We don't do brass
We don't do aluminium fakes
...it's all pastIRON...

Before the machine age...and for some time afterwards...
it fell to the local blacksmith to produce all architectural metalwork.

  

He produced handles and hinges and doors, from massive barn hinges and ornate church door work to tiny, precise cabinet hinges and fittings. Quite early on, before the full-on machine age, specialist nail-makers supplied a nationwide market in a highly labour-intensive trade centred on the Black Country of South Staffordshire.

  

When the machines took over, the Victorians produced hinges and handles by the thousand for the first time. Hot-metal working became an ancient craft, reserved for the specialist bespoke work or intricate one-offs.

  

Antique hinges became the lost art of the metal worker and today few smiths can equal the craft of the long-gone smith.

It wasn't helped by the decline in use of true , the low-rust, low-carbon material that was replaced by the widespread use of the once expensive but now cheap mild steel and cast-iron.

'Coxcombe' Hinges and 'D' Handles in a Country Cottage Kitchen





'Garnet' Hinge and 'D' Handle on Natural Wood Door




Medieval hinge (from an original at the Weald & Downland Museum in Sussex) and 'D' Handles on Cupboard Door

Modern 'antique' hardware is more likely to be cast and made to look like the old...even in alloys of zinc or aluminium...but all as alike as peas in a pod.

We don't do brass
We don't do aluminium fakes
...it's all pastIRON...