- You are here:
- Home
- Blog
- Projects
- Metalworking Projects For Beginners
Now that you have all the tools and you have learned some of the basic skills, its time to start working on some small metalwork projects. I have put together a short list of great metalworking projects for beginners, to help ease you into practicing and honing your blacksmithing skills.
Project 1: 5lb Copper Ingots
Melting down copper scraps into ingots is an easy and practical project suitable for anyone wanting to test out their metalworking equipment. The finished product can be sold for cash, kept for later use in other projects, or polished up to display your new skills to friends and family. This quick metalworking project for beginners requires the basics skills of melting, pouring, casting, and polishing metal.
Basic blacksmithing projects for beginners.
Of course, you can purchase copper at a hardware or home improvement store, but it can also be found in discarded electronics or appliances, at demolition sites, and in junkyards. Just be careful taking apart old equipment, and of course going through materials at the dump!
Materials and Tools
For this project you will need:
Optional Items include:
Process
Measure the copper into batches that are just over 5lbs each. Fire up your furnace and wait until it is hot enough to melt the copper. Place the copper one batch at a time into the crucible. Add the Borax, which reduces the melting temperature, helps keep it clean, and will extend the life of your furnace.
After the copper is completely melted, remove it from the furnace with tongs and pour directly into your mold. After it hardens, use tongs to remove it from the mold and place it in the cooling water. Repeat for each batch.
Let the ingots cool completely before handling, as the metal will stay hot for a long time. Finish them off by filing away any discoloration and sharp edges. If you want, you can hammer labels on them with steel hand stamps and polish them to any finish that you like.
Project 2: Aluminium Cube from Cans
A cheap material perfect for metalworking projects for beginners is aluminium. Soda cans are readily available and easy to collect from neighbors or friends, or from yourself if you are mildly addicted to carbonated beverages! It’s the perfect material to make lightweight metal projects for high school students, or any person just beginning metalworking.
Like the previous project, you will need to know how to melt, pour, and finish the aluminium, but this project also involves building a wood mold for the carved cube pattern. The result can be used as a modern decorative item, sold for the value of the aluminium, or set on display to show off your metalworking prowess.
Materials and Tools
For this project you will need:
Optional Items include:
Process
Start by carving your wooden cube to the desired size, in this case, a 3"x3"x3" cube. Build your mold box, pouring and packing the sand around the cube tightly, to make sure that the corners will be clean. Leave an opening using your hand, or a removable pipe, for pouring. Heat up the furnace, adding in each can separately. You may want to crush the cans first, to help them fit better, but make sure your crucible is large enough to handle this amount of material.
Once melted, pour the molten aluminium into the pour hole of your mold. After some cooling, break open the mold, and carefully put the still hot cube into the cooling bucket. There will be extra pieces from the pour that need to be sawn or chiseled off. Likely, your cube will still look rough, but if you file it down to the correct size, clean up the edges, and wire brush away any residue it will be ready for display! If you want a mirror finish, you can polish with a metal buffing brush.
Project 3: Lost-Foam Sand Casted Bottle Opener
One of the best parts of learning metalworking is to be able to build useful tools that you can use or sell. There are even some metalworking projects for beginners that involve designing and producing small homeware items perfect for practicing your skills.
This lost-foam sand cast bottle opener project takes very little preparation time and requires skills in foam cutting, sand molding, and drilling. There are several styles of bottle openers that can be cast with this method, but one of the more basic models are like this: http://www.craftsmanspace.com/free-projects/bottle-opener-plans.html. The thicker the metal is, the easier it will be to craft the mold and the less likely there are to be issues with the project, so pick one of the designs without a loop for your first try.
Materials and Tools
For this project you will need:
Optional Items include:
Process
After you have chosen your bottle opener design, trace and cut the foam into the desired shape. If you have a bottle on hand, it might be a good idea to use that as a reference to make sure the bottle opener is not too big or small to get the job done.
In your mold bucket, pour the initial layer of sand, insert your foam pattern, and continue to pour the sand around the form. Make sure the foam does not get bent or shifted in any way during this step. You should have an extra piece of foam that will stick out of the sand that will be used for pouring.
Heat the metal, add borax, and when completely liquefied, pour the aluminium into the mold. The foam will evaporate during the pour, so after a while of cooling, you should have a fully shaped bottle opener. With tongs, pull it out of the mold and place it into the cooling water bucket. Once its cool, remove the extra pieces with your saw or chisel and hammer, file down any rough edges, and polish to the finish you desire.
For extra flair, you can finish this project off by drilling holes for a leather strap, and even personalize with your steel hand stamps. There are many metalworking projects for beginners online, so have fun and try your hand at any that catch your attention!