Dead Head Forge Ornamental Ironwork

Dead Head Forge Ornamental Ironwork Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Dead Head Forge Ornamental Ironwork, Metal Fabricator, 2850 303rd Street, Menlo, IA.

Hand Forged, Hand Filed, Handmade.

• Full-time business specializing in custom ironwork, sculptures, and historical restorations of original pieces.

• Contact me today for any gates, railing, or other exterior ironwork that you may want!

Blacksmith friends and those setting up for Handwork’s I’m planning on being at the shop later afternoon Thursday to set...
09/02/2026

Blacksmith friends and those setting up for Handwork’s I’m planning on being at the shop later afternoon Thursday to set up and give some private tours before the big couple of days in the case you can’t make it in time swing by. I’m not for sure of the exact time I’ll be there Thursday as of right now, but by around noon Thursday I’ll have a better idea (it’s about a 2 1/2 hour drive for me). For those who plan to attend to see the shop over Friday and Saturday as much as I planned on demonstrating forging some woodworking tools I’ve decided against it since I don’t have the proper materials. Instead I’ll be starting a project out of my “Dream collection”. I’ll be posting more about it tomorrow! While in the shop for the event I’ll be taking donations to help us restore the shop and bring in new events too once it’s fixed up better!

09/01/2026

A decent mornings worth of leaves and feet.

September is going to be one hell of a month or a hell month haven’t decided which yet, and it’s not just because this w...
09/01/2026

September is going to be one hell of a month or a hell month haven’t decided which yet, and it’s not just because this week decided to get hot again. Tonight I went through and figured out my schedule for working on these larger jobs and what I want to have done by when. Along with figuring out all of my events I plan to attend this month such as the demo in West Amana while Handwork’s is going on this weekend. Also for those with the smaller orders don’t worry I plan to be working on them as the month goes by. Though this may come off as a little bit of a complaint it’s definitely not. I’m extremely blessed to have all of this work!

While working on my larger jobs over the last week, I’ve been waiting on these catalogs to show up. The last fence I res...
08/31/2026

While working on my larger jobs over the last week, I’ve been waiting on these catalogs to show up. The last fence I restored used completely different joinery that how this one is assembled and I questioned on how the pickets were joined to the channel since the last one I did was a mixture of tenons and screws to hold them into place along with some lead setting. This fence doesn’t have that. So like most things I do I had to research, and what I found was completely different from what I assumed. This fence was pressed and caulked to ensure they didn’t move though they did electrically weld them around 1930+. The top catalog has a lot more information on the process of how they were set, along with talking about the company’s own patented 3 ribbed channel iron that they built them with. In situations like this I’m happy to be able to find catalogs like these that helps me understand the company who originally made these along with seeing other styles they build in the case I ever restore a different style. The top catalog is from 1934 and the bottom is from 1915.

Zoey and I took a little trip to Walnut yesterday to check out the antique shops and while we were there I picked up thi...
08/30/2026

Zoey and I took a little trip to Walnut yesterday to check out the antique shops and while we were there I picked up this goat skull. Now that the patina is applied and it’s finished I have it now up on my website if anyone is interested in it! Also while I was there I was commissioned to patina a head for the store owners so stay tuned to see how that one turns out!

https://www.deadheadforgeornamentalironwork.com/store/p/ecumvra28paw6axr7hvv6x21xroh3h

08/28/2026

Material is cut and I’m ready to start forging! Looking forward to doing some punching and drifting on these rails since each one will have a pass through spindle. The plan is to keep this rail as simple as possible, but it’ll still use traditional joinery for a good chunk of it.

08/28/2026

Been a pretty productive morning so far. Went over earlier to set my jig for this other railing order set up, and got back home to get my stand made. There’s thousands of different ways to set up to build a railing and though my way isn’t the best it definitely involves less math than the other ways. It also doesn’t take long to get it set up, both on the job and back at the shop. Now I’m ready to get material cut and start forging.

08/27/2026

Well I got another section of caprail done with a leaf. Even though I debated on tacking the leaf to the cap I decided to do a section in a drip tong weld manner though luckily I didn’t have to drop any tongs.

08/25/2026

From mangled mess to straight as an arrow these pickets for the shorter section of fence are back to looking like they should. One tool that is a great help for this project that I don’t talk about enough is the treadle hammer. Pretty much any straightening I need to do I use it. It’s definitely a great tool to have around the shop and it’s certainly my most used piece of equipment.

Can anyone guess what my least favorite type of material to forge is? If you guessed stainless you’d be right. It’s been...
08/25/2026

Can anyone guess what my least favorite type of material to forge is? If you guessed stainless you’d be right. It’s been quite a few years since the last time I did and to be completely honest I didn’t miss it. I’ll definitely be sticking with forging steel and iron, granted it works great for cookware. A very patient customer ordered a set of skewers a tad larger than my normal ones I make but out of stainless to use on his grill. I still have some cleaning to do on them, but should have them shipped out by the middle of this week!
While working on my bigger jobs I’m still taking the time to go down my list and finishing up the smaller ones, so if you’re still waiting on yours chances are I’ll be starting them soon!

Address

2850 303rd Street
Menlo, IA
50164

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 6pm
Tuesday 8am - 6pm
Wednesday 8am - 6pm
Thursday 8am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 6pm

Telephone

+15152499210

Website

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