The term “wrought iron” is greatly abused in today’s commercial marketplace, as it is applied to everything from bent steel wire to cast aluminum. Technically, the term should be applied only to iron that has been worked white hot; physical force (such as the smith’s hammer) is used to cause the metal to flow and be reshaped into the desired form.

Much work that is termed “wrought iron” is simply “bent work,” that is, commercially available mild-steel bars, tubing, or strips that have been cut, heated, and bent - or sometimes even worked cold. Separate elements are then joined via arc welding or mechanical fasteners. The purist metalsmith rejects the term “wrought iron” for this bent work because it has not received the hammering, stretching, twisting, and piercing that a top-grade piece of wrought iron is subjected to. And rather than arc welding, the elite metalsmith will go to the trouble of forge welding - joining two pieces by heating them white hot, then fusing the elements into a single unit under the blows of a hammer. Through the use of such techniques as forged collars, piercing, and forge welding, the skilled metalsmith can assemble a grille or similar piece of ornamental ironwork without ever resorting to arc welding or bolts. True wrought iron can usually be distinguished by its sensuous patterns and curves - and often the marks of the smith’s hammer are evident. Since wrought ironwork is forged by hand, small irregularities are usually apparent - and valued as evidence of the smith’s craft.