Horseshoe Christmas Tree

This is a great Christmas project to make while also learning or practicing your welding. It's easy to make and you end up with a unique Christmas tree that any equine enthusiast would love to receive. The whole project only takes 14 used horseshoes and a few scrap pieces of steel.

Have a look at the video above to see how I built the chair from a bath tub from start to finish.

Gathering the horseshoes... I got my horseshoes from a local farrier, most farriers will give you the old horseshoes for free. I actually ended up getting a few boxes of them when I was there. If you would like to see a few more horseshoe projects I made see here: More horseshoes projects.

Using a pliers I removed all the nails that were left in the shoes. Some of them were stuck very well so I ended up using a nail punch and a hammer to remove them.

I used the biggest shoe I had for the "trunk" of the tree. Next I placed four similar sized shoes in a line above the trunk. The next line consisted of three shoes followed by another line of two. As I was placing them I readjusted some to make sure they were touching the others in at least two places. Finally I placed a single shoe for the top of the tree and then did any final adjustments to the shoes.

With all the shoes in place I started welding all the joints. I am by no means a good welder, just as well these welds do not have to good. This is why it is a good project to practice your welding while making something at the same time. When all the joints were welded I flipped it over and the other side. It doesn't need to be welded on each side as its strong enough but I did it to practice my welding.

For the base I placed three horseshoes in position like in the picture and then welded them on both sides just like I did for the rest of the tree. I made sure the shoes were on a flat surface as I was welding them.

I needed something to fill the inside of the base so I could weld the tree to it. I had a scrap piece of steel so I placed the base onto it and marked the size of the piece i needed to fill gap. I cut the shape out using an angle grinder and the welded it into place.

I wanted to put a star on top of the tree so I drew one onto a piece of paper before transferring it on the metal. Again I cut it out using an angle grinder. If you watched the video you will notice that the guard is off the grinder. Occasionally I do this to see better but I always ware a face visor when it is off.

I needed something to attach the star to the tree so again I used some scrap steel I had, this time it was some solid 10 mm steel rod. I bent and cut some pieces of the rod to form a mount for the star. You can see these pieces in place in the last picture. I then welded all these pieces in place again on both sides.

There was quite a lot of rust and dirt on the shoes. A lot of this came off as I was using the grinding disc in my angle grinder to smooth out any rough welds. I removed the last of the rust and dirt with a wire brush attachment on my angle grinder. It is easier to clean it up now before the base is attached.

To hold the tree in place as I welded it to the base I propped it using some pieces of wood and clamps. This way I could make sure it was straight as I welded it. When I was finished welding I cleaned up the joint to ready it for painting.

I applied a few light coats of a matt black spray paint. I should have applied a primer coat beforehand but I didn't have any when I was doing the video. If you are making one I would definitely apply a primer coat first. For the star I applied two coats of a gold coloured paint.

This is the finished tree with some baubles attached. You could drill holes to hang them but I just stuck them in with a clear tape. The finished height of this tree 760 mm (30 inches) high. The tree could always be made bigger by adding another few rows of horseshoes. Depending on the paint you use this tree can go both indoors and outdoors as it definitely wont blow away!

If you would like to see more projects from me you can subscribe to my YouTube channel here: Eamon Walsh DIY Thank you.