Tree decorations made from copper tube ...

This year I've had a go at making some decorations for our Christmas tree from some old copper tube, it's not the first time I've used copper tube for a project, but it has to be said it's normally for siege engine parts, perhaps not all that festive, unless you intend to fire mince pies at the neighbours.


It has to be said I'm still not sure if I'm happy with them -

Polished and ready for the tree.

You might be thinking they don't look very tube like, well you'd be right, but an easy way to get small sheets of metal for crafting is to use old tubing, in this case copper, but you can do this with more or less any metal tube, as long as the tubing isn't very thick, trying this with a scaffolding pole won't work because of the thickness of the tubes walls, and some metals are easier to bend than others, you will need a hacksaw or a pipe cutting tool to do this, along with two sets of pliers and a hammer, and some metal cutters (tin snips) for cutting the metal once it's been flattened and a shape marked out, and lastly a drill for drilling a hole for hanging them.

It's not that hard to turn tube into decoration - 

From tube to decoration.

To turn a bit of copper tube into a small sheet is easy, firstly you need to measure round the tube to find out it's circumference, this is easy to do with a flexible tape measure.

Measuring the tube - 

In this case it's 7cm.

Once you have the measurement (for the tube I used it was 7cm) you then need to measure a length of tube that is the same, so for me 7cm in length, then cut the tube.

Next you need to cut the tube length ways - 

Cut the tube from one end to the other.

 Again a hacksaw is ideal for this, or you can use a metal cutting disc in a multi tool (like a dremel) once you've cut the tube you need to bend it out with the pliers.

Bending the tube - 

Bit of brute force required.

Use the pliers to bend the tube outwards, then once it's more or less flat use a hammer to flatten it out, and when you're finished you should have a more or less square sheet of metal.

My metal ready for marking - 

Simple shapes are easy to cut out.

For the shape I just used one of my wife's pastry cutters as a template, and using a scriber (a pointed tool for marking metal) I marked out the shape, you can also use a marker pen to mark out the metal.

Shape marked out - 

Ready for cutting.

Tin snips (metal cutters) ready - 

I've had these for ages.

You get a set of tin snips online for as little as £5 and they are very handy for cutting metal. 

Cutting out the shape is easy enough, it's like using scissors, but with a bit more effort involved.

Here's my shape cut out - 

Ready for stamping.

It's a good idea to use thick gloves when cutting out metal as it can be sharp, and once you've cut out a shape it's also a good idea to either smooth off any sharp edges with a file, or some sand paper to avoid cut fingers, you can also use sandpaper to clean the metal up a bit before polishing.

For the lettering I used some letter stamps I have, these can be picked up cheaply from places like Screwfix or online, and to use them is just a case of working out what you want to stamp out and then giving the end of the stamp a good smack with a hammer, thicker metal will require more of a smack to get the letters to come out.

One of the decorations with just lettering - 

You can stamp anything you like onto the metal.

The heart shapes on some of the decorations were made by drilling three holes into the metal, two side by side with one underneath.

Starting the heart shape - 

Holes drilled, now for some filing.

Once I'd drilled the three holes I just used a small file to make a heart shape, it doesn't take long, and softer metals will be easier to file.

Heart shape done - 

Sort of heart shaped.

To hang the decoration on the tree I drilled a small hole in the top and used some twisted copper wire to make a loop, but string would do just as well, or ribbon, and you don't have to hang them from the top, you could make the hole off centre so the shape sits at an angle on the tree.

I've polished my decorations, any metal polish will do for this, most supermarkets sell some kind of polish for metal, or you can use some fine sandpaper for a brushed look, or just leave them.

Here's a finished one on the tree - 

Shiny.

I'm hoping to get a couple of posts done before Christmas day on the wooden things I've made for the kids stockings this year, two of the projects can be done in next to no time, so stay tuned.


Thanks for reading.

Homemade copper wind chime ... ...

Me again, for some time I've been thinking about making a wind chime, and I've finally managed it, and from mostly scrap copper, I did by 5 bits of gas fire tube from b&q they were on offer for £1 a length, I figured I'd get them, you never know when you might have need for 5 random bits of tube, and besides which although they had been painted black they were copper.

Now this wind chime does require some tools, like metal cutters, a pipe cutter and a small hole boring bit (you'll see why I needed that) a hacksaw and possibly the use of a small gas blow torch and some lead solder (all of which I have) although buying these tools isn't that expensive, but I would say in the case of the metal cutters it's worth spending a few quid extra for a good set.


Here's the wind chime -

It'll fit in the garden better when it goes green.

This another one I made, slightly different method of construction than the first - 

This one has a better chime to it.

 I made them from copper tubing I had lying about, along with some salvaged copper wire and the tube I got cheap from b&q.

Basically all I've done is cut out a star shape from a bit of the copper tube (I'll explain in a minute) and then using copper wire I've hung five small bits of tube and a small stone from the star shape, with a further bit of wire hanging from the stone to which I attached a small moon shape, again made from a bit of copper tube.

To cut out the star shape I used a bit of 22mm copper tube, and to turn it into a sheet I made a cut in it then opened it out wire two pairs of pliers, then to get it nice and flat I used a small hammer.

