Wrought Iron or Fabricated Steel
The Words Have Drifted
Wrought iron is a specific material: iron worked with a low carbon content and a fibrous slag structure, produced in quantity until the middle of the last century and barely produced since. Almost every gate advertised as wrought iron today is mild steel, hot rolled and fabricated, given the visual language of the older material. The trade uses the term to mean a style, not a metal, and that is worth knowing before comparing prices.
How to Tell
Age is the strongest clue. A gate on a property built in the last few decades is steel. Genuine wrought iron work shows a grain when it corrodes, tending to delaminate in layers rather than pit, and its joints are frequently forged or riveted rather than welded. A gate with clean modern welds throughout is steel regardless of what the invoice said.
Corrosion Behaviour Differs
This is the practical difference. Wrought iron corrodes slowly and superficially, which is why so much of it survives after a century of neglect. Mild steel corrodes faster and deeper, and in a humid coastal climate it depends entirely on its coating for survival. A steel gate treated the way an old iron gate was treated, which is to say largely ignored, will not last the same way.
Cost and Availability
Genuine wrought iron for new work means reclaimed stock and a smith who works it, which puts a new gate in a different price bracket entirely. Fabricated steel with good ornamental work is a fraction of that and, properly coated and maintained, gives a service life measured in decades. For almost every residential entrance, steel is the right answer and the question is really about the quality of the fabrication and the finish.
What Actually Matters in the Steel
Wall thickness in the frame members, weld quality at the corners, and whether the ornamental elements are welded on both sides or tacked. A gate can be identical in appearance to another and half the gate structurally. Asking the fabricator for the section sizes is a fair question and the answer is diagnostic.
If You Have the Real Thing
An original wrought iron gate is worth restoring rather than replacing, and it should be handled by somebody who has worked the material. It does not weld the same way as mild steel, and a repair carried out as though it were steel can crack along the grain. Establishing which material you actually have, before commissioning any work, is the whole of the decision.