Steel is a popular material in today’s lawn, garden and home décor and can be finished several different ways. Let’s look at the most popular finishes.

The look of raw steel. That polished, glossy, daring look of raw steel is currently popular in kitchen appliances. The steel is ground, sanded or polished until it shines and then coated with clear acrylic to protect it from rusting.

If you have a piece of polished steel that hasn’t been coated yet be careful: even a fingerprint left on its surface has the potential of turning to rust – even under the finishing coat!

Clear finish.  This is natural steel not polished but finished in a clear sealer. These finishes tend to be shiny, but you can get a matte finish with an acrylic polymer emulsion.

A very simple explanation of a polymer emulsion is that the paint molecules are suspended in the liquid

Have you noticed how popular the look of rust is? Especially in today’s lawn ornaments, it’s getting lots of attention from otherwise meticulous people. This article isn’t about encouraging an increase of rust in your life, but to explain why it happens and how – if you are really interested – you can “rust” your own steel.

The popular rusted look has a definition: it’s got to be a well-rusted look, not just a poorly maintained appearance. Sounds a little contradictory, right? Let’s try to explain: it’s the difference between a continuous coat of the red stuff (a well-rusted look) and the occasional spot (poor maintenance). So what causes rust in the first place?

Steel, as we know, is very durable. It’s made from iron and various combinations of other elements. Since iron isn’t very strong on its own, these other elements are added to strengthen it and make it into steel which, as we all know,

It's raining today, so we won't be sitting in the garden.  At my friend's house it means their grapes will grow.  And that means another batch of their fabulouse wine - but not 'til next year when it's finally bottled and ready to taste.

Making wine takes patience, just like steel work.  It takes special equipment, like steel work.  And it takes experience to know how to make it really great...just like steel work.

Making one of our wine holders takes times.  It takes an artist to imagine it and a real pro to turn it into the real deal.  What a pair:  wine and steel -- they're really made for each other!

It's summer again!  At our friends house, the first thing out of winter storage is the old hammock and stand.  It's older than the dirt it stands on, but it's still the best napping spot on the block.

It's a free-standing hammock with a bent metal frame.  That hammock has held two generations of family (sometimes several members at once!) and the frame hasn't budged over the years.

Reminds me of our products and what it takes to bend steel.  Jult like bending that hammock frame took specialized knowledge and equipment, our products require the same.  And just like that old hammock frame, our steel products can hold their own in the middle of your family gatherings.

Guess that means our Wine Man Bottle Holder really isn't working all that hard!

An Introduction to the Artistic Science of Cold Bending Steel

How do you bend steel? Why, you may ask, would you even want to know how?  To be honest, for most of us there’s just no good reason to learn to bend steel.  The DYI-er or casual artist may be curious, but for the most part it’s something left to others – like professionals.  And even they have to have a good reason to know how to bend steel.

One good reason is for steel artwork.  Professional artists who use steel as a medium have many skills not required for other art media.  They may be knowledgeable about metallurgy, welding, plasma cutters . . . all sorts of things most of us know nothing about.

How do they do it?  Steel bending can be accomplished a few different ways, and the artist’s choice will depend first on the shape and size of the steel and then on what tools are available.

Let’s look at