STURDY STEEL WIENER DOG BOOT SCRAPER

A recent North Atlantic mud season became the inspiration for this weekend metalsmithing project.

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The humble boot scraper was once a fixture outside building entryways. The simplest version deploys a horizontal blade or bar, which lets you remove detritus from your footwear without getting your hands dirty. If you've ever looked down and realized wiping your feet on the doormat was pointless, then reached for a stick to pick mud from your soles, you'll surely recognize the appeal of this simple device.

Making a boot scraper using our project templates isn’t too difficult, but it will take a couple of specialized tools and some practice if you haven't tried your hand at welding. Any welding process will work for this project—stick (shielded metal arc welding), MIG (metal inert gas), and TIG (tungsten inert gas) will all get the job done. You could also gas-weld or braze with an oxyacetylene torch if you choose. We used a stick welder, as it’s the cheapest option, with a relatively short learning curve.

To cut the pieces for the boot scraper from thick plate steel, we used a plasma cutter. This is the fastest and most accurate way to cut each piece, but plasma cutters can be expensive. You could use other tools like a band saw, a reciprocating saw, or a circular saw—all with blades specifically for metal—or an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel. All of these options will be less precise and take a fair amount of grinding to accurately duplicate the templates, but can get the job done.

STEP 1: CUT OUT PARTS