Fitting reclaimed Cast iron railings

[agbagb]

Hi Folks
First post on this forum, I've been a reader for while and picked up some useful info so I thought It was time to give something back.

I've just fitted some cast iron railings I salvaged from a chapel that was being demolished. It took some working out but the results are well worth it.

I had to make new joints to get them to fit

And fit one of the support bosses it to the coping stones with lead.

I've recorded the full detail of fitting the railings here.

If anyone knows if I got the lead casting in proccess wrong, please let me know.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Moo]

That's really inspiring, Andy. (And I'm jealous!)

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Andy - welcome; and the railings look fab. Quite a deal too.

The website is a really good idea. Please post details on here too, as I am sure your projects will be of interest/help to many who visit PPUK.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

ooo yes please would like to know more!

The railings do look good, well worth it.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

That wooden motorbike is crazy, but a thing of real beauty.

Can it be ridden on the road. Is it MOTable?

 

[Penners]

Nice job, Andy. Well done. And I never realised that railings were secured into coping stones with lead - a useful bit of information.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

So that's where the recently removed lead from our 'quiet' market town has disappeared to.

 

[agbagb]

Cheers Folks,
I'll keep you up to date with what I'm up to and try and put up some of the past projects.

Jocelyn, I've got my own lead mine. I just lift up floor boards and pull out the gas light pipes

FamilyWiggs the Wooden Motorbike is a mates from Ireland, "road legal" has different conatations over there aparently.

Andy

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Nice job, Andy. Well done. And I never realised that railings were secured into coping stones with lead - a useful bit of information.

Neither did I.

Can I ask a silly question - how does the lead actually secure the railings to the stone? I can well imagine the lead "sticks" to the railing - but how does it adhere to the stone? My experience with hot solder is that it rerely adheres to anything, including what I am trying to solder. Why can't you just lift the railings plus the lead plug out of the stone?

Or does the lead expand as it cools, wedging everything in tight?

 

[agbagb]

Not a silly question at all.
It's more of mechanical fixing than bonding. The railing end has a groove around it, the hole in the stone is wider at the bottom. When the lead has has filled the voids and solidified; the railing can't pull out of the lead because of the groove and the lead can't pull out of the hole because it's bigger than the hole. It make like an all round wedge, the more its pulled, the tighter it would get.

Very clever those ancestors

 

[Flyfisher]

Clever indeed. I guessed the lead provided a mechanical fixing but thought it would just be due to the natural roughness of the stone - I didn't realise it was such a well-engineered arrangement. Must be diffcult to remove though.

Interesting website as well. Loved the wooden motocycle!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Dashed clever chaps those Victorian wallahs, eh?

Thanks Andy.

 

[philpjuk100]

My grandfather had his railings taken for the war effort,the stubs left (all different lengths,a really untidy job!)used to remind him so my father and I removed them,we heated them up with a large "roofers" parafin blowlamp and after the lead had melted pulled them out with pliers.The remaining lead was then chisled out and the holes filled with a sand/cement mix with a little soil and fag ash added until the colour matched! The holes were "dove tailed" and the railings had there ends "upset" by the blacksmith,eg the end heated up and spread with a hammer.this took a couple of days to remove and fill a 30ft run but never stopped him moaning about Churchill taking his railings! phil.