On weekends, I demonstrate blacksmithing in the Blacksmith Museum on the Farm at Prophet’s Town State Park. This is a fun way of educating the public about the work that a blacksmith does as well as some dedicated time to practice new things. Occasionally someone will ask about a repair or project that they would like done.
A few weeks ago, a gentleman contacted us through the farm about repairing a wrought iron fence behind his house. A driver had hit his fence bending many pickets and the horizontal rails of the fence. The bow in the fence was only about 6-8 inches, but it was over the entire length of the fence.
Many of the metal fences found around older homes, as this fence was, are made of wrought iron. This material was in wide use for centuries, but it fell out of favor when large scale steel production began. Wrought iron is made up of iron ore and silicone fibers. This made repairing the fence more difficult, as the wrought iron has a tendency to split like wood when you try to bend it back into shape. We had to be sure to thoroughly heat large sections of the fence before we could attempt our repairs.
We used a large coal forge to heat the section of fence. We were able to use the size of the forge table to support the whole section allowing us to move it back and forth in the fire. When a sufficient section of fence was heated, we then straightened the horizontal bracing and pickets for that section. The process was slow and steady, but we were able to get the fence straightened and back to the homeowner.
