After a couple of hours struggling to figure out how to upload photos from my new to me chrome book, I finally got it. Photos were taken recently in Maryland during a road trip with Fasteddy who was visiting his son in Vermont while I was visiting my son, daughter & grand kids in the Baltimore area. Tinsmith (Dan) & I became friends over the course of a few winters I spent care-taking a rural property north of Frederick, Maryland. We spent many a fine Saturday in his Tinsmith shop tinkering with gas tanks and such, followed by a fine lunch prepared by his wife, Jackie. Sometimes for desert we took a bike ride through the surrounding farm country. Saturday was always the best day of the week!
So it was a treat for me to spend a little time in Dan's shop. He agreed to "help" me make a copper tool box to go along with a fantastic copper gas tank made a couple winters back for the never ending Indian Hiawatha tri-car project. Dan admitted that the last work he did in the shop was that gas tank two years ago, so it was a real honor that he was willing to make the copper tool box.
First he cut out the end pieces in tin to get a feel for the tools in his hands again. First up was a machine designed to cut perfect circles. Then he ran each one through the burring machine to create a lip around the edge. a leather hammer tapped the edge into final shape. That done, he was ready to make the end pieces in copper.
As a side note, Dan no longer does metal work, his hands having given out on him after decades of abuse in the shop. There's a lot of handwork in tin-smithing and even the machines are operated by hand. What you see in these photographs are final images you might say in what is becoming a lost tradition. There are no young tinsmiths or copper-smiths who are replacing the old timers. Machines run by computers are taking over. Dan figures that when he is gone his tools will be sold for scrap. The opportunity I have had in spending time with Dan, learning from him just a tiny bit of what he knows has been a special thing for which I am grateful.
(cont.)
SB
So it was a treat for me to spend a little time in Dan's shop. He agreed to "help" me make a copper tool box to go along with a fantastic copper gas tank made a couple winters back for the never ending Indian Hiawatha tri-car project. Dan admitted that the last work he did in the shop was that gas tank two years ago, so it was a real honor that he was willing to make the copper tool box.
First he cut out the end pieces in tin to get a feel for the tools in his hands again. First up was a machine designed to cut perfect circles. Then he ran each one through the burring machine to create a lip around the edge. a leather hammer tapped the edge into final shape. That done, he was ready to make the end pieces in copper.
As a side note, Dan no longer does metal work, his hands having given out on him after decades of abuse in the shop. There's a lot of handwork in tin-smithing and even the machines are operated by hand. What you see in these photographs are final images you might say in what is becoming a lost tradition. There are no young tinsmiths or copper-smiths who are replacing the old timers. Machines run by computers are taking over. Dan figures that when he is gone his tools will be sold for scrap. The opportunity I have had in spending time with Dan, learning from him just a tiny bit of what he knows has been a special thing for which I am grateful.
(cont.)
SB
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