Cast Iron Fence: We Can Rebuild It
Here’s a fun guest post from a Clinton Hill brownstone owner… The story: Our 130-year old iron fence was in terrible shape, barely standing at all—the last of the five identical houses in our row to have even pieces of the original. I had Vinnie from Italian Art Iron Works on Bergen Street out to…
Here’s a fun guest post from a Clinton Hill brownstone owner…
The story: Our 130-year old iron fence was in terrible shape, barely standing at all—the last of the five identical houses in our row to have even pieces of the original. I had Vinnie from Italian Art Iron Works on Bergen Street out to look at it, and was still skeptical that it could be saved. It was missing 17 arrows and five of the seven post-end caps. Fortunately, previous owners saved 16 arrows, so at least we had those. Vinnie says to me, “You gotta spend-a the money.” So I did. Here’s a photo of Vinnie’s guy putting the pieces together along with one of what it looks like now. But that spikey finial you see below was one of only two that we had. I scoured the salvage places, emailed photos to Olde Good Things and all the rest—nada. Vinnie ballparked that it could cost us $4,000 to have new ones cast—yikes!
And then…
…my architect found these guys: Tomahawk Foundry in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, of all places. I sent them a picture and described what I needed. They said they’d do it for $150 apiece. I sent them one of the remaining finials. Three weeks later, they sent me the parts—gray iron, cast in sand. Original on the left, replica on the right. Perfect.
So if you’re looking to bring your iron fence back to life and can’t find all the pieces, there ya go. Fence should be complete again within a couple of weeks. And Bob’s yer uncle.
(If those words are too big for you, crescent have mommy explain them to you.)
Posted by: bxgrl at September 16, 2009 3:49 PM
———Again, all you seem to be able to do is hurl insults. You are very transparent Bxgrl and beyond the pale if immaturity. You do not even realize it as you harp on percieved insults tied into stereotypical connotations perhaps believing I am of one ethnicity or another. You are a windowpane of glass, hazed over by ignorance and cracking apart apart under pressure. Even though I can see through you , I now choose to board you up.
My last post, and I will keep my word.
I would apologize if I had said something insulting about or to vinny. But I didn’t. I didn’t even use the dialect. go figure.
1) vinnie is idiosyncratic — would not touch my $2000 job as too small but sent his latino workers to do it on the side (wth?)
I contracted with the workers employed by my “main” iron guy. Like w/you, I had a job that was too small for the main guy, and his workers did it on their “off” time. Made perfect sense as the main guy is so good he has work all over Brooklyn and can afford to let his workers take all of the profit from a job. It’s actually a cool thing he did for them.
infinitejester 323p has a good rule which i broke.
4. But it does read like a stereotypical Italian accent. I think offense can be taken. Always good to think over what you’ve written before posting. But as offenses go, this one’s pretty minor, given that it’s Vinny. Not worth a big to do.
slopefarm is usually right about most things, this being no exception. Offense, if minor, could be taken. I for one apologize for my mimicking of the OP’s quote, although I doubt I will lose sleep over it.
Any of you guys ever use Manny and his son to do a deck with Susan from Sketch and Hammer????
The two of them swear at each other all day but do damn good ironwork.
antidope is usually right about real estate and now this too.
why can’t we all accept the truths:
1) vinnie is idiosyncratic — would not touch my $2000 job as too small but sent his latino workers to do it on the side (wth?)
2) vinnie is incomprehensible and probably of early 20th century immigrant stock
3) crescent hill is inordinately touchy, even if s/he may have a very minor point
4) we’re all inconsiderate here, and
5) you’re hopelessly deluded if you think you will change the world in this forum, mr hill.
I say we all stop at Vinnies tomorrow before arriving at Pacifico and talk to him ourselves.