Rosettes

[VaughnT]

I love forging iron into new and interesting shapes.

My big project right now, and for as long as I care to remember, has been a set of shop doors for the smithy.

As you can imagine, it would be a serious issue if I went down to the local store to buy some mass-produced jive. So, everything's got to be done the hard way!!

These are the decorative washers I've made for the hinges on the doors to my smithy.

I'm not absolutely certain that I won't change things up again before all's said and done. I have a few spare rosettes and will try some different texturing techniques to see what I like best. But we're on the final stretch and I'm looking forward to getting the shop closed in before the cold weather really hits hard!

 

[awarner]

Very nice, simple idea lovely finish to them. Hopefully you will post them when mounted.

 

[Herbalist1]

Looking good - be sure to show us the finished doors, then I can be properly envious that you have a smithy!!!

 

[crosslandkelly]

They look great, can't wait to see the finished pics.

 

[forginhill]

Nice work! So much you can do with rosettes.

 

[VaughnT]

Thank you, gents. The doors are coming along as well as could be expected. There always seems to be some neat new design idea that just has to be incorporated... and that means a setback as the whole thing is redesigned!

These are the rosettes I started with, but when things got changed around, I decided to go with something smaller and more complicated.

I might still stick with the smaller square rosettes for something on the doors, but I'm not sure. I'm sure they'll get used for some project down the road even if they don't get used on the door. Maybe they need to be the bases for some candlesticks......

 

[forginhill]

That looks real nice. I like the idea of forge customizing the heads of the lag bolts/screws.

 

[VaughnT]

That looks real nice. I like the idea of forge customizing the heads of the lag bolts/screws.

Thanks. I wasn't going to dress the heads of the lag bolts until I put them with the rosettes and saw how awful the combo was. No way I could leave them looking all mass-produced and shiny!

 

[VaughnT]

All finished except to weld on the grease-able knuckles and about a hundred other little things...

Decorating the bolt heads was a must since you can't very well have some shiny store-bought jive sitting on top of the rosettes. That'd just be too garish!

And since I was there, I forged out another flint striker....

Now I'm going to have some fresh iced tea and prep for a very long nap!

 

[forginhill]

Top notch! Really attractive....

 

[VaughnT]

Thank you.

 

[VaughnT]

Seems all the pictures have gone the way of the dodo, so an update seems like a good idea......

The backer plates have been welded to the hinge knuckles and the rosettes are firmly in place. I chipped the paint a bit when screwing the bolts home, so that'll have to be touched up when the weather warms.

Before:

After:

To help hold the door sheathing firmly to the frames, I designed some larger rosettes and had a fellow cut them out with his laser cutting gizmo. Could have done it by hand, but that'd be a lot of work!

A bit of the detail work started. There's still gobs of forging to do before these are done, but I'm confident that they'll come out looking good. And I had a few extras cut out while I was there, so I can afford a few oopsies along the way.