7 Easy DIY Welding Projects for Beginning Welders

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to practice the craft of welding? Professional welders make a living off using their welding skills to help construct bridges, dams and buildings. How does one learn how to weld? Many people attend a vocational training school to acquire the skills necessary to weld for a living. Even as a professional welder, it can be fun to use your welding skills at home to build things for yourself and your family to enjoy.

If you have begun or completed welding training at Tulsa Welding School, you might want to try out some fun DIY projects that allow you to practice your newly acquired welding skills—and then enjoy what you’ve made! (Click the links to be taken to the instructions page.)

1. Welding Table: A great way to begin your welding career is to create your own welding table. This complex 45-page plan, designed by a welder with 20 years of experience, is easily an exciting project for a dedicated novice welder, but it could also present an interesting challenge to an intermediate fabricator. The welder who completes the project will have a welding table that lasts a lifetime.
2. A Go-Kart frame: The plans provide detailed fabrication instructions and include a list of needed materials. The frame can be built in a weekend. The project is designed as easy enough for the beginning welder, but requires some welding training and knowledge of American Welding Society (AWS) symbols. The symbols are defined in an accompanying glossary for those who have not memorized them.
3. Metal art: Some beginning, intermediate or advanced welders enjoy creating art either for themselves or to sell. Projects range from simple garden flowers for a welder’s own home to commissioned work for companies who want a professional metal sign embracing their logo. Some welders go on to become famous art sculptors who sell their work for thousands of dollars.
4. Garden bench: To go along with the garden flowers, beginning welders may like to use the skills they learned in their welding courses to build a garden bench. The plans are 14 pages long, but give step-by-step instructions that are easy enough to read for those who know the AWS symbols.
5. Mountain bike frame: Although all suggested projects require some welding training, this one is advised to be undertaken by either an advanced welder or in collaboration with a sufficiently experienced welder. It requires fabricating a mountain bike jig before the frame itself can be built.
6. A kitchen island: For any beginning welder, there is no end to the projects he or she may wish to take on. A kitchen island that merges artistic expression with functionality may inspire a beginning welder. A basic plan can be purchased and the welder can add his or her own creative ideas in order to make it a truly functional art piece.
7. A welding cart: For those who have become inspired with their DIY welding projects and enjoy using their welding skills outside of their occupation, a welding cart is another useful DIY project. All welding tools can be stored in one convenient place. You can choose from intermediate to advanced plans. The advanced plan adds a convenient slide-out drawer. It takes up to six days to build, but the quality will be superior to anything found in retail stores.

For those interested in building their welding skills, TWS offers comprehensive welding training. This is an opportunity for students who want to turn an interest into an in-demand skillset to advance their professional careers and increase their job opportunities.