Monday, March 19, 2012

Robot railroad spike bird


Here's a photo of my latest project, a bird made from welded railroad spikes.

Last fall a friend and I "liberated" about 600 lbs of railroad spikes and only got them as far as the front yard before exhaustion set in.  The more I use up this way, the less I have to haul around back to the industrial zone before my wife looses patience.

The welding is fairly difficult, especially since this is my first welding in about 15 years.  The spikes are either rusty or covered in paint, so getting the arc to start is challenging.  Holding the pieces is also a bit of a juggling act as well.  He'll be great in a few years when he's uniformly rusty.

I've got 550 pounds of spikes left, so I was thinking of making a dinosaur, one with a bunch of back spikes, like a Dacentrurus.  Or a hedgehog, or a porcupine.  Suggestions welcome.

"Oscar! No running near the impaling lawn sculptures!"

Update:

Just sold it to a guy down the street.  My first outdoor sculpture sale.  I'll use the money to buy more welding rods.

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