FORGED IRONWORK

Artistic, Decorative and Functional Blacksmith Work

Hand made products by skilled American craftsfolk

"Wrought Iron" is two things.

These should not be confused.

Wrought iron, the material: Wrought iron is an early form of iron that is ductile and was one of the first forms of iron made by man. Wrought iron is no longer made in production. Wrought iron is pure iron crystals in a matrix of silicon and iron oxide slag. Processing of this material by forging gives it a wood like grain structure than can be seen when the material is broken or rusted.

Blacksmiths that want to make items from wrought iron collect old scrap wrought. In recent years groups have set up to process (amalgamate, forge and roll) old wrought iron into new. There have also been several attempts to market pure iron. Pure iron is close to wrought's mechanical properties but does not have the slag that produces the grain and superb ductility of wrought iron.
Wrought iron, a type of metalwork: Generally the term applies to forged iron work (either wrought iron or steel) and is also misapplied to decorative architectural cast iron. The key part of the term is "wrought" meaning worked by hammering or forging such as done by a blacksmith. Today most wrought iron work is made of steel or steel with cast parts made of zinc, lead, iron, or plastic (on really cheaply made work).

"Traditional Ironwork"

This is a very misused and confused term. Who's traditions? When? Where?

Traditional African or Chinese ironwork is very different than European ironwork and even in Europe many countries or regions had their own styles and traditions.

Modern blacksmiths often define traditional ironwork as work produced using mechanical joinery (rivets, mortise and tennon, collaring, wrapping, wedges . .) and forge welding. They eschew modern welding techniques and threaded fasteners even though both have been common in ironwork for over 100 years.

Arc welding can be used in decorative ironwork if done cleanly and without sputter balls. Like any technique it can be done well or done poorly. Welds should not be obvious unless it is a decorative element in itself. MIG (AKA wire welding) can produce much cleaner results than stick welding. If the welds are smooth and clean without grinding then they are usually satisfactory. If they need to be ground down then they are probably not satisfactory welds.

In some countries it is common to cover and smooth welds using automotive body putty. This is NEVER a satisfactory technique in good ironwork.

Fabricated work is made by assembling catalog components. Most of these components are machine made, fairly simple and very uniform. However, a higher class of manually forged components are made in production shops. Both are used in the majority of commercial gates and railing. But neither is hand made work with its associated cost and originality.

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