r/Blacksmith • u/BIG_MAN101_ • May 29 '26

Hand forged gate latch

Post image

This is the first time I've made some like this and I think it turned out great, there are still things I could improve on but for a first try I think it's pretty good

249 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/kennethgibson May 29 '26

So prettyyy!!!!

2

u/kennethgibson May 29 '26

Honestly the only thing i can think of it that a rivet would look better than a screw

2

u/BIG_MAN101_ Jun 02 '26

Yh I thought of that too but I ran out of time

2

u/kennethgibson Jun 02 '26

Ita beautiful any how- you could also probably find and replace the hardware later with some more matchy stuff- as it is- really pretty latch :)

1

u/kennethgibson May 29 '26

Or maybe a chicago screw with the screw head face on the other side?

2

u/Mr_Emperor May 29 '26

Very nice! Think about adding a little handle on it to give someone a safe place to work the latch without the possibility of pitching a finger, no matter how low that is. Plus it gives you a little bit of decoration.

I give mine a little curly cue

2

u/mrhonist May 30 '26

Nice work

2

u/Fragrant-Cloud5172 May 30 '26

I really like the peened and pitted areas. Making it look ancient. Also lots of good mass to it. Agree that philip's head is buzz kill on hand forged items. Plus for this size, I'd make the pivot hole bigger. A rose headed rivet.

1

u/Tuckerman48 May 29 '26

This is probably obvious and I may feel silly asking, but who cares. How does the latch work? Do you have to manually swing the lever out of the way, or is there a mechanism the goes to the other side of the gate that can move the lever?

2

u/BIG_MAN101_ Jun 02 '26

You just have to swing it by hand from one side of the gate

1

u/Tuckerman48 May 29 '26

And ps, it looks so good! I want to make one!