About

What we make

We make cast iron hardware for the parts of a house that get used: hooks for entryways, mudrooms and closets, rings and bars for towels in bathrooms and kitchens, toilet paper holders, and ashtrays for cigars. Some hooks end up in bedrooms or on a DIY wall rack instead.

Cast iron is a dense, heavy-duty metal. It holds substantial weight and withstands daily use without warping. Every piece in the catalog is made from it, then finished by hand to add hammered or distressed texture and farmhouse character.

Where the shapes come from

Read through the product pages and one phrase keeps coming back: railroad spike–inspired. It shows up in at least ten of them — hooks, towel rings, towel bars, toilet paper holders. The shapes are drawn from classic railroad hardware. So are the names, and we have never once explained them here.

Ray is Turkish for rail. Vagon is a railcar. Halat is rope or cable. Spur is a rail spur. Sirkeci is the terminal in Istanbul where the line from Europe ends. Fred and Slack are both spike hooks.

No piece is a salvaged spike, and we have no history with the railroads. It is a vocabulary of shapes.

How a piece is made

Cast iron is an iron-carbon alloy, two to four percent carbon. In gray iron the carbon separates into graphite flakes as the metal cools, and that is where the dark color and the slightly rough surface come from.

The forming method is sand casting, which has been in use for thousands of years. A pattern is pressed into damp sand and lifted out; the cavity it leaves gets filled with molten iron; the sand is shaken away and the casting is there.

The workshop photographs on this site illustrate how cast iron is made. They are not photographs of our premises.

What to expect

Because the finish is applied by hand, no two pieces come out exactly alike, and small variation from the photos is normal. That is the character of the thing, not a defect.

Mounting hardware comes with most hooks, rings and wall-mounted holders. Two exceptions: the screw-in hook goes into a wooden surface rather than a wall, and the freestanding toilet paper holder needs no drilling. The wall-mount pulley is rated to 15 lbs anchored into a wall stud.

Wipe with a dry or slightly damp cloth. Keep harsh chemicals and standing moisture away — cast iron rusts if it sits wet for long. Outdoors works, under cover.

US shipping is free over $29. Orders go out in one to two business days and usually arrive within five business days, with tracking emailed. Returns are open for 30 days — unused, with tags, in the original packaging. We ship within the United States only.

Anything else, write to info@rusticstate.com. We are in Wallington, New Jersey.

Gloved hands laying a finished matte black cast iron wall hook into a wooden tray of castings
Gloved hands laying a finished matte black cast iron wall hook into a wooden tray of castings

Finished and checked

Parting lines ground back, surface cleaned, every casting looked at one at a time before it is packed.

The catalog

Cast iron hooks for coats, bags and towels — railroad-spike shapes, finished by hand, mounting hardware included.

All hooks and hangers
Hammered cast iron railroad spike hook mounted on a plain wall, holding a folded white towel.
Side angle of a cast iron railroad-spike hook on white background, showing its square mounting plate and four screws.
Fred Cast Iron Rail Road Hook
$17.99
$17.99
Cast iron railroad spike wall hook mounted on a plain wall, holding a folded white towel.
Cast iron railroad spike hook shown in profile against a white wall, casting a curved shadow.
Slack Cast Iron Railroad Spike Wall Hook - Set of 2 PCS
$24.99
$24.99
Cast iron railroad spike towel ring mounted on a wall, draped with a white towel.
Cast iron railroad spike towel ring mounted on a plain wall, shown empty with two visible mounting screws.
Fred Cast Iron Wall Mount Railroad Spike
$18.99
$18.99
Black cast iron hook with a rounded screw cap holds a folded gray towel against a plain white wall.
An empty black cast iron hook casts a soft shadow on a light gray wall, shown from a slight angle.
Vagon Cast Iron Hook - Set of 10 PCS
$27.99
$27.99
Cast iron screw-in hooks mounted on a dark wood board, a charcoal wool coat draped over one hook.
Four cast iron screw-in hooks spaced evenly along a dark wood board, shown empty with cast shadows.
Ray Cast Iron Screw-In Hook - Set of 4 PCS
$19.99
$19.99
A hammered black cast iron hook with a twisted shaft, mounted under a white cabinet edge on a light wall.
A cream waffle-weave towel with blue stripes hangs from a cast iron hook under a white cabinet.
Spur Cast Iron Under Cabinet Hooks - Set of 6 PCS
$22.99
$22.99
Curved cast iron wall hook against a light gray background, with a white towel draped over it
Cast iron wall hook alone on a light gray background, showing the curved J-shape and two screws
Halle Cast Iron Wall Hook - Set of 2 PCS
$19.99
$19.99
Cast iron wall hook mounted on a plain wall, holding a white towel by its curved tip.
Side view of a black cast iron hook against a plain wall, showing its curved J-shaped profile.
Puntal Cast Iron Wall Hook - Set of 3 PCS
$27.99
$27.99