More discards

Well, every beginning blacksmith and a good number of very experienced modern day 'smiths do it.  They are sitting around, lying at the bottom of a river.  Off in the woods, distant from any obvious source.  Or maybe on some old farm, rusting away.  I am as ethical as I can be and let them be, should I find them in someplace where they might be retrieved or used.  But there are thousands, leaching iron back to its origins.  And, while somewhat poetic, free is free and that just feels like a waste.  So, I dutifully pick up abandoned railroad spikes and turn them into other things.  It takes time and a bit of arm strength to move that much metal into something that you'll enjoy, but they make very, very nice pieces.