COR-TEN® weathering steel house sign, gate & post box

We chose COR-TEN® weathering steel as the main material for this project. This vibrant warm orange-brown metal gave us the opportunity to echo the iron plates of the ancient heavy machinery that gently rusts in the fields and quarries nearby, and be in sympathy with the cottage and its place in the world famous slate industry heritage of Wales. Not only that, it offered our customers maintenance free metalwork items that would last for many decades and be fully recyclable at end of life.

We based our design on our species survey of the heather, research on antique Welsh bread ovens, the industrial heritage of the area, and life drawings of a sprig of heather and the mountain as seen from the cottage. From these we produced a number of concept sketches and scale drawings bringing the various ideas together into a project theme. There were no gate latches on the market that had the right look and feel as well as being sheep-proof, so we also designed and manufactured a bespoke latch in keeping with the aesthetics of the project.

Customer: Private householder
Purpose: Matching pedestrian gate & gate posts, house sign, vintage bread oven post box restoration
Location: Outdoor, inland, mountainous
Style guide: Natural, organic, hand drawn, rustic, slate industry, Snowdonia’s upland heritage
Image/s: Hand drawn Calluna vulgaris heather and mountain shape from life, bread oven door detailing from archive photos
Font/s: Adapted to stencil cut from customer’s drawing
Shape: Gate & sign: rectangular with organically shaped top; Post box front: rectangular; Post box door: curve-ended rectangle, traditional & organic shapes
Size: Gate & posts: 966mm wide x 1700mm tall; Sign: 641mm wide x 390mm tall; Post box front & door: 441mm wide x 507mm tall
Colour/s: Vibrant warm orange-brown; black
Finish/es: Bare metal cleanup, edge rounding; paint
Etching/engraving: No
Backlit: No
Material/s: 3mm Genuine COR-TEN® weathering steel plate; 60mm mild steel hollow section; 3, 5 & 8mm mild steel sheet; exterior grade metal paint
Construction: Gate: 1 layer welded into 3 sided welded frame; Gate posts: welded end caps; Sign: 1 layer; Post box front & door: 3 layers, bolts & hot rivets
Mounting: Gate: custom hinges & latch; Gate posts: post mix concrete; Sign: 4 holes, stainless steel self tappers; Post box front: bolted to bread oven through 4 holes, slate base
Delivery: Ravens’ Way’s own transport