Imagine this: You’re about to build yourself a nice fence that’s about twenty-five posts long and you decide to both decorate and protect it from natural rotting with some copper post caps. However, when you go to the store, you realize that at five bucks a cap, this project suddenly skyrockets in expense! Why not save yourself some money and create these easy-to-make copper sheet caps on your own?

To start, you'll need a scrap piece of 4x4 fence post (or 6x6) about three feet long, a circular saw to create the form on the top of the scrap post, a wooden mallet (preferably hardwood with a 3 inch diameter) to hammer the copper sheet around the form, the copper sheet itself and a pair of metal cutters. The recommended copper sheet is a soft temper, .021 inch thick copper sheet (also known as 24 gauge or 16oz copper sheet).

First, you will want to figure out what shape you want the post cap to be.

A basic triangular tip is a good choice. So, using the circular saw, cut the form (your piece of scrap post) to the desired shape.

Second, you might have to experiment, but cut the copper to the correct size for your particular post cap design. I might recommend using some scrap metal to experiment instead of valuable copper sheet. But it’s your choice.

Once you have your cutout, you can anneal the copper sheet to make it more pliable. However, the annealing is completely optional and not entirely necessary due to the copper sheet already being quite soft. Nevertheless, annealing is simply heating the copper sheet for an extended period of time, usually until it is glowing, and then allowing it to cool slowly. This heating can be performed with a common blowtorch.

Next, no matter if you choose to anneal or not, use the mallet to bend the copper around the form. A good technique for working the copper sheet is to pound the mallet in the way you want the metal to bend. This will work best if you can draw the mallet directly towards yourself while hammering.

Finally, to add a nice shine to the copper sheet cap, apply some sealant to keep the it bright and corrosion free.

And…Viola! You now have a beautiful copper sheet post cap! On a final note, be sure to wear eye protection and all the necessary safety equipment while operating any potentially dangerous tools. Hope you enjoy your new post caps!

If you would like more information on copper sheet with soft temper, select this link copper sheet for a fence post cap.