A few months ago I needed perform some minor repairs to a metal railing which in turn required the use of the welding machine that I had acquired from my dads’ dusty store room.

I managed to fix the metal railing but the result was not very neat or very strong (the repair fortunately does not need to take load)

A couple of weeks after the railing repair a colleague at work was discussing general home renovations and he suggested we both try to improve our dismal welding skills by going on a welding course that he had spotted online.

The course offered was a half day introduction to stick welding; Starting with a short introduction to the theory of welding, types of welding, welding equipment and welding safety.

Once all the theory was covered the training moved out to a little workshop where the students could try our hands at actual welding first on an angle iron to get the feel of how to weld (with the instructor on hand to inform us on what we were doing wrong with our technique), then on to two pieces of metal to work on our joining techniques.

After we all had a go and most of us were comfortable with the equipment we moved on to the project of the day  welding together a beer can chicken holder.

From Wikipedia:

…beer can chicken, beer butt chicken, dancing chicken or chicken on a throne) is made by standing a prepared chicken upright on a partially filled can of beer and cooking it slowly in a barbecue or oven. The can goes into the opening of the chicken so that the beer evaporates and permeates the cooking chicken…

The result of my effort; a functional and relatively neat beer can chicken holder is below (it is amazing what a little bit of grinding, sand paper, elbow grease and a lick of paint can do to finish off a job nicely)

P.S. I have used my holder twice since I made it to great success on my Weber Grill.