Mother’s Day is upon us and everywhere you look, you are bombarded with gift ideas. Some of them are legitimate gifts ideas, while others are downright cringe-worthy. Today we want to let you in on a little secret: What the mom in your life wants more than anything is thoughtfulness, last minute grocery store gifts may suffice but nothing will make your mom feel appreciate more than something you poured your time, energy and heart into.
Enter your welding skills: Believe it or not there is still time to head to your welding table and create something your mom will both use and appreciate for years to come, proving once and for all that yes, you really ARE her favorite child¦ just don’t tell your siblings.
So, here are 3 mother’s day welding projects to show your mom just how much all those late night rocking sessions and emergency band-aid applications mean to you.
Simple Garden Flower Welding Project:
You can not go wrong by welding mom a simple flower to grace her garden or front flower beds. It's the perfect, fool-proof, last minute Mother's Day gift. Simply use your torch to bend petals out of spoons, tack welding them together before mounting them to an approximately 3 – 4 foot piece of metal tubing. Finish off by adding leaves as you see fit and either cover it in bright green and yellow spray paint or leave it bare for a more rustic look.
Last Minute Heart Welding Project
Want to show mom how much you love her? Check out this simple heart welding project. One of our welders describes the process like this:
It’s a simple little heart, but it’s the little simple things that matter the most. I made it out of horseshoes, and just MIG welded the shoes together with the power of Miller. I Had to cut and grind a horseshoe to form the bottom of the heart. After that was finished, I ran over the whole heart with a flap disc to smooth the edges, then added some twine and ta-da! I had a simple mothers day gift!
Not So Last Minute Rose Welding Project
One of our staff went above and beyond your average mother’s day gift by taking 2 hours a day for two months to create a stunning metal rose for her mom, check out his step by step guide to this skill-honing welding project:
For this project you will need a MIG welder, Plasma cutter, an OxyFuel torch, Pliers, Hammers in various sizes, sheet metal for the petals and leaves, 3/4″ round stock for the stem and protective gear and a clear coat to finish as well as any enamel spray paint you wish to use.
- You will create all of the petals and leaves using individual pieces hand cut with the plasma cutter.
- Next, heat each piece with the OxyFuel torch and then shape them by pulling with pliers, and tapping with different sized hammers.
- Next, you will create the leaves and then spot weld them onto the base using a MIG welder.
- After the flower portion of the project is finished, put the stem through and weld the pieces together.
- For each thorn on the stem, weld a big glob of metal onto the stem and then grind it to a point.
- Next, weld the leaves and the little branches and then attach those to each side of your piece.
- The last pieces for this project are the green eaves on the bottom that hold the rose together. These will all be hand cut pieces that you need to weld onto your flower and then shape accordingly to fit.
- Finish off by using a grinder to make the leaves and stem shiny but leave the top heat treated and dark, covering it with a clear coat.
The finished project shown was 37″ tall and 20″ wide from leaf to leaf and the flower itself was 17″ diameter