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CUSTOM WROUGHT IRON DOORS & GATE FABRICATION FOR HISTORIC LANDMARK BUILDINGS
AND OTHER IRON RESTORATION WORK
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We custom fabricate steel, metal, and wrought iron doors for historic buildings, matching the original construction techniques. Specifying and furnishing new hardware, compatible with modern security, or electronic entry requirements is part of the service we offer. Restoration or replication of historic hardware may also be included. Olek machines, casts, mills, lathe turns, and forges wrought iron components needed to make new doors, or preserve originals. Many of the doors we work on are monumental, and have weighed over 3,000 lbs. for a single door leaf. We also furnish and install standard iron doors from other manufacturers. Glazing to specification is included, for thermal insulation, ballistic protection, or to meet storm or rain resistance and air infiltration requirements. Floor mounted closers may be incorporated, often used in large residential apartment buildings. We build iron doors for historic or national register buildings, residential apartment buildings, single family brownstones, and detached residences.
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.jpg "GRAND CENTRAL MACHINE AGE CABINETS DURING RESTORATION") |
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| All original components and profiles required hand carved wood models larger than original scale. If they were cast to the original size, they would shrink afterward and not match the original dimensions. |
Fabricated, finished and installed new iron & bronze gate leaves and other elements, including pickets and rosettes. |
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Grand Central Station Iron Doors & Gate
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Fabricated new iron and steel doors and gates for train track entries, precisely matching all original details, construction techniques, and profiles- even the locksets were replicated.
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| The Iron Door Fabrication before which was badly rusty. In addition, it was highly oxidized when it delivered to Olek |
Fabricated cast metal, steel and brass train gates to match originals. These new gates were fabricated for Grand Central Terminal and match the originals, with cast pickets, rosettes, and C-scrolls. The bronze lockset mechanism and bronze hardware were also reproduced and installed |
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| These new gates were fabricated for Grand Central Terminal and match the originals, with cast iron pickets, rosettes, and C-scrolls. The bronze lockset mechanism and bronze hardware were also reproduced and installed |
Fabricated, finished and installed new metal & bronze gate leaves and other elements, including pickets and rosettes. |
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Repaired & restored all train metal gates at Grand Central Terminal |
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Drawings for project at Grand Central Station, NYC, 2000 |
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FLOOR MOUNTED DOOR CLOSERS FOR APARTMENT BUILDING DOOR- RIXSON
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A recent replacement active door closer was installed into plaster by a "reputable" company that manufactured the Closer. This allowed the door to shift after water damaged the plaster, and allowed too much stress on the middle hinge, contributing to the breakup of the bronze door cladding. The closer removed from the active door side was dated only 14 years earlier. With proper installation, it should have lasted more than 50 years.
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A special cold weather epoxy door was used to embed the new closer into the Sill. Plastic casing of old Floor Closer set into plaster, and damaged by water prior to removal.
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HARDWARE RESTORATION MATTERS- YOU NEED A RELIABLE LOCK AND HARDWARE SYSTEM
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Hardware Restoration is critically important for personal security and that of your home. It may not matter whether new hardware doors is being installed into your door, or old hardware is being restored, as long as the hardware is installed to be stable and reliable. And the installation should not ruin your door. Many locksmiths don't have the skills to repair a door that has had many locksets hacked into it, and don't really think it is their job to install the lockset to be stable. Proper craftsmanship by skilled cabinetmakers or architectural millworkers, or metal mechanics for a metal door, will make your door function reliably, without causing damage to it, for many decades to come. Some old door hardware is important to restore, see the "half-lapped" lockset below. Its shape, projecting outward for half the thickness of the door, is irreplaceable today, manufacturers have abandoned half lapped door owners.
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HALF-LAPPED DOORS, LOCKSETS, AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN THE DAYS BEFORE WEATHER STRIPPING
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Before the modern use of weatherstripping, energy conservation was achieved in a door by overlapping the leaves of the door, creating additional impediments and surfaces for drafts to get past. They are still relatively energy efficient doors, but require fine craftsmen willing to study the locksets, and replicate worn components for doors over 75 years old. Of course, the hinges must be tight, and the jambs square too, for a proper fit all around. Weatherstripping may also be retrofitted into an old door, to achieve modern efficiency and insulation values.
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Restored half-lapped door. This door has been opened more than 15 million times since installation in 1927. All restored hardware, including new thumb latch, and new lockset components to replace worn out parts.
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New flush bolt lap plate below, cast to replace missing. Restoring this hardware keeps old doors with natural half-lapped weather sealing functional. Such locksets and hardware have not been manufactured doors for many decades. We also incorporate modern weatherstripping into old bronze clad or iron or steel entry doors.
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LOCKSET RESTORATION & REPLICATION
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Lockset components wear out. They require patience to clean of decades of old dried out and caked on grease, rust, usually replacement of springs, and replacement of components by machining or casting new bronze elements. Even the latches wear down and may need rebuilding, as below.
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Lockset Latch clad and machined to compensate for wear, bolt similarly repaired to lengthen and enlarge around margins, and half-lapped bronze lockset strike plate repaired by building up with bronze by tungsten inert gas welding. Worn internal Lockset components replicated with Lathe, Machining, and Forging.
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Rust and old grease are removed first, after disassembly of the components.
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Cleaned and lubricated locksets with components replaced as needed, will last another century, and certainly outlast most contemporary locksets. These locksets were made in 1875.
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Gallery
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1158 fifth Ave 20 E. 66th St.
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2 W. 67th St. Metal Doors 1225 Park Ave
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