Forging: A Glossary of Terms

Working with any specialist greatly expands not only your horizons but often your vocabulary as well. When you approach a workshop about wrought iron elements for your own country house, you are sure to come across a few concepts that are new to you. So that you can phrase your questions without confusing the craftsmen and easily understand what they mean, we have put together a short dictionary of the basic "blacksmith's" terms.

General principles

The metals and alloys used in artistic forging are iron, steel, copper, bronze, brass, tinplate, and aluminum.

Forgeability is the property of metals that allows them to be shaped by forging and other types of metalworking. The main measures of malleability are resistance to deformation and ductility.

Corrosion resistance is the ability of a metal to withstand the effects of an aggressive environment.

Rigidity of forged structures is the property of forged metal parts that keeps them from changing their geometric dimensions under external load.

Elements: forged and cast

Often, to reduce the cost of a product, it is proposed to "assemble" the design from prefabricated elements. Or the description of a project based on your drawing may mention a name that is unfamiliar to you. Most often these are the classic decorative elements of wrought iron work.

This may disappoint some, but wrought iron elements are usually made in China. Wholesale suppliers bring in custom batches of elements for blacksmiths to choose from in extensive catalogs.

Acanthus leaf

A wrought acanthus leaf is a classic decorative element depicting the leaf of a southern plant.

Baluster

A wrought iron baluster is a shaped column joined to a railing at the top. In forging, balusters are used to make railings for staircases, balconies, and terraces.

Vase

A wrought iron vase is a decoration styled as a vase or basket.

Volute

A wrought iron volute is an element in the form of a scroll. In architecture, it is a spiral motif, often with an eye at its center.

Monogram

A wrought monogram is the initial letters of proper names linked together in an openwork pattern.

Garland

A wrought iron garland is a motif of woven flowers, leaves, and fruit, sometimes wrapped in a ribbon.

Cartouche

A wrought iron cartouche is in the form of a scroll or a shield with twisted edges.

Bracket (wrought iron)

A wrought iron bracket is an artistically designed piece or structure that is attached to a wall and serves as a support for something.

Medallion

An oval or round frame for an image, as well as the design or relief ornament itself enclosed in such a frame.

Finial

A forged finial is a decorative crowning of the top of a post or column (balls, spikes, cones, and the like).

Tip

A forged tip is a classic element of artistic forging, the finishing part of a wrought product, marked by a tapered end (often a delicate curl of decreasing thickness).

Palmette

A forged palmette is a motif in the form of a stylized, multilobed palm leaf.

Rosette

A wrought iron rosette is a motif in the form of a circular, stylized image of a flower with identical petals.

Solomon's spiral (basket, cone)

A forged cone is a decorative element formed from thin rods that are spirally twisted to form a hollow, openwork "cocoon."

Flowers

Forged flowers are one of the most popular motifs in artistic blacksmithing. They are most often made in parts and then assembled into an artistic pattern by welding, riveting, or soldering.

A few more terms:

Repeat (rapport)

a repeating element of an ornament.

Module

a decorative element (or fragment) taken as the basis for building up the same repeating pattern.

Link (section)

a part of a metal fence or enclosure bounded by two posts.

Finishing for wrought iron products

Bluing

heat treatment of a metal product after special chemicals, acids and oils, have been applied to its surface. As a result, the metal is covered with a blue-black oxide film.

Etching

producing a pattern or an inscription on a piece of metal by applying a caustic chemical substance.

Inlaying

the decoration of forged metal items with other non-ferrous metals or precious stones.

Notching

a decorative treatment of metal by applying "dashes" to the surface. It is used to create a fine figured pattern, such as the veins on the leaves of plants.

Patina

an oxide-carbonate film that has a color tint (silver, bronze, green). The patina forms under the influence of the environment while also protecting the metal from deterioration. It has decorative value, especially in the production of "antiqued" forged objects.

Ribbing

one of the methods of decorative finishing of wrought iron items with forging tools (rough engraving).

Stamping

a decorative finishing of metal products with patterns of twisted wire.

Joints

Elements:

Clamp

an element that joins several rods or other wrought elements. Today it is used only in hand hot forging.

Binding wire

a wire used to temporarily join the elements of a wrought item (before welding or soldering).

Rivet

a cylindrical iron rod with a head on one end; used to join wrought elements and parts.

