Copper Water Feature Sign

watch the video

if anybody has any questions comment down below and I'll do my best to answer them

-Nick

Step 1: Materials

4x8 sheet of copper

4 rolls of 5/8 copper tube

4 rolls of 1/4 copper tube

2 60 lb bags of plaster

2 80lb bags of diamond bright pool plaster

500gph pond pump

Step 2: Cutting and Bending

my buddy works at a steel company and they helped me out a lot

they used a giant shear to cut the leaf blanks and a giant press break

to bend to gutters.

Step 3: Gutter

rivet the cross braces

heat the gutter up and spray down with water to make malleable

strike with hammer to dent and then buff the high spots with abrasives

drill holes big enough for the couplers

solder the pipe couplers through the holes

Step 4: Trees

cut out your tree profile

hit the tree on both sides on a surface that has some give

I made a bag from some old jeans and filled it with rice

Step 5: Leafs

take a 3x5 leaf blank

fold in half

flatten

cut profile of leaf

hammer striations on leaf

heat and quench

open

Step 6: Power Hammer

optional

if you are making a ton of these id recommend making something similar

Step 7: Branches

cut a slit

flux the leaf

solder

bend the smaller pipe around the first branch and repeat

Step 8: Sign

spray adhesive the template

cut out the letters

twist steel wire and place into the pipe for added strength

pound flat

solder letters to flat pipe

Step 9: Plaster and Install

plaster the walls of the basin

chicken wire the inside

1coat of regular plaster

1coat of pool plaster

1coat of masonry sealer

screw brackets into the wall

hang the gutter

attach the trees

insert the branches into the couplers

hook up the pump

run hose up to the gutter

attach sign to trees

Step 10: Finish

fill up with water and watch it go