This here beautiful entryway that I built in 2004 is in Aspen Colorado, the Gamble Oak leaves and acorns are Forged steel and then galvanized I just found these photo's lurking in the bottom of my picasa

 It's been a while since I updated anything on this project in the Sonoma Valley. The Pictures are not very good, I'm still need to have a photographer take some pictures, this is a beautiful home overlooking the valley. As I have said before this is a project of Cole Smith's FAIA and his firm Smith Ekblad & Assoc. out of Dallas Texas, Cole has been a great friend, mentor and client to me for many years, always pushing me to the limits, and to reproduce Antoinio Gaudi style for this home was definitely a chore. I built the entry way, the handrails, the indoor study gates, fireplace doors, outside sconces to name a few of the Items I produced for this house.

Bronze Handrail for residence in Highland Park Texas

These Handrail were built for a project of Cole Smith's FAIA and his firm Smith Ekblad & Assoc. out of Dallas Texas, Cole has been a great friend, mentor and client to me for many years, always pushing me to the limits.

Si Bronze is not the easiest metal to work with , as far as forging, it only comes in a few common sizes, an for this application the posts where only was available in 1.5” round I needed to forge it down to1.25” sq , the cap rail has a cross section of 1”x 2” with a domed top that has a very ergonomic fit for the hand.

Si Bronze forging temperature is between 1400F and 1675F a very small window to work the metal,too hot the metal falls apart, and too cold and it will work harden. Also finishing and polishing is a problem because the bronze is mostly copper and the fine grains coming off the handrails from sanding and polishing is an irritant so you must use respirator and gloves