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wrought iron finish


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Hi, everyone, first time poster here.
This is a question that gets kicked around from time to time, but I'm very curious...
I'm looking at a railing job, on an outdoor porch here in the Pacific Northwest, where the customer would like the ultimate in old fashioned work- using wrought iron (real WROUGHT iron) and no electric welds.
There's a lot of very old iron in Europe- how was it coated way back in the Renaissance? Did they have an oil/beeswax treatment that helped it stand up to weather?
I realize that the usual answer is, blast/galv/prime/paint, but that's not what this very choosy customer is after- some yearly maintenance would be much preferable to hiding the texture of the iron.
Thanks for any thoughts!
Andy Gladish
Guemes Island WA USA

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From what I have seen, you are going to be hard pressed to get the right look, short of recycling wrought iron or using pure iron.

Wrought ages completely different from steel. Whereas steel rust through after a `short life' of exposure, wrought seems to create a different type of rust that helps to protect itself and will last longer. This is based on sunken ships, where archeologists exploring Spanish galleons can bring up to the surface iron fittings that are still 80-90 percent complete, yet modern steel ships rot to structural frame members in decades.

So I am not sure what you can do, since this is more of a metallurgical problem then a maintenance problem.

Regards,

Rich C.

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Traditional wrought ironwork was treated with the best preservaton available at the time, oils and waxes for indoor works, then on outdoor work, paints of various types, bitumens / tar based, then later red lead oxides and oil based paints, some parts were even coated in lead. As paint and finishing technology improved the newer techniques were employed. Gold leaf was also an effective way to prevent rusting.

Don't get bogged down with the idea that you must use the old finishes, many of which contained toxic substances.

Prepare the metal well, prime, undercoat and topcoat. (That is what was done traditionally but using materials of the time) Advise the client to maintain regularly and you should get a long life for the work be it wrought, pure iron or mild steel.

Another myth is that wrought ironwork was always painted matt black,

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I am in florida where rust from salt is very distrutive. What I do is treat the metal with aosforic acid. prime and paint it will hold up for about 5 years. then you will have to refinish it. some of the restoration work I have done was matching work form the 1920's the home owner repaints it every year. the new and the old look the same with no rust. work clean and get a good seal.

the other choice is to get wrought Iron from old demolition and re work it.

Edited by Francis Cole
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Thanks for all the replies.
Yes, I plan to use WROUGHT iron, as in salvaged triple refined wrought iron for this project.
The customer (a fine old church) appreciates handmade work and isn't averse to yearly maintenance- what I'm trying to get a picture of is this: With Wrought iron (pure iron if I can't get enough wrought) can I get away with something that doesn't flake off after a few years? Better to reapply a wax type finish than to have to scrape and repaint every five years- the rest of the structure only needs maintenance in terms of decades, not years, I don't want this to be the weak link.

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Welcome aboard Andy, glad to see you here buddy.

High quality paint, nothing less than Rustoleum. Historically they used the best preservatives they had, iron was EXPENSIVE.

If you'll click "User CP" at the top of the page and edit your profile to show your location it can make a big difference. IFI is represented by members in more than 50 countries and a lot of info is location specific.

Frosty

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Companies like Sherwin Williams sell paint to the park service for their outside projects that is heavy duty industrial oil based enamel that is supposed to be very durable. I bought some of it so as to exactly match their researched green color on their Civil War displays. I don't expect that you will be able to wait 10 to 20 years for me to be able to provide my opinion on how well this paint holds up. :D

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A few years ago, Peter Ross, formerly the head smith at Williamsburg, VA, came to Albuquerque to demonstrate for SWABA. The guy is a walking antiquary. As I recall, he said that there have been architectural "colonial revivals" occasionally, and they all miss the mark in some ways. He said that one 20th century revival idea was that the iron hardware on a door HAD to be black and it HAD to be on clear coated wood, so you could see the wood grain. The truth was that in the old days, the door AND hardware were painted over with whatever color suited, usually a lead based paint in those days. Another way of missing the mark was to put dummy hinges on the outside of a front door, even though the door opened inward.

Then there is the idea of texture and color. A colonial smithy specializing in house hardware would most often have the forged hinges etc., file finished, and the hardware was sold with bare metal showing: NO hammer marks; NO wax; NO paint.

Exterior European ironwork was often painted and in a variety of colors, not always black. I saw a red wellhead in Venice that had so many coats of paint that it made about a 1/8" coating. It wasn't wonderful looking, except from a distance, but the work was still extant after many years, probably because of the paint, not necessarily because it was wrought iron. Wrought iron rusts readily in a saline environment.

How about texture? A smith/friend from the East got on the phone with a prospective client on the West Coast. The western man wanted the colonial period hardware to be crude, not rustic, but CRUDE! My friend said that the early work was not crude. "Oh yes it was!" was the rejoinder. They got into such a heated, loud argument that my friend just hung up on the party.

Wrought iron contains an iron silicate, a slag. One book I read said that it was 4%, but it didn't say whether by volume or weight. Anyway, the silicate becomes microscopic filaments which are drawn lengthwise throughout the mass of the material when it is hammered or hot rolled. Some of this glass-like material would be on the surface of wrought iron as well as the interior. Not being a metallurgist, I would suggest that this helps to inhibit rust forming, a little more so than mild steel. By the bye, "Pure Iron" does not have this silicate, so it's another ball game.

Turley Forge and Blacksmithing School : The Granddaddy of Blacksmithing Schools

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I've had the, "make it crude" discussion when I used to make armor. The, "they didn't make it crude," and the, "I don't do crude," statements seldom sunk in. Folk want what their fantasy says, reality isn't often a large part of the mix.

FLW used a lot of forged iron and steel and rarely allowed it to be black. I think he liked red best as it highlighted the iron and hence the structure of his buildings. Some though had iron work so striking and in your face black finishes were necessary to not detract from the rest of the building. His studio with the suspended chain internal reinforcing being a prime example. Sorry, I don't recall the name or location, it wasn't his big studio in the desert though.

Anyway, fine finish, paint and bright colors are all very much traditional for iron work.

Frosty

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Frosty, Frank Lloyd Wright must have really liked red. All of the fireplace equipment at Falling Water was indeed red. I got the chance to visit there about three years ago. It is a very appropriate color for iron I should think. Also, in many of his stained glass drawings red is very prominent.

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In florida Bok towers the Iron work was do by Yellen in the 1920's they use bees wax and stove black. they melt in a pot and brush it on and wipe it down the area is stone is covered to protect (you do not want wax and stove black on stone will not come off)it once a year the wrought iron looks new like it was made last year no rust.

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All the windows and exposed canteliver iron in Falling Water is red painted steel. The windows are one of the more prominent features of the place because they are on the corners and when open excentuates there is NO support in the corners.

Frank:

I followed Bealer's recipe for a finish but used parafin instead of bees wax. Basically parafin, soot and turpentine. Apply at smoking heat and wipe off when cool.

I have a number of pieces I finished with it hanging outside for going on 12 years now with no sign of rust. They're not in a wear situation though except where the plant hanger hooks on.

As I recall Bealer's explanation the soot is supposed to be taken into the open poors of the hot iron and trapped as it cools. The soot not only fills the voids it also holds some wax. I don't know how accurate all that is (including my memory) but the stuff has worked pretty darned well here in Alaska.

Frosty

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