True wrought iron is a low-carbon ferrous material with a fibrous internal structure that comes from being repeatedly hammered and folded during manufacture. It was the standard for ornamental gates and railings until the early 1900s, when mild steel replaced it as the default.
Most 'wrought iron' gates sold today are mild steel forged or fabricated to look like traditional wrought iron. Genuine wrought iron is now a specialty material made by a handful of mills worldwide for restoration work.
For heritage projects and decorative railings, the visual style of wrought iron (twisted bar, scroll work, leaf and flower motifs, hand-forged hammer marks) lives on in mild-steel reproductions. CAD60's french-artisanal-railing model captures this style with parametric scroll counts and bar twists.