ElementFe is my trade name for the Guemes Island blacksmith shop; designing, forging, and building handcrafted forged steel and iron furniture, gates, railings, candlesticks, spoons, kitchenware and all manner of repair and fabrication.

Thursday, October 15, 2009








The drill burrs and debris are then cleaned off, and the pieces assembled. If everything is just right (and a sixteenth of an inch off is way too much) then it can be set in a frame, trued up and welded.
When that's done, it's inspected and stamped with the location, and one more panel joins the growing pile!






I thought it would be fun to show the steps for building a railing panel- each one of these is like a piece of furniture!
First, having fetched a half a ton of steel, it gets sorted, stacked, and the work stand stocked up. Here's son Joe cutting components.
The sharp burrs left by the saw are cleaned up right away- these can be razor sharp!
The hole locations are laid out with a guide so that all are exactly alike, marked and center punched, then drilled with a pilot drill on the drill press, followed by a 1/2" drill.