Quatrefoil Railing

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This hand forged railing panel shows the fine details that typify my work.

Because, I wanted a definitive hand-forged look, each piece of iron which was to be used in the panel was lightly hand-forged even before the work on any specific piece was begun.

The piece was made entirely with traditional joinery which includes; mortise and tenon, slit and drifted holes, collars, threaded connections, and pin riveting. After all of the parts were forged, they were fit together with one another. As each panel has two parts -- an upper and a lower -- extreme attention to tolerances was necessary to insure a perfect alignment for pin riveting.

Every piece was then hand sanded with emery cloth to bring out the highlights from hand forging. Finally the piece was assembled and given a finish of linseed oil and wax.

To make the quatrefoil the metal was folded four times and then the folds were drawn down equally. After forming the cusps the piece was bent up and the points were aligned to one another. The ends of the bar meet on the top.

The two bronze bolts are forged out of one piece of metal and have a design incised on their heads.

The scrolls on the center bar were first split out two at a time. Then they were drawn down to a tightly controlled length and scrolled up by hand with a hammer and anvil to match a master scroll.
	The ends of the scrolls were drawn down to a set length and the the scrolls were formed to match a full scale drawing. The bronze "finial" in the center has a fishtail on one end and a tapering twist on the other. Pin rivets top and bottom secure the scrolls in place and a bronze collar binds the two scrolls and final together.
A line was incised on both sides of two diagonal corners of the bar to give the illusion of a raised "rope" running down the corners. The "rope" was then rounded and perpendicular lines were incised at regular intervals on its face. The bar was the twisted to match the pitch that was in specified the design.

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Tudor Ironworks
www.tudorironworks.com

Nigel Tudor, Metalsmith
1061 Sugar Run Road
Avella, Pennsylvania 15312

email questions or comments

724.587.3763

This page was last updated on Sunday, 25 June 2006