Cutting the tube (you could use a hack saw to cut it) -

I wasn't being too careful.

Section of tube ready to be turned into a small sheet -

Right off to the vice, which is handy for this type of thing.

In the vice being cut -

Nearly done.

And now opening it up - 

Once it's opened it's just a case of bashing it with a hammer.

Then all you need to do is lay the opened up tube on a flat surface and tap it gently with a hammer until it's flat, and you should then have a small copper sheet.

Like this -

Ready for a shape to be scribed onto it.

Next you need to draw your shape onto it, for this you should use something sharp like a scribe or maybe a small screw driver.

My scribe -

Pointy.

Now you need to cut out the shape you drew, this is where a set of metal cutters (tin snips) come in handy, you could cut out the shape with a hacksaw, but metal cutters are better.

The shape marked out and ready to be cut - 

My tin snips (metal cutters) - 

Quite old now.

Now before you start cutting ! put on some gloves, like leather gardening gloves, why ? well because the edges will be sharp and if you slip whilst cutting you'll end up with a nasty cut, and it'll hurt like hell (trust me I know) you can smooth the edges off with a bit of sand paper or a metal file.

The moon shape for the bottom of the chime - 

Bit dull isn't it.

Don't worry about the colour of the shape, or the tubes, you can give them a rub with a bit of wire wool, an old scouring pad to brighten them up a bit, but in the long run if you hang this outside it will eventually go a nice green colour as the copper oxidises which is known as vert de gris, I've put this one in the garden as I want it to go green.

After a bit of a scrub - 

Nice and clean now.

To hang all the bits together I used copper wire salvaged from an old pc power supply transformer, most electronic equipment contains copper wire in some for, normally on the transformer, and it can also be found in different gauges (thicknesses) We recently went through a load of old stereo equipment and found loads of it, it can be difficult to get the copper out, but in the long run it'll save a fair bit of cash compared to buying it.

My copper wire - 

There's loads of it on here.

Now simply hanging the tubes on plain wire is a bit boring so I tend to make braids from the wire first, this is basically just a case of taking four equal lengths of wire and twisting them together, which I do by holding the ends of the four lengths of wire in a vice, and the other ends I put in one of my cordless drills, then I slowly press the drills trigger and what I end up with looks like the picture below.

Twisted wire - 

Better than plain bits of wire.

Interestingly this method is how the old tribes of Britain used to make torcs and such like, only they didn't use drills to do the twisting, they did it by hand, and a lot better than me.

Right we have our small tubes for the chime, I used five (one on each point of the star) and kept them at equal lengths, but how long and how you arrange them is up to you.

To fix the wires to the star I drilled a hole on each point, then I just threaded a length of wire through the hole and put a not in it to stop it falling out, yes this wire can be knotted easily if you are gentle with it.

Wire knots - 

A small pair of pliers comes in handy for this.

My chime during construction - 

all shiny, for now.

I have to admit when it came to fixing the chime tubes to the star I was a bit puzzled, I couldn't think of a good way of doing it, and get the chime to look how I wanted, but after a bit of messing about I figured out a pretty good method.

What I did was to make five loops that fitted inside the tubes, then I could simply put the wire through the loop and twist it together.

Like this - 

Simply really.

To make the loops all I did was to drill a hole in each tube, just a small way from the end, then I poked a bit of copper wire through, I used thicker gauge wire as I don't want them to come out easily.

Here are the steps to make the loops for each chime - 

Wire threaded.

It's best to make sure there's a good amount of wire each side of the tube.

Next using a set of needle nosed pliers to pull the wire out of the tube.

Making the loop - 

Any thin nosed pliers should do.

And pull, making sure that the wire doesn't come out of each hole.

And we have a loop - 

Just a bit of tidying up now.

Now we just need to bend the wire up and snip of any extra.

The finished loop - 

It worked better than I thought it would.

Right onto the part that will hang in the middle of the chime and move about in the wind and make things chime, for this I used a pebble, but you could use a bit of wood, a bit of metal or anything else that will make a nice sound when it hits the metal chimes.

And that's why I needed a small hole boring bit, I found a 10mm (perhaps a bit big) in b&q for £2.99 not bad really, I could have just wrapped the wire around the pebble, it would have worked just as well.

The pebble striker - 

We seem to have a load of pebbles for some reason.

I made a length of twisted wire and threaded it through a hole on the middle of the star and the other end I tied to the pebble, I then used another length of twisted wire to attach the moon shape which hangs at the very bottom of the chime, I fixed the moon with another knot.

The moon - 

The pitting looks good I think.

As this is made with copper you can use a small bit of solder on the metal twists to hold things together, but as long as you twist things up nice and tight (use pliers) it should be fine.

I'm thinking of selling these in the shop, I think they are pretty cool, and I'm pleased that it worked as well, I haven't really done any of this type of metal work for years, and once it's turned green it should look even better.

A slightly better picture of the finished chime - 

Chimey whimey

Thanks for reading.

Homemade shear scraper ... ...

