Built, not bought: A welder’s Christmas gifts

As Christmas approaches, I’m reminded about how Brown Dog Welding came to be.

It was late 2007, and the holiday season was in full swing. I needed to come up with gifts for the family. And, for the record, I’m the oldest of nine, so this was no small task. I hate crowds, but I love welding, so it seemed like a no-brainer to make presents instead of fighting through swarms of frenzied shoppers to buy mass-produced garbage.

For my brothers and sisters I kept it simple. I decided to make key chains, each personalized with their name. I cut sheets of 1/8-in.-thick stainless steel into 1-in. by 3-in. pieces, drilled a hole in one end, and etched the name on one side. Then I traced the name in with TIG welding. On these early key chains, I left the color in the welds. When we get together it’s pretty cool to see that they each still have theirs.

I spent a little more time on my wife’s gift. Using some old car parts, I built her a wine rack. The center column was the steel driveshaft off of my ’98 Z28, and the base was the rear drum brake from my ’70 Buick Electra.

I used ¼-in. round stock for the bottle holders, and then built a frame from angle iron for a top shelf. I had a local glass company cut the piece that fits on top. I primed and painted the rack with rattle can paint myself, and all these years later, it’s still looking good in our dining room.

After Christmas I posted pictures of my creations to an online local car club forum, Motown Muscle. I was quickly inundated with key chain requests, and my friends on the site encouraged me to push forward with other “car part” creations as well. That spring I officially launched www.browndogwelding.com, and it’s been onward and upward since.

You don’t have to be a seasoned, skilled tradesperson or an artist to create gifts that mean a lot to family and friends. In this week’s gallery I’ve posted some simple ideas to get you started. I often get asked if it’s OK to “copy” my work, and here’s my response: Put your own twist on it. Use what I do as inspiration and try to add some of your style to it!

Here’s a how-to video for making a Sucker Punch belt buckle.

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