Russia iron

Exported in quantity to the United States, it was notably used there for the cladding of steam locomotive boilers, where it found favor because paints of the time could not withstand the heat to which boiler cladding was subjected; its fine decorative finish went well with the brightly painted locomotives of the time.

[5] Its heat-resistant finish also led to its use to clad stoves, ovens, heating pipes and other similar tasks,[6] and in the manufacture of baking pans and sheets.

[8] Much effort was expended on attempting to duplicate Russia iron in the United States, with varying degrees of success.

Henry Stafford Osborn, in his text The Metallurgy of Iron and Steel (1869), describes a process used successfully which is close to descriptions of the Russian method.

[9] The development of high-temperature paints and the trend towards black-painted locomotives combined to reduce the demand for Russia iron by 1900, and little if any was imported after the beginning of World War I.