David Kailey

Used a rivet set I made years back then drilled a hole the same size of the set thru a 2 x 4 x 4 steel chunk I had and then poked the set thru and welded it. Then I put my 140lb soaking wet apprentice behind that. Lol

Here are some photos of the railing before it shipped.

Yah Frosty..... that round rod is a different animal.

If no Smith ever copied another's design there would be no smiths. Some items there is just no way to no copy RR spike knife. RR bottle opener. Coat hooks, corbels, drawer pulls, nail, rose, ....... ect. I make whatever the customer asked for. If they show me a design they like I will make it. Any Smith that says he has never copied another Smith's design is delusional or a liar.

Yep that's what I do. But I usually weld the ends together.

2" truck axel and tolls used to forge the positive positive welded to flat bar and left cold. a 2" block of mild steel was headed up and the positive was hammered into the block forming g the negative. copper disc placed on the lower hammer die and the open die is placed over the top of it. This is done because the disc can hop around which when the hammer comes down can mess it up by double stamping or even just flat smashing the copper cause its half in and half out of the die. copper discs forged in the open die and then cleaned up with a wire wheel.

About 1650 parts. Took me about 50 hrs just to break the material down using my bandsaw and chop saw. 4 types of pickets: straight, single and double baskets, double twist 14 diffrent pattern scrolls forged using my scroll forms totaling over 650. 18 hand forged formed scrolls. And about 700 hours.

Satin hammered black powder coating. And every where you see what looks like a washer an open die forged copper flower will be riveted.

Flow. When I start sketching it out, it very light and as I get the designs flow dialed in I slowly darken it up. I do this because some times I need to extend the curve, make a scroll smaller or larger. I some times draw it over a few times. Also I use samples of scrolls that I already have forms built for. No point in reinventing the wheel...... or scroll. Also I lightly coat my fab table with satin black paint to darken it up which helps make it easier to see the soap stone I draw with.

nice job!

Built 2 matching balcony railings that will got on a building in Downtown Kellogg, Id. Hand drawn design, which i then text a pic to the customer for approval...... i do this because that is as advanced as I get. I don't do CAD..... I do hot steel. My apprentice and I then hand forged all the scrollwork and organic elements and laid them out. Once we got the 2 matching main panels done then we started on the 4 matching side panels. I am really happy about this project and how it turned out. It took about 90 hours to produce. I will post pictures of it installed. I have an instagram account that I post 90% of my work on if you want to keep up with what is going on in my forge.

off the ground. the broad grass is the last thing I weld in and i hate welding on my knees so the gate is on my saw horses but added another tree so that is why I was up high.

I did not hot rivet. It would have added a lot of labor and they are for the most part decrative so I just weld the back side. The collar was added to the back side. There were lights added and the pot/utensil rack was separate.

We do have a 4" code but it's only required for railings, gates, security window coverings that are 30" or higher.

So a lot of the railings and gates I build need to be light or trying to meet a budget. So I use a lot of tube for pickets. but I still need to add twists, baskets and other decorative elements to the pickets. I use to use angle iron as my jig to keep everything straight but I always had to make a new jig and I was constantly having to clean out welding bb's and accidentally tacing the picket to the jig....... they worked but were a pain. with this jig I can set my stands where they need to be and I have clearance to weld, never have bb's settling in the jig where my steel lays, can weld pickets from 12" to 9ft. I build 1/2'" and 3/4" stands. I used a piece of 3" x 1.25" x 1/4" channel.