Architectural Bronze
BESPOKE ARCHITECTURAL BRONZE WORK
You are picturing an architectural metalwork item that lends style to your space, and Forging Matters is here to make this happen.
Bronze is a popular finish which needs some clarification. Most people will associate bronze with the deep brown, aged colour seen on bronze cast statues rather than the actual material.
Cost effective ways to achieve this colour are bronze paint, bronze powder coating or bronze plating. All of these will look good in the right setting but it will be clear on close inspection that they are not actual bronzes however. Genuine bronze looks are detailed below.
Architectural Bronze
Architectural bronze tends to be a bronze patina on brass. This will give the proper deep bronze look as seen on high end shop fronts etc. The underlying brass material is often apparent on high interaction items such as door sills and handles.
High tensile brass, or manganese bronze, has a slightly warmer colour and it is sometimes advertised as a bronze.
Actual Bronzes
The traditional copper/tin alloy from the bronze age is known as phosphor bronze. It can be folded, welded and machined but it is too brittle to be hot forged. the raw material is copper coloured so it will need a patina treatment to age it to a dark bronze look.
Silicon bronze is the most malleable of the bronzes. It also has the warmest look without having a patina applied, especially when hot forged and wire brushed. It can be forged, fabricated, cast and machined.
Aluminium bronze has a slightly silvery brass colour, it is highly corrosion resistant and it can be forged, fabricated, cast and machined. We prefer to bring this to a warm mid bronze colour with the patina treatment rather than a deep bronze.
Bronze Sourcing
We source all our bronzes from the UK, Europe or the US. Finding the right sections for architectural purposes can be a challenge but if it is made somewhere, or can be made in acceptable minimum order quantities, we can normally track it down.
Bronze processing and manufacture
We can offer our full range of services including traditional forge work, precision engineering and incorporation of cast components, in bronzes. Each brass and bronze has it’s own particular requirements, strenghts and weaknesses. We can help you decide on the most suitable material choice for what you are looking to achieve.
Techniques we have developed to date include engineered joins on staircase balustrade handrails for a sharp join that avoids joining collars. We have also developed sharply folded outside corners on sheet, which involves cutting away a V at the back of the fold, for the cladding of walls and furniture items. Our latest challenge has been to develop forging methods for aluminium bronze, which has a narrow heat working range.
Bronze Finishing
To achieve the final look we can finish the work or components by polishing to bring out their natural colour. We can also take it through an ageing process, or patina treatment, to achieve the required look or to tie in with other elements in the house. More details on this can be found in the finishes blog.
For further information please refer to the case studies to show you the level of service you can expect from us. For a selection of past and current commissions please see the gallery below.
Some examples of our recent work
Some of our favourite photos of Archtitectural Bronze projects, showing off our work in all it’s glory.
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