ACTIVITY
Telmo Cao does all kinds of craftwork with wrought iron, especially in the fields of metal fittings and construction. He designs and hand-forges stairs, railings, doors, gates, fixtures, etc.
The traditional techniques he uses include:
Heat treatments
– Annealing in ash for stabilising steel
– Tempering of steel… in water or oil
– Tempering to remove internal stresses within steel pieces in the forge, in a furnace or in oil
– Case-hardening and carburisation of steel with ram’s horn
Jointing techniques
– Jointing by forge welding with charcoal and earth
– Jointing by forge welding with coal, with or without borax
– Welding in a gas forge
– Traditional jointing with flat- or round-headed rivets using a riveting set
– Hot jointing with cramps or clamps
– Joints with forged metal ties
– Joints with riveted one-piece dowels
– Lap joints, dovetails or simple dowels
– Forge jointing by braze welding
– Making basket ornaments for railings with molten lead, zinc, brass, bronze or calamine in a traditional sand mould
– Embossing of sheet metal with ornamental motifs
– Punching and cleaving for hot iron perforation using a cleaver and punches
– Making all the tools involved in his work
Finishes
– Acid blueing
– Oil blueing with beeswax and graphite powder
Other techniques
– Installation of ironwork on stone with molten lead fixing
– Bronze patinas for interior items
– Brass forging
– Drawing, marking out and manufacture of templates (for Telmo, the most important part)
Further to the above, Telmo also uses more modern techniques such as laser cutting or 3D modelling.
TRAINING
He learned the trade in a mostly self-taught way, although three people in particular have greatly influenced him:
His father, Anxel Cao, a ceramics teacher at the Pablo Picasso Arts and Crafts School of A Coruña, who from childhood instilled in him the practice of craftwork… with various materials and the main artistic processes involved in craft projects.
Friedich Bransteild, an Austrian blacksmith settled in Santa Eulalia de Oscos in Asturias, who introduced him to the world of wrought iron and allowed him to see it as a possible future.
And Miquel Xirau, from Vilanova del Vallés near Barcelona, one of the best blacksmiths in the country, with whom he did a placement on completing his sculpture course.
SELECTED WORK
Work for both private and public sites, notably including ongoing collaboration in the wrought-iron workshops for the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona.
