The forge build is getting closer and closer to completion. The last month has seen Ian beavering away
making a huge set of entrance doors we can lock at night so no one with light
fingers will run away with ‘Bertha’ our biggest baddest anvil (I’d like to see
them try!).
Entrances are a big deal for blacksmiths, you’ll be pushed
to find one who hasn’t made a gate, archway or doorknocker at some point in
their career. Nevertheless, most gates these days are made by fabricators (or
metal gluers as we like to call them). The difference is that blacksmiths bend pieces
of steel into scrolls and curls at temperatures over 1000 degrees Celsius and
joint them using heat (that’s called forge welding) or rivets, but fabricators
bend them while they’re still cold and use electric welders to join the pieces
together. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that but you’d only need to come
to one of our blacksmithing classes to be able to spot the difference between a
fabricated gate and a traditionally hand forged one from a mile off. God lies
in the details and forged gates have a lot more well……details.
However they’ve been made, I’ve become fascinated with the
immense variation in the patterns found in garden gates in my little patch of
East London. Despite generally sticking to just a few basic shapes there are
barely two alike.
Wherever you are why don’t you tweet a picture of your gate
to @ucf_crafts #showusyourgate
