Simple metal christmas tree

Simple metal Christmas tree

This is a really simple metalworking project that you 

should be able to make as long as you have some 

basic tools and know a little bit about metalworking.

This is the first post in a small "series" where

I will be making tutorials on some Christmas

themed items.

So for this project, you will not need a lot 

of things. All you really need is some thin

sheet steel, aluminum, copper or brass.

And something like sheet metal scissors to 

cut it with.

Don't do anything from this post if you 
dont feel comfortable doing it, there is 
plenty of ways to hurt yourself while
blacksmithing, so always use your 
eyes and head and use proper
safety equipment. 

I started making a stencil by folding a piece of thin 

cardboard and drawing half a Christmas tree.

I ended up making two trees one from steel and one from copper. These sheets are about 1mm thick but you can go both thinner and thicker as long as you are able to shape the material.








                                             

Then just use a sharpie or similar and draw around the 

stencil onto the metal.

If you are using metal around 1mm thick you can easily cut

it with one of these sheet metal scissors.

I still ended up using some cold chisels forged from spring 

steel to do this.

For chiseling out anything really I use this piece of 2mm

sheet metal that I have folded over the edges of the anvil

so I don't damage my anvil.

Whether you chisel or just cut the metal all you really need

to do is follow the lines. Copper is really soft

so it is really easy and quick to chisel it out.

 Steel is quite a bit harder but as long as it is under 1,5mm it

is still easy to cut and chisel.

When you have cut out the trees it is time for the most 

time-consuming part and that is filing. However, make 

sure you put a good amount of time into filing all of the 

sharp edges. 

When you finally filed all of the edges the basic

model of this Christmas ornament is finished.

If you want to you can just spray lacquer.

However, I wanted to go a bit further 

with these ornaments so I started off 

by cleaning up the copper tree with

some steel wool to get it a bit 

shinier.

Then I used a small cross peen hammer to make 

some marks along the edge of the tree.

 Then I used a ball peen hammer and the cross

peen to strike some round marks in it to 

give the effect of Christmas ornaments.

For the steel one, I just heated it with a propane/butane

mix torch and hammered it on the anvil

to give it a nice forged look. (Forgot

to take a picture of this but it is quite

simple)

Once the steel tree had cooled down I finished 

both trees with some glossy varnish/lacquer.

And here is the finished product, this cud be used as is 

for decoration or turned into a Christmas tree ornament

by drilling a hole in the top and adding a string.

I will be putting up some more Christmas themed project 

in the coming weeks so if there is some kind 

of special item or type of item just leave 

a comment and I will try my best to 

make that item.