Black Antique Iron - beware of cheap immitations
Cast iron products have been familiar to the general public for many years. However, there are many varieties of cast irons all of which have different properties and applications.
Whiteheart Malleable Iron was and still is the most appropriate material for the production of Black Antique Iron door and window ironmongery fittings. It’s strength and durability qualities help give it the long life you would expect from a quality product.
All of our Black Antique Period Ironmongery products are manufactured in Britain from 100% Whiteheart Malleable Iron and should not be confused with the cheaper cast iron or iron/zinc alloy products that so many of our competitors seem only too willing to pass off as the real thing.
You will find many internet sites offering ”Black Antique” products. However, very few of the ranges available are manufactured using the true Whiteheart Malleable Iron process. As a result, these products do not have the style and authenticity of genuine Black Antique Cast Iron products and will not give you the service and lifespan expected.
Before purchasing any of these products you should ask the following questions:
1. Are your products 100% Whiteheart Malleable Iron ?
2. What is the country of origin ? (most of the ranges available are cheap foriegn imports manufactured under dubious working and environmental conditions)
Our Black Antique Ironmongery products have been manufactured by hand in Walsall, West Midlands for over 150 years using the greensand casting process.
After the first stage of production the castings are hard and brittle and cannot be hammered, filed or rivited into finished products. The castings are therefore subjected to a heat treatment process known as Annealing. In this process the castings are surrounded by an inert haematite ore within iron drums and loaded into ovens of six to eight tons capacity. The ovens take about two days to reach the Annealing temperature of 980C. The castings are then soaked at this temperature for around 80 hours after which they are allowed to cool naturally. During this process the carbon structure of the iron is changed. As a result the castings are no longer hard and brittle but soft and malleable.
After shot blasting and grinding to remove any rough edges the castings are assembled into finished or semi-finished products. After assembly a rust proofing finish is applied followed by a two coat paint process.
We hope that the foregoing has been interesting and informative and will help develop a greater understanding of what is involved in the production of traditional hand made British ironmongery.