How to Buy True Wrought Iron Designs

Renée Benzaim — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:05:56 +0000

Appreciation for wrought iron designs is returning, especially the products made by hand by true artisans like Lee Sauder from Germinal Ironworks in Lexington, Virginia and Carlos Galvan of Los-Factory in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico.

With increasing recognition of the value of quality wrought iron designs, they are again becoming important to homeowners, interior designers, architects, and collectors, to name just a few.

photo credit: Rennett Stowe
When looking for wrought iron for your home or yard, be careful not to buy cast iron instead. Wrought iron is forged and hammered to remove impurities and then hammered into the desired shape by the artist. It will show marks of the artisan’s hammer.

Some of the advantages of true wrought iron are:

Every piece is unique
Each piece is built to last a lifetime
Maintenance is easy
The artist pays close attention to details

Your wrought iron pieces are an investment which will require minimum maintenance to retain it’s beauty for many years to come.

Is It Real Wrought Iron?

Check the piece over carefully and look for signs that it is cast and/or machined, instead of forged. Check for seams that would be evident in cast pieces and other casting marks. Examine the welded joints for weaknesses. Weak welds can result in fatigue and allow moisture to seep in and the piece to rust.

Wrought iron decorative pieces won’t look mass-produced like cast iron pieces, because each piece is unique. Run you hands over the piece you plan to purchase and feel for roughness, breaks, splits, or other flaws that would compromise the strength of the wrought iron and again leave an entry for rust.

If at all possible, ask about references from the particular artisan you wish to buy from. Look at photos of their work and ask if you can talk to a former client. If at all possible, visit the artist’s place of work, where the wrought iron designs are actually created.

Carlos Galvan of Jalisco, Tlaquepaque, Mexico, is one such renowned artist who has made custom works around the world. Photos of his work can be seen at Los-Factory website. For any information you might need, contact Arjan Los, the co-founder – with Carlos Galvan – of Los-Factory.

Click here “I love wrought iron!” to buy beautiful wrought iron designs for YOUR life!

How to Buy True Wrought Iron Designs is a post from: Wrought Iron Designs

My Discovery of Wrought Iron Designs

Renée Benzaim — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:47:59 +0000

Introduction to Wrought Iron Designs

I have loved wrought iron designs for most of my adult life. Several years ago I worked for an architect in Southern California. One of his draftsmen had a passion for architectural wrought iron design and was always sharing his drawings and “doodles” with me, as well as his books. He awakened in me a love for the beauty, diversity, and intricacy of the possibilities of what wrought iron could become.

New Orleans has beautiful examples of wrought iron designs. Here the lacy balconies and fences are exquisite. In the French District you will find wrought iron work everywhere. However, in the Garden District, most of the work is from cast iron, not wrought iron.

The difference between the two has to do with the amount of carbon left after the iron ore is processed. Cast Iron has 2% or more carbon whereas wrought iron has 0.2% carbon or less. Because of the higher carbon content in cast iron, it is more brittle than wrought iron. Wrought iron is strong and hard, and easy to weld.

The methods used for each are also different. Today, wrought iron is produced in “blooming” mills and cast iron is basically pig iron that is melted in a blast furnace with scraps of iron.

Wrought iron bloom is porous and must be hammered to reduce the air pockets and most of the slag. After it is “hammered” the first time, it is then “hammered” again into the final shape. This is done by hand or, nowadays, also by machine.

How Wrought Iron was produced the “old-fashioned” way

Nyamakala 11 (Photo by Ellen Martin)

Lee Sauder is a blacksmith and sculptor who decided he wanted to know how wrought iron was made after being inspired by hearing about traditional iron smelting in Africa.

In 1998 he teamed up with his friend, Henry G. “Skip” Williams III, to rediscover the art of bloomery smelting, which was the technique used to obtain wrought iron from iron ore for many centuries.

He wanted to produce his own product for his forged sculptures. Archeologists had been attempting to reproduce the process for over thirty years, but with dismal results.

Their first experiments begin in January of 1998. By the Spring of 2001, after much experimenting and varying results, they begin to produce a product that was to their liking. By 2006, they had produced over a ton of their own iron using the ancient techniques of bloomery smelting. You can read more about their fascinating journey here: The Smelter’s Art and visit the website and gallery at Germinal Ironworks.