Only Skin Deep?

"... stylish, elegant, and bespoke metalwork ..."

<< Blog; 13th June 2018 >>


This is just the sort of project I like to get my teeth into, and we're not talking giant clams here. There's a lot more going on beneath the surface of this fire canopy for a medieval manor house than first meets the eye.

The stainless steel has a lightly distressed texture for an aged look in keeping with its setting. However, direct heat from the fire could cause this to turn a bright iridescent blue ... definitely not in keeping with its setting! The solution was to use a double walled design with the air gap acting as an insulation layer. The inner structure also serves as a mandrel for shaping the stainless outer wall. Another advantage offered by the insulation is that it prevents any heat distortion that stainless steel is notorious for. The inner structure also allows the use of a riveted and lapped construction.

All in all this was quite a challenging (but interesting) build due to the geometry of the fire place and the design of the canopy. Hopefully the pictures give some idea of just how challenging. More pictures of the completed canopy can be seen on this page and I will be designing and making a complementary fire basket in the near future; stay tuned!

Double walled stainless steel fire canopy for a medieval manor house