William’s clever creations
William Kaufman’s tinkering with nuts and bolts has produced some interesting ornaments and now all he wants for Christmas is an anvil.
The 10-year-old Pleasant Point Primary School pupil has been busy forging on a piece of old railway line, and welding since he was 9.
While some of his work has been given away to friends and family, he has also been asked to fix items.
The larger flat space of an anvil would make shaping pokers and daggers much easier for him.
‘‘I would like to be a welder ... I enjoy creating things,’’ he said.
William’s father, Andrew, an agricultural engineer, taught him the skills to make fire pokers and ornaments out of nuts and bolts and he has watched his father in his workshop since he could walk.
‘‘He has always been interested,’’ Andrew said.
The workshop is a shed at the back of the Hazelburn family home where Andrew potters about fixing things for around the house. Andrew said most of his son’s welding was ‘‘quality’’ work.
William’s first handiwork was a wooden rolling pin made on a lathe at about the age of 7.
Still too young to be left alone in the shed with the forging furnace or welding equipment, he is closely supervised by his father who ensures all safety gear is worn.
The pair have spent many hours together creating a tortoise, elephant, dogs, a scorpion and a tank with a moving turret.
The young welder said the hardest part to learn was getting the welding torch at the right angle.
‘‘It was slightly scary. I could burn down the shed,’’ William said.
Once welded, the items are sandblasted and then painted. He has also been asked to fix a watering can and an axle on a grass kart.
The ideas for the creations come as the father and son move the nuts and bolts into different configurations until they start taking shape.
When he is not in the shed, William plays rugby, swims and is a scout.
He tried to sell the ornaments at a car boot sale recently but did not get any sales.
His dream is to make a big sculpture ‘‘like steampunk’’. ‘‘I like having scrap pieces and making them into something cool.’’
His mother, Katrina Spencer, thinks William’s hobby is ‘‘great’’.
‘‘The focus is so often on sport.
‘‘It is something to have a skill he can use when he is grown up. It keeps him off the iPad,’’ she said.