Under a blue sky, it would certainly look blue even if under something like incandescent lamps it would appear gray. I think many different descriptions result from the different conditions under which its reflective surface was viewed. Remember, Oz only looked like an Emerald City because Oscar Diggs decreed the citizens would all wear sunglasses......

dave

Thanks Jeff,

Some interesting information coming up.

For the record, I am not really interested in the technical considerations of how Russia Iron is produced. I think we have a pretty good handle on how it was produced from the variety of first hand accounts of Russia Iron that are available from the time it was produced. Many are recounted in Dr. John Percy's 1871 book "The Production of Russian Sheet-Iron"

Perhaps my original subject title was misleading. I have let the thread stand as is because it is of value to the preservation community at large. My main interest, however, is in developing an exhibit on Russia Iron. To that end, I am looking for specific primary source documents, like Railway and locomotive manufacturer records denoting what companies Russian Iron was ordered from or advertisements which market Russian Sheet-Iron specifically noting it's use on locomotive boilers for jacketing.

Regards,
Steve Piwowarski

This is just a restatement of what has already been posted, but at least it's a period document in high-resolution:

http://historyoftherails.com/wp-content ... l-3-pp.jpg

Cell phone shot sent to me last night of a sample piece of the boiler jacket fresh out black oxide tank.

Jason fitting-up the lower sheet on the engineer's side...

Holy cow, that's gorgeous!

It looks like black chrome, or a piece of mirrored super dark window tint laid over the sheet.

Does the photo show stainless or conventional steel sheet?

What is the cost?
Are there any special maintenance needs, and can it be left out in the rain and weather?

That is sheet iron- procured from the source of sheet iron mentioned earlier in this thread. Some additional exciting details and research are coming together regarding Russa Iron and our quest to replicate it and tell it's story.

Fun fact for today: One of the importers of Russia Iron to the U.S. between the Civil War and the turn of the century was Phelps-Dodge.

Steve

Iron sheet was used for the boiler jacket. The iron sheets were cut out on a water jet and then polished to a mirror finish. The coating is black oxide. I don't know what the final cost is but we received a NRHS grant to cover some of the expense. The boiler jacket will need to be oiled as regular maintenance. The sheet polishing was contracted out and to save money the jacket sheets inside the cab were not polished to same finish as jacket sheets for the boiler barrel. That's why you can see swirl marks on the sheet pictured.

Any chance we could see a picture of what the material looks like outdoors? Thanks.

The questions I have now would be how long you can preserve the finnish and how often oil would have to be applied. How do the stainless sheet age differently than the steel sheets?

I have worked on a steamer with a painted jacket and the owners had the crew rub (wet) it with diesel each operating morning. That took a lot of effort, and it had to be done each day because it collected dust, dirt and soot from the exhaust. The appearance looked shabby in just a day. I would recommend a dry finnish on boiler jackets. Even just sitting in the shop they collect a huge amount of dust, if the surface attaches to that dust.

Maybe there is a sealant that can be applied to the finnish that would be dry and not collect dirt & debris and allow a wipe off with just a soft dry cloth.

Here's a shot of one of the highly polished pieces of jacketing out in the sunlight. Just to reiterate, these are imported iron sheets that were commercially polished. The dark bluish-black color is caused by a chemical reaction.

That's a nice black jacket, but it isn't Russia iron and doesn't really look like it...

Randy

The new jacket matches the Russian iron uncovered on number 9's original jacket.

side by side, at the same angle, under the same lighting they look very close.