SALMON FROM STEEL
This is a salmon I made for my bird sculpture. I started by chalking out the shape on a sheet of 1mm steel then laid another sheet of the same underneath
I now cut out the shape with the plasma giving me 2 identical fish shapes
From there i took them to a large log of cut and beat them with a ball pein hammer..
Keep doing this starting from the edges until the steel bowls out.
Once you are happy with the sides weld them together from the mouth end first. Use a clamp to pull the 2 sides together as you work your way down to the tail.
Now you need to turn your welder down and weld up the seams.
Once thats done take a flap disc over the welds to tidy them ups.
Now you have the fish shape you need to form the fins.
Work to a picture for where the fins are.. lay the fish on your 1mm plate and chalk round it.
Now draw where the fins are.. this gives you the perfect shape to attach to the body.
For the fin line details turn down your plasma to about 20 amps and QUICKLY score over the fins, this gives a slight line gouging effect which is perfect detailing.
For the mouth and gills.. again work to your picture and mark where you think the mouth should be. If you are happy either cut it with a 1mm cutting disc or use your plasma on low amps.. just the same for the gills
For the mouth fish lip detail I used a 3.25 welding rod. I stripped the flux from it then tacked it on one side of the mouth.
Keep tacking as you go and use the tack heat to bend the rod round to the other side. Now cut it off just past the end of the mouth, fill in the top of the rod with weld and sculpt it with the flap disc.
All going well you should have your fish. You can use this method for any fish you want, just work to a photo.
If you want to be really fancy get a cutting torch and heat the bottom of the fish for a great rainbow colour
I now cut out the shape with the plasma giving me 2 identical fish shapes
From there i took them to a large log of cut and beat them with a ball pein hammer..
Keep doing this starting from the edges until the steel bowls out.
Once you are happy with the sides weld them together from the mouth end first. Use a clamp to pull the 2 sides together as you work your way down to the tail.
Now you need to turn your welder down and weld up the seams.
Once thats done take a flap disc over the welds to tidy them ups.
Now you have the fish shape you need to form the fins.
Work to a picture for where the fins are.. lay the fish on your 1mm plate and chalk round it.
Now draw where the fins are.. this gives you the perfect shape to attach to the body.
For the fin line details turn down your plasma to about 20 amps and QUICKLY score over the fins, this gives a slight line gouging effect which is perfect detailing.
For the mouth and gills.. again work to your picture and mark where you think the mouth should be. If you are happy either cut it with a 1mm cutting disc or use your plasma on low amps.. just the same for the gills
For the mouth fish lip detail I used a 3.25 welding rod. I stripped the flux from it then tacked it on one side of the mouth.
Keep tacking as you go and use the tack heat to bend the rod round to the other side. Now cut it off just past the end of the mouth, fill in the top of the rod with weld and sculpt it with the flap disc.
All going well you should have your fish. You can use this method for any fish you want, just work to a photo.
If you want to be really fancy get a cutting torch and heat the bottom of the fish for a great rainbow colour