I have a short section of stair railing that I need to embellish.
The framework (roughly pictured below) is 1" square tubing, with the uprights on approximately 16" centers. The top rail will have a wraparound oak handrail attached. The lower edge (the top of the short wall to which the railing is bolted to) will be covered with an oak plank.
So what I'm looking to do is fill the three panels with some wrought ironwork.
Now, there's some limitations: I only have a small propane forge. I can build a larger one if I need to (and I've been planning to) but basically, I'll only be able to heat several inches at a time, of a relatively small bar. (Forge can be opened at both ends, though, so heating the center of a long bar is possible.
I also don't have a power hammer, no fullers, no guillotine tools, and precious few punches. Basically, I have an anvil, several hammers, and a couple of hot-cut hardies. I won't mind having to make a few tools, but there is a bit of a time issue on this so I'd rather not spend most of it making fullers and the like.
On the plus side, I have- and I'm not joking- about half a ton of semirusty 3/8" rod, a 20 foot stick of 3/8" square, 10' of 1/2" square, and piles and piles of miscellaneous sections of other sizes of rod and bar. Local supplier has plenty more in stock, and I'll buy a few bits if need be.
And to assemble it all, I have a MIG and TIG, stick and gas welders, and a stack of machine tools that can do whatever the hammer and forge can't.
Last- and worst- I'm very much still the green amateur at the blacksmithing side.
So, I'm looking for ideas to fill the panels. Scrollwork, perhaps, or Frank Lloyd Wright style geometric patterns? Wrought roses might be a bit beyond my current ability, but just some simple twisted picket bars might be too simple.
The rail is going to be in the entryway of a house- I'd like to see it fancy, but not too overpowering. Owner's a hunter, so I was thinking simple scrollwork in the end panels, and something suggesting a nature scene, or possibly a deer or elk, in the middle panel. Maybe just a stylized elk antler design?
Anyway, suggestions and ideas welcome I need to start on this next Monday (frame's done, I just need to add the embellishment) and I have roughly two weeks to finish it, as it'll be a holiday present done and installed while the owner is out.
If you'd like to draw something, I have a larger copy of the sketch drawing
here. (TIF image, apprx. 85KB.)
Thanks.
Doc.