IRONWORK

IRON WORK WITH “EARLY OAK” A great deal of the work of early carpenters and joiners necessitated products from the blacksmiths forge: hinges, locks, reinforcing straps, hasps, nails, casement frames, spring latches, stays, handles, door latches, hanging rails and rings; to name but a few. There were also items to stand on, or near, and even driven into furniture, such as candle and rushlight holders.
Today we, as contemporary joiners and carpenters, rely on the blacksmith just as much and for our top end pieces are extremely particular that the work is carried out in the same manner as centuries ago. For example, we mostly use genuine wrought iron (not mild steel or black iron), which must be shaped on the forge, hand filed and with all the joints fire welded or hot riveted (no gas or electric welding). Furthermore, no two nails on our work are exactly identical. Each nail, and there maybe hundreds in one piece of furniture, is individually worked.
These pages show a cross section of how the blacksmiths art is still used on our oak furniture and architectural woodwork, either as a necessary part of its structure and usage, or simply as a means of associated ornament.

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WROUGHT IRON CHANDELIER
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WROUGHT IRON CANDLESTAND

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WROUGHT IRON WALL SCONCE

IRON WINDOW CASEMENTS IN OAK FRAMES. The three photographs below illustrate accurate replicas of typical 16th, 17th and 18th century windows. For the fixed lights, genuine leaded panels, using old and restoration glass, are puttied directly into rebates on the oak frames and fixed with flat head nails. Unlike modern windows, they are not faced with putty. The opening lights consist of a rectangular frame of flat section wrought iron, fire welded together, with the leaded panel cemented directly onto the outside face and secured by lead ties. Other pre-soldered lead ties are twisted around the horizontal iron saddle bars for re-enforcement against the elements. The decorative handles are riveted into the main frame and have holes at their bases for the iron stays to hook into, holding the casement in an open position. Ornate spring latches or simple turnbuckles hold them shut. Iron casements were traditionally either coated with gloss paint (never matt), usually black, or left bare as per the examples below. Wrought iron will attract surface rust and may become pitted with age if left unprotected, but the degree of corrosion is usually only superficial and structurally will last almost indefinitely, painted or not. In our view the colour and texture of mildly corroded iron has a natural beauty all of its own, particularly when occasionally waxed. The hand moulded, draw-bored and pegged, wooden frames were made from well air dried English oak or re-claimed old oak. 

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REPLICA 16TH C. IRON CASEMENT

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REPLICA 18TH C. IRON CASEMENT

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REPLICA 17TH C. IRON CASEMENT

Some other applications of ironwork on our furniture and architectural woodwork.

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SPRING LATCH

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REPLICA 15TH C. LOCK

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SETTLE HINGE

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'H' HINGES

 

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REPLICA 14TH C. LOCK

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REPLICA 17TH C. LOCKS

Copyright © 2001 Nicholas Berry, Early Oak Specialists