Ok, first, I have never done any sheet metal work at all. Ever. Now for what I am doing:

I have a lawn mower I am selling that had a rotted out deck. The previous owner probably never cleaned it, and also mowed rocks with it, so it had a lot of holes in it. So, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to cut out the rotton spots and replace them. Yes, I know it seems like a ridiculous project, and I will have more time in it than the whole machine is worth, but I figured what better way to try my hand at sheet metal? I plan to do some body work and paint my wheeling truck soon, and what better way to start than on something that doesn't matter?

I have no fancy tools. The rot was cut out with a grinder fitted with cut-off wheel. All the patch pieces were cut out with the wheel and then cold shaped with a ball pien hammer. I wish I had an anvil! I used a trailer frame I have waiting to be finished instead. Some were with multiple curves, and were quite challenging!

So, here are a few pics of my progress:

This is the deck after cutting out the rot. Rotted pieces are by the holes.




Here it is with the patches sitting in place.