How to maintain or re-finish the item(s) you have made
If you have completed one of our courses, then you will have taken home several items that you will no doubt be incredibly proud of, so it is important to maintain your ironwork to ensure it is always looking its best and can be enjoyed for many years to come.
We (or you) would have likely wire brushed and applied a light layer of wax to your smaller items, prior to you taking them home. Iron/steel when in contact with oxygen and water, reacts and begins to oxidise, ‘rust’. Even the moisture in the air in your home is enough to rust untreated iron/steel. So whilst we may have waxed your items, you may wish them to have a little more attention. As blacksmiths, we are always thinking and planning as we make an item, the steps we are going to need to take to preserve the integrity and appearance of the finished item. Be it waxing or oiling, lacquering, hot dip galvanising, hot zinc spraying and painting. There are also ways to embrace the beautiful colours and textures of rust, by allowing it to gracefully rust armed with the knowledge that it will eventually rust away completely, or take measures (once rusted) to pause the corrosion process and use oils/waxes/lacquers to help preserve its rusted appearance from then onwards and reduce future deterioration of the items integrity.
We would be happy to discuss in detail all your options and offer advice in person or over the phone, but a good summary of basic options are detailed below. Some options are services we offer, and the others are for you to do at home.
Our Services
Full Rustproofing Service - We offer a comprehensive rustproofing and painting service for the items you have made on our course that are intended for permanent outside placement. This can be offered on items made on previous courses with us, or even rusted items made years ago. For example; you may have created something for your garden with us several years ago and let it rust. You could opt for this service, and we can restore it and rust-proof it, prior to painting, leaving it fully protected and looking amazing! Please note that this service is offered at a subsidised price, specifically for items that have been made on our courses. However, if you would like to get any other item rustproofed and/or restored, we would be more than happy to help and quote - please do get in touch to discuss your requirements.
This service costs from £95 inc VAT and includes the following: We will access your items integrity and advise if any minor modifications/strengthening need to be carried out (especially if it is retuning to us after it has been rusting in the garden for a while). Your item will then be hand delivered by us, to a well-established company on the south-coast for shot-blasting and ‘hot zinc metallisation’. (A protective coating of zinc is flame-sprayed onto the item in molten particles. Hot-zinc metal spraying provides a very effective and resilient barrier to corrosion on steelwork and fulfils all of the criteria for an excellent protective substrate). Once collected and brought back to our workshops, we would then prepare all surfaces and professionally spray-paint the item with 4 coats of high quality vinyl paint, in a colour of your choice (black or a dark graphite are popular). The paint is left to harden for 4-5 days before it is ready for collection. This method of finishing means the ironwork will likely last for decades without the need of periodic maintenance.
Interior Finish - We can prepare and finish your item in a variety of finishes. By using a number of techniques (waxes, custom pastes, oils, polishes, lacquers & acids), we can remove forging scale, enhance colours and textures, add highlights and generally make your item look its absolute best. We can discuss your options and can show you examples. This service costs from £25 inc VAT. Priced in relation to item size - we can quote upon request.
Painted Interior Finish - Items that will remain indoors can be painted in a colour of your choice. We would gently shot-blast your item to remove all forging scale from the surface, leaving a fantastic ‘keyed’ surface for our vinyl-based paints to adhere to. We would then apply several coats of high quality paint. This service costs from £55 inc VAT.
Do it Yourself at Home
Most interior items can be maintained purely by periodic waxing. We highly recommend ‘Renaissance Wax’ for this and we offer this for sale via our online shop ‘Aftercare Products’ - in the navigation menu at the top. We will supply an advice and instruction leaflet with it.
If your item has forging scale on it or you have an item that has rusted and you want to bring it back to life there are a number of things you can do at home. First would be to remove any loose scale and/or rust from the surface. A good wire brushing with some elbow grease is best for this (remember to wear a mask and eye protection). Also, green kitchen scourers, wire scourers and wire wool (wear gloves) can be good and all give different results/finishes. (If your item is particularly bad, we can clean it up with our machinery here, or shot blast it for you - get in touch to discuss further.)
Your item should now be bright, clean and free from waxes, dirt, debris, scale and rust. You can go one of two ways at this point.:
If you want to keep it exactly how it is now, you can simply wax it with Renaissance Wax (available from our gallery - link above) and remember to periodically wax it from time to time.
Or, for a more robust finish, you can apply a couple of light coats of satin lacquer, ensuring that the whole item is coated. Any good quality lacquer in a rattle can would be good. I have had very good results with ‘Plastikote - Quick Dry Satin Lacquer 400ml’ available directly from us. Once the lacquer is fully dry, then apply Renaissance Wax, as above.
Or, you can have a play with colour and depth (the dirty bit)… Try applying a stove polish onto the freshly cleaned item. ‘Hot-Spot Black Grate Polish’ is great for this - we sell the 75ml tubes. Follow the instructions or thoroughly rub the polish into the item with a cloth or a brush and allow to dry for a few minutes. Then polish vigorously with a clean brush to reveal a nice, even graphite finish. If you want, you can go a step further and lightly rub the item with a green scourer or fine-grit wet and dry paper to bring out the highlights of the high spots. This enhances the items texture and makes a feature of the hammer marks. Once you are happy with the appearance, seal or ‘lock-in’ the stove polish with several light coats of lacquer and leave to dry. Then do the ‘white tissue test’. You don’t want your item to leave black marks your hands, clothing or your home, so wipe it over with a white piece of tissue or kitchen roll. If the black polish rubs off onto the tissue, another coat of lacquer is probably needed, ensuring you are not missing any areas. Test again. Once you are happy, apply several thin coats of Renaissance Wax and buff.
There are countless other ways to finish your item, embracing the scale, using oil, applying oil or beeswax to the item, hot. The internet is great for this, so have a read and even come up with you own unique finish - there are no right or wrong ways to do this as long as your focus is on ‘appearance’ and ‘protection from the elements’. If you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact.
We can also offer advice, in person or over the phone - please do get in touch! Call Tom on 01372 375148