The vast majority of preservation work falls under the heading of "Rehabilitation". Which the US Secretary of Interior defines in "The Standards for Rehabilitation", (codified in 36 CFR 67), as:

"…the process of returning a property to a state of utility, through repair or alteration, which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those portions and features of the property which are significant to its historic, architectural and cultural values." (see http://www.cr.nps.gov)

We look for ways to include details of construction or installation that facilitate maintenance of the metalwork and thus contribute to the sustainability of the work. These can be subtle additions to original work that do not significantly affect the integrity of the historic material and that maintain its original look.

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This late 19th C fence was made of partially recycled historic "hairpin" fencing and designed to complement a relocated Victorian house. Insufficient information on the original fencing and budget constraints did not allow an accurate reproduction. However, the rehabilitation of the house on a new site was made aesthetically whole with the tasteful use of period material, which passed local architectural review."

The fabrication of another reconstructed gate for an original late 19th Century hairpin fence in progress. The original gate had long since disappeared and no historic documentation was available for accurate reproduction. The new gate was based on clues from the surviving fencing and from other local surviving example of gates from the same period.

This is an element of a latch being made for the new gate. It is being forged in steel as a replacement for the original cast iron version, which would have been too expensive to cast.