Making Your Home Your Own: Household Items Made with At-Home Welding Techniques
A DIY approach to making your home your own has become increasingly popular these days. DIY enthusiasts have created a plethora of online resources for skills such as gardening, woodworking, and cooking. The next step in your pursuit of making your home uniquely yours is learning basic at-home welding techniques.
Welding is essentially joining metals together, using high heat to melt the pieces. As the metals cool, the pieces fuse. Before you begin to learn this new skill, it is crucial to remember that any professional welding requires a license.
Welding is a dynamic skill that you can use to create custom art as well as household appliances. From Welding Headquarters to the “Welding for Dummies” book, there are plenty of resources for DIY enthusiasts and homeowners to learn techniques for beginners.
The Tools
As you begin learning the basics of welding, you’ll need to buy the right tools. Welding tools are not only necessary for executing your projects but also they ensure your safety.
Creating a new table or a sculpture requires specific tools. However, some products you can use on more than one project:
- Auto-Darkening Welding Helmet – A basic welding helmet is an absolute must-have. Helmets protect your face and neck. An auto-darkening helmet is helpful for beginners as it will allow you to see your workstation before you begin your weld easily.
- Welding Clamps – Experts say that someone new to welding should start by buying at least ten welding clamps. These clamps hold your workpieces together. When you start the project, cut the pieces to the necessary length, fit them together, and clamp them in place.
- Welding Gloves – This item is essential for your safety. Gloves protect your hands from burns and nerve damage. Make sure that your gloves are thick and durable, as you will be touching very hot pieces of metal.
Quick Tip: Make sure that you buy the appropriate types of materials for the welding technique you employ. TIG welding, for example, requires thin leather gloves because you need a more precise hold on the torch.
Projects for Beginners
While an exciting skill, welding requires extensive research and practice. You will be working with potentially dangerous tools, and it is crucial to consider your safety.
For beginners, it is helpful to start with small projects before moving onto more complicated structures. These simple structures are perfect for an introduction to welding:
- A Table – This household item is simple and effective. A table requires a maximum of five pieces and will be useful in multiple rooms of your house.
- A Pencil/Pen Holder – This structure is practical and easy to make. It consists of a metal base with enough spaces to hold the number of pens and pencils of your choice. The pen and pencil holders are hollow rectangular boxes.
- A Barbecue Pit – This project is a little more advanced. A barbecue pit would require you to measure the pieces to ensure they are even and bend the metal to achieve the concave shape to hold the wood. A fire pit would be an excellent addition to any house, especially if you have kids. You can gather around the fire pit to roast marshmallows and makes s’mores.
Quick Tip: Try to make items that have multiple uses. A table can function as a desk or even a workspace for future welding projects. You can even make several of the same item to create matching furniture (and give yourself plenty of opportunity for practice!). With these tools and project ideas, the average homeowner or DIY enthusiast can create homemade household appliances and art pieces through welding.
