Items from our “Works in Iron” Range of Rustic of Hand Forged Ironmongery were selected by Saturn Architects of London to compliment the existing 18th Century fittings.

The products were purchased by Magenta Building Conservation Ltd, specialists in the repair and refurbishment of historical buildings, and included the following:
12 ” Penny End T Hinges
Suffolk Thumb Latches
Cupboard Pull Handles
Cupboard Latches
Door Bolts
H Hinges
and Door Knob Handles

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.

Part of the work included some very high double cupboard doors and we were asked to provide suitable bolts to keep the inactive leaves shut - these needed to be at least 900mm long so that they could be easily reached by the staff.
This did not cause us any problems and we supplied 1000mm long traditional brass barrel bolts in polished brass unlacquered finish from one of our British manufacturers.

http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/castles/scotney%20castle.htm

We had used the theme of a Victorian Ironmongers for our window and displayed many of our period door and window fittings together with original adverts from the period for items such as Knife Sharpeners, Gas Laundry Irons, Mangles and the like.

We always get a very good response to our ever changing window but it was nice to be officially recognised for our efforts.

      These are not an exclusive product and can be found on other sites and in magazine adverts.
However, we have noticed that quite a few of the companies showing these products are stating or, at the very least, stongly indicating that these products are British made. We have even seen some antique reclaimation yards claiming that they are restored originals.
As an honest company we do not make false or inaccurate claims as to the country of origin of any of our products. Indeed, we are happy to point out that, whilst being of reasonable quality, these products are imported into the UK from India and this is, or should be, reflected in the price.
If you come across these products elsewhere with a view to purchasing them we would urge you to consider your choice of supplier with care. If they are advertising them as being British made who knows what other false claims they are making.