have been not completely liquid, but viscous at the moment of casting, otherwise the layers would be either flat or completely dissolved. It being magnetic speaks for metallic iron or Fe3O4, Magnetite in the mix. At different poInts in the process of smelting Iron, slag is removed from the oven by letting it run out (tapping?) and maybe thats where your casts come from.

Best Regards,

J

[RoscoeM]

Thank you!

[RoscoeM]

These three pieces were found in the exact same place and seem to be made of the same stuff but the inner is a little different... Can anyone explain???

[Mahnmut]

Hi again,

It seems you have found a place where iron smelting took place some time in the past. Maybe you can find out about the history of the place in a local library?

 

Although we are not talking fossils anymore, I hope its ok, because things you find while hunting fossils and may confuse with them may have their place here.

"Slag" is not one pure substance, but a mixture of different molten minerals, sometimes including charcoal or sand, that is left over and usually "swimming" on top of the molten iron that accumulates at the bottom, being heavier than the oxides, sulfides and whatnot that where contained in the ore. Different materials in slag may weather very differently, have different colours and densities depending on their main components.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slag

Best Regards,

J

[RoscoeM]

Thanks again! I really appreciate the information and your time!