I've had my lathe for a while now and although I have enough tools to keep me busy I'm always looking for new ones (can't help it, I'm a bloke) the trouble is that some of the more interesting tools can cost a bit, and as I try to save cash where I can, I can't really justify buying a £20 chisel, and that's actually cheap, some of the more expensive turning systems can cost over £100 !

But all is not lost, like a lot of wood turners I have made my own tools from scratch, adapted old tools into new tools, this saves money and gives you a better understanding of how things work.

So bearing that in mind I thought I'd make a shear scraper, now if you're wondering what one is have a look here - Robert Sorby Shear Scraper (opens in new window) this one is a small one, but even so it's £20 that could be better spent elsewhere.

This however cost less than £8 and I can make 2 handles and probably about 10 extra cutting bits, and I can make them to suit me, so in the long run I'll save quite a lot.

My newly built shear scraper -

Surprisingly easy to make, with the right tools.

This works well, but the cutting bit needs tweaking, I've only ground an edge on it to see how it feels to use it.

Close up of the cutting bit - 

Needs tweaking.

The handle is made by wrapping some natural fibre string round the metal and sealing it with glue  (I used Mod Podge on the last ones, this time I used pva) like I did for my Oland tools, I quite like the feel of the string, and I seem to be able to get a better grip on the handle compared to wooden handles.

To make this type of tool does require a little more work, and you'll need a tap and a tap wrench for threading the hole for securing the cutter, the shaft is a piece of steel bar, which you can buy from places like B&Q (my bit cost £5 and will make 2 tools)

Obviously you'll need something to make the cutter from, Ebay is your friend as it's about the only place I've found tool steel at (what I consider to be) a cheap price.

I got this piece for 99p (plus £2 postage) it's 1inch diameter, a good size for making cutting bits for the scraper.

Tool steel - 

It's best to use an angle grinder to cut this.

I already had the tap and die set, and I've always got nuts and bolts lying about, as it turns out cutting the steel was easy with an angle grinder, I wouldn't even bother trying to cut it with a hacksaw, you'll be there for hours.

Basically you need a slice a few millimetres thick (3 or 4mm should do) and you'll also need to drill a hole in it, which in theory sounds easy right ? I found it is not so, none of my drill bits would even make a dent in it, which resulted in much swearing.

The slice of steel for the cutting bit - 

Not as even as should have been, but it'll do.

And look I managed to drill a hole in it - 

It's meant to be off centre.

In the end it was my multi-tool and a small grinding bit that prevailed over the steel, I suspect it was heat related, by that I mean the drill bits weren't producing enough heat to soften the metal and cut into it, this stuff is very hard.

You will need to flatten a section of the steel rod, you can use square rod, but I wanted round, I used my bench grinder to make a flat section on one end, this makes a nice seat for the cutter to sit on.

Ready for the cutter - 

This flat section will house the cutter.

Once you have the end prepared you need to drill a hole in it and then use the tap to thread the hole, this will give you a good secure way of fixing the cutter.

Now when you need to drill a hole in any type of steel before you start drilling, mark where you want the hole and use a centre punch to make a small pit in the steel, this will make sure the drill bit goes where you want it to and not all over the place, and if possible use a post drill as this will make sure the hole is straight.

Centre punch (one of many I seem to have) - 

This one is quite new.

Basically you put the pointed end of the punch onto the mark you've made and give the other end a good thump with a hammer, easy peasy, then you can go ahead and drill the hole, try to get it in the middle of the piece of steel you're using as a shaft for the tool, another thing to remember is that when using a thin drill bit you need a quite high drill speed setting, and for larger drill bits you use a slower speed.

Hole ready to be threaded - 

I used an m5 tap for this.

The tap and tap wrench - 

Try and get a good quality tap for this.

Using the tap - 

All done.

There's a trick to using a tap and die set, you don't want to try and make the thread in one hit, you will most likely snap the tap in the hole, and they don't come out easy once that's happened. Take it slow, start turning the tap until it bites, you'll know when this has happened as it will get harder to turn, then turn it slowly, when it gets really tight, turn it about quarter to half a turn backwards, then start turning it the right way again (turn it the same way you would if you were doing up a bolt) and keep doing this until you've got the thread you want.

By turning the tap a little bit in the opposite way every few turns will clear any metal in the hole, it also helps keep the part of the tap that cuts the metal clear, just remember the tortoise and the hare story, slow and steady wins the race, and you'll get a better thread.

Then take your bolt, and a spring washer (this help keep things from undoing) and fix the cutter to the end, and that's about it,all you need to do now is grind the cutter in a way that suits the jobs you want to do, and if you get enough steel you can always make a variety of cutting bits.

The cutter fixed in place - 

Not the neatest of jobs, but it works.

I plan to make some different shaped bits for the scraper, and with the other section of steel rod I'll make another tool, which I'm going to put a bend in so that I can hollow out ball shapes, that way I'll have 2 tools that I can use, with out having to mess about changing cutters all the time, so really I've made more than 2 tools, for less than £10, saving a few quid, can't be bad.

If you're interested in the other tools I've made for wood turning here a link to the post, to save you searching - Oland tools (opens in new window)

Thanks for reading.