Difference Between Cast and Malleable Iron

The owners of Architectural Ironmongery Ltd would like to explain the difference between malleable iron and cast iron ironmongery. The products we sell from Kirkpatrick are all malleable. We feel that we need to explain this due to the cheaper cast iron products that are now are arriving in the country, many of which are identical in size, shape and general appearance. The difference is that cast iron will break. The name Kirkpatrick Ltd has been synonymous with the production of high quality malleable iron builders's ironmongery for over 140 years. At Architectural Ironmongery Ltd we keep an extensive range of their Black Antique and Plain Gothic styles, all can be seen on our website at http://www.arciron.com and available by mail order. Kirkpatrick's malleable iron products are hand-made in the their foundry in Walsall using greensand casting process. At this stage the castings are hard and brittle and cannot be hammered, so they are subjected to a heat treatment known as 'annealing'. In this process the castings are surrounded by an inert haematite ore within iron drums and loaded into ovens of six to eight tons capacity. The ovens take about two days to reach the annealing temperatue of 980 C. The castings are then soaked at this temperature for around 80 hours, after which they are allowed to cool naturally. During this process the carbon structure of the iron is changed. The resulting castings are no longer hard and brittle, but soft and malleable. After shot blasting and grinding to remove any rough edges the castings are then assembled into finished or semi-finished products. Following assembly a rust proofing finish may be applied and a two-coat paint process is carried out, before being passed for final inspection. By choosing Kirpatrick malleable iron products you can be confident that you are getting a product which is both functional and highly decorative and one that, well maintained, will give many years of service and pleasure