Cel-Tec MetalWorks LTD foundry engineering

03/06/2026

A job we completed a few months ago in this beautiful house in a stunning location on the Isle of Mull.

We supplied and installed slate hearths, limestone surround with slips, and a full set of cast iron reeded panels. We also manufactured the cast iron plate shown in the installation.
This is to be a stove installed by a local stove installer

28/05/2026

A fire insert we cast late yesterday has been knocked out from the mould , a quick wire brush to remove the burnt sand this morning and came out beautifully , ready for the runners and risers to be cut off and a quick fettle up.

There is always a bit of apprehension in the workshop when casting pieces like this. With such fine detail over a large casting, there are countless variables that can turn a casting substandard and send it back to scrap and a complete restart.

Thankfully this one poured exactly as hoped and captured the detail beautifully. Looking forward to getting it cleaned up, polished and ready to send to the client.

This cast iron fire copies an original design by Thomas Jeckyll, produced by Barnard, Bishop & Barnards of Norwich in the 1870s and it a pleasure replicate it.

27/05/2026

A few sunny days spent at Dalkeith Palace installing balusters made a nice change for the team.

We cast and installed 33 individual components to replace damaged and missing sections of the stair balustrade, including new balusters, cantilever baluster shoes, a newel post and a top handrail. The components were traditionally leaded into the masonry using molten lead to secure the castings in place, also carrying out some minor masonry repairs on the damaged steps.

As we didn’t have an original handrail pattern and removing the existing rail to copy wasn’t feasible , Seth 3D printed a pattern for us to reproduce in cast iron.

All components were cast in-house before being fitted on site by the team.

19/05/2026

Surprising amount of work going on in this photo.

Brass casting, cast iron casting, milling, forge work, lathe work, blacksmithing, drilling and tapping — many hours ahead of us to get this next project completed.

Proudly using my partner’s late grandad’s Herbert’s screwdriver to assemble parts. He worked at Henderson’s Foundry in Kelso as a pattern maker for many years.

15/05/2026

A sorry looking set of cast iron railings in Coldstream brought back to life. All the new railings and finials were cast by us in the foundry. We also restored the railings at the house next door around 8 years ago, and over the years have now worked on three of the properties in a row, including casting a bespoke house sign for one of them. It’s good to see another part of the street brought back to its former condition.

07/05/2026

The hydraulic press coming into its own today, hot forging some 25mm legs and pressing cupped support plates. All tooling made in-house

28/04/2026

15/04/2026

A small selection of decorative and architectural pieces we’ve recently cast and forged:

• Round bronze plaque
• Polished cast iron fire legs (produced from 3D printed patterns)
• Polished brass chandelier mounting plates (more photos to come)
• Hand-forged table legs Forged hooks
• Decorative cast iron overmantel components
• A wide range of cast iron fireplace parts
• Cast iron air vents Cast iron coat hooks (aged to look like the originals )

It’s a noisy, dusty and often filthy job, but working with interesting people and contributing to beautiful buildings brings a real sense of satisfaction.

A jobbing foundry is a rare thing now and we’re proud to be part of it.

15/04/2026

Not our usual type of work, but a great opportunity to sharpen our lathe and milling skills on this firefighter training aid for the Fire and Rescue Service.

We manufactured a dummy hydraulic ram from engineering drawings, delivering a precise and functional training tool.

14/04/2026

The owner of this cast iron insert wanted to repurpose a piece from another property and integrate it into the original pine and gesso surround. Traditionally, this would be achieved using marble slips, but the client preferred not to use them.

Instead, we modified the original cast insert by extending the front plate and creating timber patterns to use to create cast iron beadings designed to suit the surround. In collaboration with the client and architect, everything came together very successfully in the end.

The timber surround itself was restored by another company.