Methods:

Riveting

one of the oldest methods of joining forged metals, in which individual parts are joined by rivets.

Brazing

the process of introducing solder (molten material) with a lower melting point than the parts being joined between the metal parts, resulting in a strong connection.

Welding

a method of joining metal products by deforming them together after heating the points to be welded. In the past a forge was used for this; today gas and electric welding are more common.

Processing of a forged product

Hardening

the rapid cooling of steel heated to a very high temperature; it hardens the workpiece and gives it other desired qualities.

Descaling

the mechanical removal of scale, weld spatter, weld beads, and other metal defects from a forged item.

Sandblast matting

surface treatment with a jet of sand fed under pressure, which helps to even out the surface and make it rougher (to improve the adhesion of paint and coatings).

Anti-corrosion treatment

coating metal surfaces with a thin layer of another metal, alloy, or non-metallic material to form an anti-corrosion coating that protects against corrosion.

Priming

applying a base coat to a forged item to improve the adhesion of the main protective or decorative coating.

Painting

the application of a protective or decorative (often combined) coating to a product.

Electroplating

a metallic film applied to the surface of metal items by galvanic deposition to give them hardness, wear resistance, and anti-corrosion, anti-friction, and decorative qualities (galvanizing, anodizing, chrome-plating, nickel-plating, oxidizing). This method is not widely used because of its high cost.

Rolled stock

The material from which the blacksmith will make the product.

Bar

a metal semi-finished product, a billet for making parts by plastic deformation or machining. Depending on their purpose, bars have a round, rectangular, or hexagonal cross-section, and less often a trapezoidal, oval, or segmental shape.

• Square bar — a bar with a square cross-section and a side from 8 to 25 mm.
• Round bar — a bar with a round cross-section.

Billet

a round bar 50 mm in diameter, used for turned pieces.

Strip

a bar of rectangular cross-section, half of a square.

Profile

a shaped section of product obtained by rolling, pressing, or forming (bending) between rolls. The profile cross-section is a cut on a line perpendicular to the long side of the section; it varies in width.

Forging

an intermediate billet or product obtained by forging or extrusion forging. Depending on their features, forgings are divided into square, rectangular, polygonal, and round cross-sections, and into forged and hammered by production method.

Technology

Forging

one of the main types of metal forming that uses heat. By technology, a distinction is made between hot forging (working red-hot metal), cold forging (deforming blanks of cold metal), and mixed forging (using forged, finished cast, and welded elements).

Die forging

a method of working iron in which the desired shape is obtained by pressing prepared material into a special metal mold.

Casting

the process of producing shaped castings by pouring molten metal into prepared molds. Cast elements (balls, spades, and so on) are often used alongside forged elements and are integral parts of fences, gates, and railings.

Stamping

a type of metal forming in which forgings are shaped from heated billets using a special tool, a die.

Die

a tool for producing standard, repeating elements needed in large quantities (for example, identical curls for a fence).

Torsion (twisting)

a method of treating metal rods to give them a decorative appearance. Rods no thicker than two centimeters, previously annealed and air-cooled, can be twisted cold using simple techniques.

Methods of metal processing

Flattening

turning wire into a narrow strip by rolling it in a special roller; one of the classic techniques of artistic forging.

Drawing

pressure forming of metal in which round or shaped workpieces are pulled through an opening with a cross-section smaller than the diameter of the workpiece.

Swaging

bending a part into shape by hammering it with a preheated hammer.

Cutting

cutting out parts of a specified shape from sheet metal using cutting tools.

Chiseling

cutting out parts of a certain shape, or part of the workpiece, with a sharp tool (chisel, sledgehammer, and so on).

Bending

changing the shape and geometry of metal without preheating. The applied force makes the workpiece bend and deform, stretching its outer layers and compressing its inner ones.

Rolling

pressure processing of metals and metal alloys, consisting in compressing them between the rotating rolls of rolling mills.

Chopping

working the metal with a special forge axe, chisel, or undercut. One of the techniques of artistic forging, it results in cutting off part of the metal along the outer contour of the workpiece.

Straightening

truing up rolled stock, wire, long forgings, forgings, castings, and machined parts to remove warping and other defects.

Embossing

artistic machining of metal to create a pattern, inscription, or image, consisting in hammering out a certain relief on a plate.