Recent Work, Simple Arts + Crafts Railing and Firetool Set
These are images from a home where I recently installed a set of firetools, as well as a railing. The style of the home decor is “Arts + Crafts”, and the client wanted simple forged accents to match.
(To see larger images, simply “click” on the image.)
Both the railing and firetools are hand forged, with a couple minor exceptions.
All the balusters were installed using tenons, and the intermediate rail, as well as the rosettes, were applied with rivets. Each square hole in the railing’s rosettes were punched in while hot, using a fly-press. The fly-press was also utilized in making the 3/4″ square impressions in the firetool rack. The handles for the firetools, as well as the poker tip, were forge welded to a 1/2″ square bar, which was then reduced to 7/16″ square the entire length of the firetool shafts.
The home is undergoing a major facelift, i.e. new fireplace, flooring, wall covering, carpet, etc., and the client, husband and wife, are handling these improvements themselves, with some help from tradesmen.
The finish on both the railing and firetools is straight bee’s wax. The firetool set was lightly sanded before waxing to bring out silvery highlights.
This project was pretty straight forward, both in design as well as process, using basic forging techniques. It was refreshing to get back to a job that was almost entirely hot-work, as the last project was a combination of forging and fabrication.
…Dan Nauman
“To love what you do and feel that it matters-how could anything be more fun?”
…Katherine Graham
