My grandfather used to do this

Wrought Iron Work...

As a matter of fact he shaped and built the railings at my back door, of course that was 57 years ago, and since they were only ever painted once, they are not in the best shape anymore. He also did brickwork, machine work, welding, wood working, plumbing, electrical.....

It was a different generation, people worked for a living. They were proud of their work and if it didn't come out good enough, they would start over. Pride of workmanship, back then it was not only about making a buck but about making a name for yourself.

I remember when, oh...I must have been around 7 or 8, so 1967/68. 
My Grandfather built a brick black smith forge with exhaust chutes, a blower, and ash dump. It was a thing of beauty. he would fire it up, get the coal hot, hit the blower to get the metal white, (A lot better than the hand crank blower he had on the small forge) lift the metal out and over to the andiron. he would shape and reheat that metal over and over then cool it.

I should say right here and now, I was scared to death of the man, He was tall and built, (years of hard work), he was German and had a really, really short fuse. Never violent, but LOUD. 

Anyway. I decided one day that I would help him out, I went into his machine shop, which had everything to do everything. I noticed the forge and that the bricks it was built out of formed a perfect right angle squared corner. You know, I thought, if someone tripped and hit that, they could get hurt. So I found a big ol chisel and a hand sledge and proceeded to "round off" the edge.

Luckily for me, there was someone who out ranked my Grandfather in the house, not the shop, but the house. My grandmother came to my rescue. I guess a man can't live in his shop no matter how fine it may sound at times.