All About Pocket Knives

On a recent visit to the old Northfield Knife grounds I kicked up this chunk of steel plate.

It puzzles me that a piece of steel plate this thick could be broken as it is. I wonder how this could happen.
It must have been 3/8ths of an inch thick at the time. It's a neat old piece of steel, especially coming from Northfield.
Do any of you, who are knowledgeable in such things, have any idea. It seems like a dumb question but what the hey, how does something like that happen?

Probably cast iron. That stuff breaks pretty easy.

Neat find.

Thanks Willie. That makes sence. I didn't think of cast because it was flat. I obviously don't much about metal.

Broken or just cut with irregular edges like with a cutting torch? Hard to say.

Hi, biglmbass. It was just broken or snapped if you will. Not cut with a torch.
I think Willies idea of cast iron is right. Thanks.

May have been a piece of an old stove or part of a machine base. Not much telling. I've seen a lot of similar metal around old abandoned homesteads. Cast weathers a bit differently than rolled steel and that piece sure looks like old cast iron from where I'm sittin'.

Neat find from a neat old place.

It is a nice old thing Willie and I am glad it's from Northfield.
I'll park "mac and cheese" on it from the oven if nothing else.

making a grill is a great idea...
it may be black iron boiler plate...not cast...
drill small hole out towards the edge, so you can see the metal structure...or grind a bit off the edge..

some blacksmith is dreaming about that plate for material.

OK Donald, I'll drill or grind. What metal structure should I look for? Should I go for a picture?
You work metal. If it's got the goods do you want to have a go at it? It's Northfield!