Victorian Fireplace - fret/bar replacement

[spoonymonki]

Ahoy there!

Hope somebody can help ....

Last year I purchased a 1930’s property in the South East which for reasons I don’t know has a Victorian fireplace in the living room, although obviously not contemporary to the building I love it and am in the process of preparing it for a solid fuel fire.

There are two main things I am trying to achieve about which I need some expert advice:

Firstly as the fret bars are missing I’d like to try and identify what the original set looked like and find a suitable replacement. I have the Rd number (123645) and believe the piece was registered around 1896 and thus cast there or there abouts. I have made some progress with the National Archives, however I won’t be able to find the makers name until am able to visit in person. Once identified, do you know if original drawings / catalogues are likely to have survived which I could reference with regards to the fret bars? I thought this was my most likely chance of identifying the original design. I believe from the fire place (picture attached) that I need hook on bars possibly with a free standing ash pan cover, I make this assumption based on the two rectangular holes in the frame. Date wise I believe it sits within the early Art Nouveau although to me it looks more reminiscent of designs which preceded this movement.

Finally, I am struggling to successfully blacken some parts of the fireplace. In areas the original red backing is showing through, however laying blackening on often takes more off making matters worse. Obviously, if I try and then buff the fireplace I end up back at square one!

Thanks in advance,

Spoon

 

[MdB]

Bump for another newbie post.

 

[Feltwell]

I can't advise you on how to find the original design for your firebars, but I can say that it may not be worth the effort. Finding firebars that fit and look right has in my experience been a pig of a job, for my fireplaces at least. You could spend a lot of time and effort finding out what the originals look like and then find that you can't source anything like them.

I would be tempted to take the pragmatic approach and look for firebars that fit and look right to you, and not worry beyond that. Missing firebars are a very common problem - they came off the original fireplaces easily, often when the fireplace was being boarded over in the 50's / 60's - they stuck out and got in the way of the board so got taken off and thrown away. One of my fireplaces had it's mantle shelf snapped off for that same reason as well

Ebay is a reasnoble source, and this website is quite good for pattern parts. I can't advise you on the blacking but hopefully someone else can. Good luck!

http://www.bygones.net/thumbs.asp?strCategory=Fireplace_Spares

 

[LadyArowana]

I am assuming that it's made of cast iron? What is the red colour that you say is showing through? Is this some previously applied finish? I have used blacking a couple of times, ( once on an antique cast iron stick/ umbrella stand and once on a fire ), but didn't experience this sort of problem. The stick stand had some rust issues but once these areas were wire brushed the blacking did the job.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Sensible advice above. It sounds like this is one for strippers of Sudbury - there ought. It be an earlier red showing through in my opinion. I'd be interested in stripping it back and starting again. I think I'd be looking at lots of pictures of fires and having a blacksmith make something appropriate up. ( need to do that here too)

I agree it isn't particularly Art Nouveau looking - what a tiny space in time that movement had! I wonder how influential it really was. Anyway your fireplace does look mid Victorian period to me too, and a very elegant one it is.

 

[spoonymonki]

Fantastic, thank you all for your advise, really useful.

 

[plasticpigeon]

I think getting bars to fit is a challenge in itself, and trying to find out what the originals looked like might be a challenge too far!!! A reclamation yard near me will make bars for fireplaces for around £40 to £60. I intend to get some made up in the near future, it is a common problem. I imagine reclamation yards often get fireplaces without bars too so this service it useful to them so it may be worth asking at local yard if they offer the service.

I'd have thought stripping and blacking would have been better than trying to cover the red with colloidal black or whatever you are using. I have found chemical strippers work well on metal, not so well on wood. All the best!

 

[Feltwell]

A reclamation yard near me will make bars for fireplaces for around £40 to £60.

Who's that then?

 

[plasticpigeon]

http://www.reclaimedbricksfloorboardsmidlands.co.uk/index.html

He showed me some bars for a bedroom fireplace. They are welded from steel, not cast iron, but did look convincing. I didn't talk in detail about it, just logged it in the back of my mind for future reference!!

 

[Feltwell]

That's useful, thanks. I need some bars for a fireplace and despite having another set to be used as a pattern, I can't find anyone interested in casting them in iron. It's a non-working fireplace so I was thinking of seeing if a brass foundry would do the job - and last resort was to make a set from wood and black them up with grate polish! I do know a very good blacksmith so I should speak to him to see if he could fabricate something in steel, I've no idea why I hadn't thought of that....