How Steel Is Made
Scrap-drive sheet: a central panel series shows steelmaking steps, ringed by drawings of household objects (flatiron, lawn mower, kettle) paired with weapons they are said to yield. The footer states that half of every tank, gun, ship and submarine is made from scrap steel. The technique is faint: everyday items stand in for the donor's own household.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Issuer not named on sheet (U.S. home-front scrap-metal campaign)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Issuer not named on sheet (U.S. home-front scrap-metal campaign). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1016 (NAID 514542).
Text on the object
HOW STEEL IS MADE UNLOADING ORE BOAT TAPPING BLAST FURNACE PIG IRON POURING INTO LADLE PIG IRON 50% JUNK 25% STEEL MILL SCRAP 25% LIFTING INGOT FROM SOAKING PIT CHARGING OPEN HEARTH FURNACE INGOT BEING ROLLED ROLLING OUT PLATE PRESSING PLATE INTO SHAPE COMPLETING PART IN MACHINE SHOP Old flatiron - 2 steel helmets or 30 hand grenades. (9 old flatirons - 6-inch shell.) Electric iron - five 37-mm. antiaircraft shells. (9 electric irons - 1000 .50 cal. cartridges.) Lawn mower - six 3-inch shells (252 lawn mowers - one 3-inch antiaircraft gun.) Lamp bulbs - 1,000 burnt-out lamp bulbs - 40 compasses. 1 set of skid chains - 20 37-mm. antiaircraft shells. 1 old tire - 20 pairs parachute trooper's boots, or 12 gas masks. 7,700 aluminum pots and pans - 1 pursuit plane. Wash pail - 3 bayonets. 10 wash pails - one 60-mm. mortar.) Golf clubs - 1 old set of golf clubs - one .30 caliber machine gun. Copper kettle - 84 rounds of ammunition for an automatic rifle. 1 refrigerator - 20 hand grenades. Discarded tractor - 580 machine guns (.30 cal.) Old disc harrow - 10 antiaircraft detectors. 1 old battery - three 3" antiaircraft guns, or three 75-mm. howitzers, or 29 tank guns (37-mm.). 2 lbs. of waste kitchen fat will fire five anti-tank shells. Five hayrakers - an armored scout car. Tooth Paste Tubes - 60 old tooth paste tubes provide all the tin necessary for solder in the electrical connections of a Flying Fortress. Discarded 1-horse cultivator - two 60-mm. mortars. [illegible: small print beside the automobile, beginning "1 old automobile with an equivalent amount of pig iron will make more than - 16 17-mm. guns, or 37 20-mm. aircraft guns (cannon), or 30 .50 cal. machine guns, or 1 1/2 16-inch Navy shells, or 2 2,000-pound aerial bombs."] Discarded spike or spring tooth sections harrow - four 4-inch shells. 125 old tires - 1 Flying Fortress. A pair of 2-disk tractor plows - 75-mm. tank gun. Rubber used for one month's manufacture of baby pants can make 2,800 rubber lifeboats for ocean-going planes. Garden hose (25 ft.) - 6 collapsible water bags or 6 auxiliary tires for pursuit planes. Waste Paper - (needed only in certain areas) - 100 pounds - carton for 35 anti-aircraft shells, or 80 75-mm. shell containers. 1 washing and ironing machine - 21 4-lb. incendiary bombs, 7 washing and ironing machines - 1 anti-aircraft fuse setter. A dozen old mowers - 3-inch antiaircraft guns. A hand cornsheller - three 6-inch shells. Half of every tank, gun, ship and submarine is made from scrap steel.
