Not all weathervanes are created equal

2025 was an odd year for Black Fox Metalcraft. Though the spring and summer we had a reasonable amount of work on, we can say with certainty that the days of being rushed off our feet working 12 hour days in the weeks leading up to Christmas are gone... in fact we've never had such a quiet November. Why?

The rise of mass produced ‘handmade style’ weathervanes

At some point in the past 10 years, somebody somewhere has realised there is money to be made in imitating craftspeople.  Digitally created or enhanced images have become widespread and available to all, not just masters of photoshop wizardry. There is no come back from writing deliberately misleading or even blatantly untrue statements online as the vast majority of us do not have the time or energy to challenge or even question it. 

And then there is drop shipping, meaning the people behind the website you find online very often do not even see the items they are selling – they are shipped directly from the manufacturer – and where that may be is anybody’s guess! As a result, these sellers do not have any overheads so can undercut genuine craftspeople by a huge margin. 

As a maker I have no problem with mass produced items to suit people with a lower budget, it’s totally understandable with the current cost of day to day living, but I wish these companies would be honest about what they are selling. Stop using the term hand crafted or hand forged to describe mass produced items made in a factory by a machine. It devalues the work of genuine craftspeople, and that applies in any craft industry not just metalwork - it’s getting harder for families like ours to earn a living doing what we do.

What does 'hand forged' actually mean?

Given the current prevalence of the term 'hand forged' all over the internet, I thought it would be useful to define it. The Cambridge English Dictionary’s definition of the verb To Forge: 

“to make things out of metal by heating it until it is soft and then bending and hitting it with a hammer to create the right shape” 

Adding the word ‘hand’ is a direct statement asserting that the forging was done by skilled human hands.

Unfortunately, it has become commonplace for the term ‘hand forged’ to be thrown about and used to describe virtually anything made from metal. It sounds nice, and importantly, it sells. The problem is that using the term hand forged to describe items cheaply mass produced in a factory is that it undercuts and devalues the work of genuine craftspeople, and when we're gone, we're gone. 

Not all weathervanes are created equal: What do you get from a £300 Black Fox Metalcraft weathervane that you don’t from one that costs less than £100?

1.  Black Fox Metalcraft's weathervanes function as tools for reading the wind direction. You might think this is not particularly important as most people do buy weathervanes primarily as a decorative item, however if the sail does not turn to point into the wind, it will feel the full force of any wind side on, therefore the weathervane sail is much more susceptible to being damaged. 
2. Our weathervanes are SO customisable! We can gild any part, amend designs, create some hand forged scrolls, design a bespoke fixing, paint the sail in full colour to create a truly unique, wonderful personalised gift.
3. The main focus of low cost weathervanes tends to be on their appearance in photos for the purpose of increasing sales rather than performance in real weather. One way in which costs can be kept down is by using thinner materials, which of course are easier to damage and will succumbe to rust much sooner.
4.  Black Fox Metalcraft's designs are all original to us. Designed by a professional Illustrator, they are developed from real drawings. This of course takes time, skill and therefore money. A low cost weathervane will likely be ripped off from internet images. Stock designs will also be reused across multiple sellers, so what you are getting is in no way unique.
5.  At Black Fox Metalcraft, the finish applied to our weathervanes is chosen for longevity rather than speed of production. It does take 4 weeks to create a weathervane - that's because we ensure everything is electroplated to give each weathervane a rust proof layer over the steel.  We want our weathervanes to be a long-term feature of a home, not a short-term decoration to be discarded and replaced, therefore they are designed with longevity in mind.
6.  When your weathervane has been mass produced in Asia and drop shipped over here, the level of customer service and after care will differ enourmously from what you get with a UK crafts business. What happens, for example if you need a longer pole, or the weathervane is accidentally damaged in the post? As with everything, you get what you pay for. At Black Fox Metalcraft, our phone number and email are readily available on the website. We're always here to answer questions, help with fittings or replace a damaged item, and it's no problem to make you a longer pole if you need one!

It's worth reiterating the point that we take no issue with competition being cheaper than us, it's the dishonesty of dressing mass production up as hand made that I cannot get my head around! We don't want to get caught up in being angry about it as that's not at all fun - the point is we set up Black Fox Metalcraft because we enjoy making things and having the flexibility that comes with being our own boss, but it is a fact that this is the way the world is today, and it is getting harder and harder each year to be a manufacturer who focuses on quality. 

How to spot the difference online

These days you can ask AI to create an entire website for you, create your images and write your content. These sites can look so professional and it can be very difficult to tell the difference between a company who genuinely makes their products, and one who drop ships them. Here are a few things you could look out for:

-    No images of the maker at work, or of the workplace.
-    Little or no description of making process.
-    Cost seems too good to be true.
-    Seller does not give clear answers to questions asked.
-    No company address or phone number easily available.

I hope you have found this article helpful - the internet is a rapidly evolving place and it can be hard to keep up. If you have any questions, or would like to order a bespoke weathervane that has been designed especially for you and made with care, contact Black Fox Metalcraft today.