Acanthus leaf day

[John B]

Had an intensive one day course making a facing acanthus leaf, making the tooling required and the use of them. This was a new experience as we were using the "Pure Iron" 16swg sheet (1.5mm)and were not familiar as to how it would perform.

Here are some pics, showing mistakes and all. From initial marking out using a sample copied from a book, (pictures 1 to 6 not required if pre profiled blanks are used) Lining in the veins after cutting the profile, and forming the curved profiles of the leaf.

On reflection the exercise proved worthwhile and a lot was learnt, this sample will be kept as a good bad example, and a reminder of what to alter next time.

The material was annealed during the forming processes as and when required, the pure iron proved to be ideal for the process, and is acceptable on restoration work replacing wrought iron leafs.

You may spot the mistakes as you go through the pictures,


















Then we ran out of time, but the basic process was completed, practice now needed.

[jake pogrebinsky]

Good lord,John,what an incredible amount of work.Some great tools,and techniques,it was probably very worthwhile practicing all that.
To be honest,i'm not impressed with the result,vs the effort expended.But it's strictly me,and my lack of appreciation for certain styling and traditions in forgework.
I sincerely hope that my frank opinion is not offensive,it's just my view.I've tons of respect for you and your group there,even envy you guys such immediate cultural surroundings/content,and your ability to practice it within this living tradition.

If i may ask,is(was)it standard to make the similar looking elements like that?As in flat,chased,profiled work?They were never forged out of one solid piece by means of fullering and other,more 3-D methods?
Respectfully,Jake

[John B]

Good lord,John,what an incredible amount of work.Some great tools,and techniques,it was probably very worthwhile practicing all that.
To be honest,i'm not impressed with the result,vs the effort expended.But it's strictly me,and my lack of appreciation for certain styling and traditions in forgework.
I sincerely hope that my frank opinion is not offensive,it's just my view.I've tons of respect for you and your group there,even envy you guys such immediate cultural surroundings/content,and your ability to practice it within this living tradition.

If i may ask,is(was)it standard to make the similar looking elements like that?As in flat,chased,profiled work?They were never forged out of one solid piece by means of fullering and other,more 3-D methods?
Respectfully,Jake

Hi Jake, No offense taken, what you see is a first off trial, and there are short cuts that can be taken, (which are more appreciated when showing other ways) in practice when you have tried a few, they do not take that long to do, this was a new material to us to try, and we were learning as we were going, the techniques will be modified somewhat if and when we do the exercise again. A bit more time and the definition and depths would be improved.

This was one of the traditional ways they were done, time could be dramatically reduced by just cutting out the profile without chasing it in first (This way was to get experience in chasing in) the use of the veining tool, with different top and bottom tool setups also reduces time, again tried out to illustrate techniques and tool usefulness comparisons.

The initial template making to match existing leafs that have to be replaced was also gone into, so that basically this is an initial practice session to enable students to go away with the knowledge and ability to improve their performance and to make suitable tooling as required, and as you can see there is room for improvement.

The process is however labour intensive, (as is all hand forging), but you do have the evidence of a hand made forging at the end of it, and the ability to create from scratch, or to match existing restoration projects.

With regard to it being standard, in this particular instance this method is appropriate, although the material could vary, (steel or copper) bear in mind what where and why this style of leaf is used for.

Some of the larger leafwork, like a lot of the motifs and medallions were actually cast mainly in bronze, but also lead and iron, but these require patterns,

There are also other techniques that were used for leafs, forging and forming from solid bar,

We can provide people with the knowledge and skills, the level they take it to is down to them.

Here are a couple of pictures using the techniques in a slightly different way by one of our members/long term student, now a UK Champion Blacksmith

[jake pogrebinsky]

Thank you,John,very kind of you to give such a detailed answer.
Amazing stuff,gaining "volume" by such means,facsinating.
Quite a difference as compared to the anarchic,free-form directions that the forging has taken lately,i really like those photos of completed objects.
Reminds me of how many styles of ironwork there really are,and how important it is to know at least something about each,to look at a number of works made in a given style.
For each way is consistent within itself,and it's so hard to look at it with an inexperienced eye...(Even worse,as an ignorant craftsman to be yanking elements from unfamiliar styles and jumbling them together without rhyme or reason,something that i'm often guilty of).
Thanks again,and good forging!

[John B]

Thank you,John,very kind of you to give such a detailed answer.
Amazing stuff,gaining "volume" by such means,facsinating.
Quite a difference as compared to the anarchic,free-form directions that the forging has taken lately,i really like those photos of completed objects.
Reminds me of how many styles of ironwork there really are,and how important it is to know at least something about each,to look at a number of works made in a given style.
For each way is consistent within itself,and it's so hard to look at it with an inexperienced eye...(Even worse,as an ignorant craftsman to be yanking elements from unfamiliar styles and jumbling them together without rhyme or reason,something that i'm often guilty of).
Thanks again,and good forging!

As you like pics Jake, here are a few more of what the little leafs may grow into.

First the small leafs I have laying around from previous projects,









and then on to the Tijou gates at Hampton Court Palace where these techniques were used to their full effect, and one reason we must preserve the 'old' methods. These pictures and others of the internal ironwork were taken last year and I believe they are currently partially restored (a very long term and costly project)



Enjoy

[Timothy Miller]

Truly amazing, its sad that this post gets lost amongst the all of the every day stuff on this site.

[John B]

Truly amazing, its sad that this post gets lost amongst the all of the every day stuff on this site.

Thank you for your comment, it is always difficult deciding which particular section to put this kind of stuff in, and so it gets posted here in this section,

I suppose we in the UK and Europe are lucky in the ease of which we can access this kind of historical work, it does tend to be 'every day stuff', and as a Guild we try to keep available the skills necessary to replace, restore and maintain this and other styles of ironwork.

[Fe-Wood]

Amazing work John!
Inspiring to know that someone of your experience and skill struggles with the one off piece. I always expect the first one to be perfect and it rarely is. I have to constantly remind myself to do a test piece for something I have never done before.

Thanks for sharing a little reality of smithing/repose....