The submarine

My whole adult life has been spent working with metal. From the very thin, foil almost, to projects of steel, inches in thickness. Most of my work you will never see. Unless of course you are in some industrial setting from salt to cullet, from concrete to gravel.

I have been out in the public eye with some of my work though no one would know it. Several years back a certain individual tightrope walked from one building to another in Chicago. The Anchor plate holding the steel cable was welded by me. You can still get a glimpse of it on line.

Yes my trade is welding, most metals have passed by me in the forty plus years that I’ve been working, from copper to cast I’ve soldered and brazed. From aluminum to stainless and everything ferris.

Over these many years I’ve come to realize my skill in this medium, my artistic side rising to the surface on occasion. Some projects requiring a finished look that the customer wants. As with most of us practice is the key to becoming better at something requiring skill.

These projects have given me some of the necessary skills to want to do some rudimentary projects of my own. While I’m still learning, concerning my artistic ideas, I still have some pride in them. Hopefully with future plans of retirement I’ll have more time to dedicate to this endeavor. Possibly I may invest in some classes to help me develop my rather raw untrained eye.

What follows is my my latest little whimsy that I’ve been playing with. While not completed it has evolved into something different than what was first envisioned. What started out as a potential mailbox has ended up as a future lawn or barn ornament.

Everything concerning this project has come from some scraped and discarded material. Except the matierial I purchased online, like the stainless ball welded to the tubing. I envisioned a “Tesla like” device when I added the polished ball, an electrical conducting element similar to a lighting rod.

My plan moving forward from the present state is to start adding some copper accents, for these I will be using tin snips. Fiskars makes some nice ones that will come in handy for this part.

With the addition of the four letters representing East, West, North and South to give it the weather vane feel I’m hoping that will accent the stainless steel. These copper letters will be beaten slightly with a ball pean hammer to give them a antique look. Then eventually when the copper oxidizes I think the green will also add to the look.

Also I’m thinking possibly, of some ways to incorporate some stripping on the body of the sub. Trying to give it more of a Jules Verne look. Including some mock copper rivets. Simply by punching the copper on the back side to raise a pattern on the face. I haven’t decided yet but I may blacken the stainless with heat, which would change the look considerably. I will have to try that on some scrap piece to see if I like it.

Finally I’m toying with the options of lighting, adding some tiny LEDs to give it a powered look. The options there are numerous and could really add to it.

While my talent doesn’t really show up in the pencil and paper drawings for whatever reason, I’m better at a hands on the material, directly from raw material to cutting and shaping. With the idea of what I want in my head.

My next project, still in the thinking phase is a Halloween costume of a dragon made from light gauge steel. Similar in nature to a “Godzilla” This costume I would wear in a 5k race, not that I would win any speed records quite the opposite. One of my past costumes was of a Red Baron type bi plane that I wore, complete with spinning propeller. But that’s another story.