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Planning the Panel Before You Strike a Blow

Every good gate panel begins flat on the workshop floor, not at the forge. Draw the design full size in chalk on a sheet of plywood or a steel bench top, using the finished width of the gate opening less a little clearance — usually 10mm on the hinge side and 12mm on the latch side so the gate has room to swing without binding. A traditional garden gate panel is commonly built around 12mm square or 16mm square bar for the outer stiles and rails, with lighter 10mm stock carrying the scrollwork.

Set out the verticals first, then the horizontals, then mark the centre lines of each scroll. This matters more than any forging skill: a scroll seated 5mm out of position will throw the whole lattice off and no amount of hammer work will disguise it. Decide now where the pattern repeats, where the hinges will sit, and which bars carry the load. A gate is a structural item that happens to be decorative, not the other way round.

• Sketch the panel at 1:1 and keep the drawing on the floor as your assembly jig.
• Standardise bar sizes across the job so joints look deliberate.
• Leave the frame corners long until the panel is assembled — trimming early removes your adjustment.

Forging Scrolls, Twists and Leaves

Scrolls are best worked from 10mm square mild steel, forged hot to a bright orange and curled progressively rather than bent in one pass. Use scrolling tongs for the tight inner curl and the bick of the anvil or a scrolling fork for the wider sweep. Work in small bites and check against your chalk drawing constantly — it is far easier to close a scroll a little more than to open one out after the tip has thinned.

Twists add rhythm between the scrolls. Clamp one end in the vice and use a twister or a pair of scroll tongs on the other, counting the number of turns so that every twist on the gate matches. Six turns per 100mm is a sensible starting point for 10mm bar. Forge the twist while the bar is evenly hot along its length, otherwise it will tighten in the middle and slacken at the ends.

Leaves and finials are dressed from short offcuts, tapered on the anvil horn, then chiselled for the vein and bent to a gentle curve. Keep them slightly heavier than they appear to need — thin edges on an outdoor gate corrode away first.

Collars and Joints: The Hidden Strength

Collars are the blacksmith's signature joint and also the strongest. Make them from 20 x 3mm or 25 x 3mm flat bar, cut a little longer than the finished circumference, and wrap them round the assembled bars while red hot. Use a collar tool or a pair of scrolling tongs to draw them tight, then close with a hammer. As the steel cools it shrinks onto the joint, gripping the bars far more securely than a weld alone.

Where bars meet at right angles, a traditional mortise and tenon finished with a rivet is hard to beat. Drill or punch the mortise first, then forge the tenon to fit and pein the rivet over a bolster. For heavier gate frames, a tenon riveted hot and left to cool under the hammer will tighten itself as it contracts.

• Space collars evenly along a twist to frame it.
• Never fit a cold collar — it will not close properly and will work loose.
• Rivet heads should be domed, not flattened, so water runs off.

Assembling and Aligning the Gate Panel

Lay all components back on the chalk drawing and tack them in position with small welds or temporary wire. Check the diagonals across the frame before committing: if they are not equal, the gate is not square, and it will drag on the ground for the rest of its life. Adjust by tapping the frame with a hide mallet rather than forcing the scrollwork.

Once the diagonals agree, work from the centre outwards, fixing each joint properly as you go. Keep checking that the panel sits flat — a slight twist in the frame is easy to correct now and almost impossible later. When the assembly is complete, dress down any proud welds and blend the joints so they read as forged connections rather than repairs.

Weatherproofing for a British Garden

Outdoor ironwork lives with rain, salt air, and frost cycles, so the finish deserves the same care as the forging. Grit blast the completed gate to a clean grey, then prime within a few hours before any flash rust forms. A zinc phosphate or zinc-rich epoxy primer is the reliable modern choice; where you are working traditionally, a good quality red oxide primer followed by an oil-based undercoat still performs well if the metal is properly prepared.

Build the system in thin coats rather than one heavy one — a 25 to 40 micron primer, an undercoat, then two topcoats gives far better protection than a single thick layer. Micaceous iron oxide makes an excellent intermediate coat for gates, giving a subtle sheen and excellent resistance to weathering. Finish in a satin or eggshell black, or overcoat with a beeswax and linseed oil blend for a warmer, hand-finished appearance that suits period properties.

• Leave small drainage gaps at the base of scrolls so water cannot pool.
• Use galvanised or stainless fixings to avoid dissimilar metal corrosion.
• Touch up any chips in spring, before the rust takes hold.

Hang the gate so it clears the ground by 40mm or so, oil the hinges twice a year, and it will stand through decades of British weather — a bit of well-made ironwork that only improves with age.