Hinge Straps for TenCate House

(What I have been doing...)

I had been contacted a couple of weeks back by an old customer. Several years back I had done a number of pieces for a custom built home just north of Wareham, near Eugenia Lake. The house is 3/4 the way up the north side of one of the several huge valleys that cut into the top edge of the Niagara Escarpment between our place (considered the edge of the 'Dundalk Plateau' and Georgian Bay. These valleys run roughly from Flesherton to the north west - between us and Meaford, Thornbury and Collingwood. The house has a spectacular setting - but frankly is not the easiest place to get over to this time of year. (Less said about todays installation trip the better!)
This image (shot from outside the house through the rear porch window) is of the stair grillwork I had done earlier for the couple. The 'loving doves' design was based on some hand antique hand painted tiles they had brought back from the Netherlands.

The current project was to make up a set of purely decorative hinge plates and handles for a new garage and workshop building under construction. I had advised that a modern commercial barrel hinge should be used for the heavy wooden vehicle doors (each over four feet wide). This primarily for both tight fit and for security. The plates do not actually carry any load, and are mounted directly over the structural hinges. Those had been painted the same colour as the wood of the garage to make them blend in. In the overall view you can see all the components.

Here, a close up of one of the plate elements. The forged straps and base plates started as 2 1/2 x 3/16 inch flat bar. For the main straps, one end of the bar was slit back down the middle with a 10 inch long cut on the band saw. Working one at a time, each strip was forged to a point, shouldered, then the material drawn to a long taper into that shoulder (to about 14 inches in total). Next the slit base was spread open to about 45 degrees. Each fork was then coiled up into a slightly overlapping sprial. (Although this was not the original intent of the design, I actually liked the resulting 3-D effect better.) To finish, the opposite end was also pointed, shouldered and then drawn into a long taper. The finished straps are about 32 inches long.
The base plates (to cover over the other side of the commercial hinge), are a double spiral. Each side of the bar was drawn to a long tapered point (from about 10 inches to closer to 20 inches, then curled up for the final shape.

The last part of this project is a pair of oversized door handles. Each is forged from 2 X 3/16 inch flat stock. Either end was again pointed, shouldered and drawn. Next the centre portion was worked over with decorative punches to create an incised pattern. In this case, a vine / flower / grape design around the customer's initials. Last the centre flat portion was slightly curved, then the overall D profile created.