How to Make a Grape Vine Wedding Arch Part Two

Justin and I spent the entire last weekend working on our wedding arch. We got a lot accomplished in only two days!

I left off with my last post about how to take the leaves off the vines and prepare them for wrapping the arch. I was able to get a few good photographs of the "curly things" or tendrils I mentioned and the finished piles of vines.


You do not want to cut the "curly things" or tendrils off of the vines when cutting the leaves off. It adds to the look of the vines and you can use them to hang the decorations on the finished product.

For all of the vines it looked like we had, there was not that many vines once the leaves were gone! We probably will still need to pick some larger vines. We are covering 62 feet of metal rod with space in between to cover with these vines, and we want them to be thick.

Making the Metal Arch

 

Next I want to talk about the actual arch it's self. Justin came up with the plans himself which I will post a drawing of the dimensions after I draw the diagram up.While making the arch if you choose to do so yourself, remember that it will be being covered with vines or some other decoration. For the case of vines the vines will be covering the metal pieces. What we will see is the shape of the arch. The thicker parts of the vines will be towards the bottom with thinner sections at the top.


Tools and Supplies

We wanted our arch to be sturdy. The ones you can buy online for weddings are so flimsy and made of tubing. Not strong enough to hold real vines with out the risk of falling over. So we decided to make up our arch using steel and weld it together since Justin is a Welder. So we had to decide what thickness of steel rod to use. We chose 3/8" rod so it is thick enough to hold the vines and be sturdy, yet thin enough to bend in a vise. We bought approximately 62' of the steel rod at the local Tractor supply. The cost came out to be $81.50 for the steel rod.The lengths vary from 6 to 3 foot sections.

I will put the prices for the supplies we bought. The items that the prices are not marked are tools and supplies that we already own. Justin is a welder. For a project like this you can use a small flux core welder due to it's portability.  The one he used is his smallest welder and is relatively cheap. It is included in the links below.

Tool and Supply List (Links will take you to items or similar items we used.)
62' of 3/8" thickness steel rod- $81.50 at Tractor Supply
2 lb Spool .030 Welding Flux Core Welding Wire $12.97 at Lowes
Mig Welder - Flux Core
4 1/2" Angle Grinder
2 cans of Brown Spray Paint $7.76 at Lowes
Measuring Tape
Chalk for Marking Measurements
Bench Vise
Safety Glasses
Welding Jacket
Welding Helmet
Welding Gloves
Step Stool
Extension Cord
Cable Ties for holding the top of the metal together for tacking.


Step One
First we came up with our plan for the arch and figured out how much metal we would need.

Four 8 ft. side posts. 5 inches of this will be going into the ground to stabilize the arch.
Two 4 ft rods for the top of the arch.
Fifteen 12 in. long rungs.
Four 10 in. stabilizers.
One 43 in. stabilizer for the bottom of the arch. We used what metal rod we had left.

Step Two
Next we started to cut and weld the rods together.

To get the 8 ft tall rods. Justin welded 2 ft sections onto four 6 ft long rods.

He then cut the fifteen rungs for the sides and top of the arch. They are to add stability as well as looks and something to weave the vines in between. He welded them into even spaced sections to put the sides together first. I will have to get the exact spacing between them at a later time.

Next, he cut two 4 ft sections for the top of the arch. Which I did not get photos of till after they were bent since I was preparing vines when he was doing this step.
 

Then he cut and bent four 10 in stabilizers and bent them at the center or the 5 in mark. Into approximately 90 degree bends. These do not have to be perfect. They will be welded onto the bottom of the 8 ft rods to use to hammer the arch into the ground.

The left over was used and added in the end to the bottom of the arch for stability so it does not warp. This part may or may not be removed from the finished product.




Step Three
We bent the top arch rods and welded the rungs to the arch.

We used the vise to bend the top part of the arch. I will have to include the exact measurements for the bends once I post the drawn plans.

We bent the two side bends first on either side of the 4 ft long rod into 90 degree bends. 

We then bent each 90 degree bend up to ad the winged end effect rather than the C bottom look.

Next, we put the middle bends in the center of the rods. He marked the center point on the vise with the chalk and then inserted the metal making sure it was perfectly centered.  Then he pulled with one end in each hand towards him. This gave it the flat effect at the top in between the two bends. You may have to make adjustments as it may not be perfect the first time.

He welded the rungs to the arch the same way he welded them to the sides. My picture is not the greatest since this was taken the next morning since we ran out of daylight the first day.

It's getting very late and we both have work tomorrow then cake tasting afterwards! So I will continue with my post tomorrow night. Our next post will include the finishing steps of welding the arch. It was the most difficult part due to the arch being so tall, but the most rewarding seeing it almost finished.

Thanks for reading!

To Be Continued....