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I Forge Iron

Home Town Historicals


macbruce

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One of the things I love about travling is seeing metalwork new and old, particularly ironwork. I remember in the UK I'd drive my Wife and Son crazy stopping at every cool piece of ironwork I'd see to take pics and study it. Needless to say I didn't even see the tip of the iceberg in the UK alone.

Every town has old ironwork even Las Vegas. :rolleyes:  Generally only the people who live there or a random tourist take notice but there are great works hidden off the beaten path and here's a couple from my home town.

I first noticed these bird/gargoyle lamps decades ago on South High School in Denver Colorado. Probably built in the 1920's.

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I think for the uninformed hand forged iron work in counter intuitive.  They can't imagine how someone could make something like that.  They think it was cast or made by some magical machine its just back ground stuff to them.  I have noticed that beginner smiths are sometimes upset by such work because they realize how far they have to go and how little they know.  

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  • 2 months later...

I always thought this archway(s) had allot of class and was pained to see the new owners put such a travesty below it when they decided to put gates below them.....I've done business with the Weckbaugh family for decades but was out of the loop when this happened. Still the arches and other ironwork are what they are. Finished in 1933 this is a historic Denver landmark http://www.google.com/search?q=weckbaugh+mansion+denver&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=H-8IUt7cKOiMyAGJk4GwAw&ved=0CEYQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=850

I couldn't get inside the fence to take pics of the screen door but it is very nice as are the balcony rails.

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 beginner smiths are sometimes upset by such work because they realize how far they have to go and how little they know.

 

You couldn't have described me better if you tried!  Add in a touch of sadness for the knowledge lost.

 

I love to see examples of work left over from the early 1900's or before.  The Golden Age of Ironwork, some call it, but there was a lot of other stuff going on, too.  It seems that designers wanted even the little parts and pieces to look beautiful.  The Art Deco/Craftsman movement certainly helped.

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