Making Permanent Horseshoe Pumpkins

Pumpkins rot so fast! So I corrected that issue while up cycling some used horse shoes. I added a couple of hand forged twisty vines to give it a little extra. This is a very quick project but it looks very cute when finished. Most of all it was approved by the boss(wife LOL) and lives on the front porch now!

Things you will need:

7 Horse shoes- Preferably new as they will not be custom fit to each horses and now shaped slightly different. Welder

Spray Paint

Hammer

Optional Forge and Anvil for the twisty vines

1/4" square steel for the vines

Pliers

You can find some of the products I used in the build here.
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Welder https://amzn.to/3DBjJ0a

Spray Paint https://amzn.to/3DBjJ0a

Horse Shoes https://amzn.to/3DBjJ0a

If you are using used horseshoes chances are that you will need to remove nails. I found the easiest and fastest way was a cutoff wheel to remove and a nail punch to knock out the nail head. If using new horseshoes you can skip straight to welding!

Now you are ready to clean the used shoes up. I used a wire wheel to knock off any dirt and rust. If your shoes are clean but rusty you can soak them overnight in white vinegar and skip the wire wheel.

I like to start with one horseshoe face down and one face up. I use a metal bar to get them lined up for the first weld. I try to put the horseshoes all in the same orientation so all the tops and bottoms are lined up.

Now that we have the first two welded end to end I use magnets to hold them upright so I can tack weld the X pattern horseshoes to the first two. I try to tack weld each one before giving the top and bottom of the connection point a pretty good weld bead to hold them all together.

I like to use 1/3 of a horseshoe for the stem, but you can exercise creative freedom here! Once I had it in the spot I liked I final welded it.

To make the vines I used 1/4" square bar. First I taper the material to thin it to a point. Then I round the steel up to make it into a point.

I start a small curl at the end of the steel and slowly roll it up onto itself. Once it is rolled up tight like a cinnamon roll I use a pair of pliers to grab the point of the steel and pull the center out to turn it into a twisty vine.

I cut the vines to the length I liked and then picked the perfect spot to weld each one by the stem of the pumpkin.

I used Montana brand spray paint to give it a good coat to prevent rust. Only thing left to do is put it on the porch! Thank you for checking out my project!