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Tinware Tutorial


Bill Hudson

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Thanks for the tips on ...tips!  haha and the tips on holding it all together, the cans are beautiful---

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Wonderful work Bill. I want to come over and play. ;-)

 

Forgive me if I have missed the answer to this question... Do you have a small hydraulic press?

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Wonderful work Bill. I want to come over and play. ;-)

 

Forgive me if I have missed the answer to this question... Do you have a small hydraulic press?

Yes, go back to #143. There is a picture of it there.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have been playing around with a couple of my rusted pails.  The one on the left has been dented and distressed.  The one on the right has the bottom missing and I plan on putting on in that has been partially rusted through.  I am thinking of making little vignettes of them in grass and brush like in a field or along a creek bed. I still have to add the handle ears and handle wires.  I will not make wooden handles for them as at that stage they would be long gone. At this point the cups are missing. I may make one or two partially crushed. 

 

 

 

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Amazing happens in this thread... I like the one of the left, it looks really realistic. I won't ask how you made something so perfect so irregular... imagining hammers and pliers on those beautiful precise edges.  So how do you rust something through that isn't rusted?  a gentle acid?

 

I like my sprinkling can... it arrived safely and is a wonderful item...  I'll leave it on my porch when the porch gets assembled next year.  It will always remind master miniaturist Bill H, and of the forum.

 

Tamra

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  So how do you rust something through that isn't rusted?  a gentle acid?

 

 

 

these were done by placing the piece in a plastic bag with a small plastic bottle lid full of muriatic acid over night.  The piece must be rinsed in baking soda water to stop the acid action where you want it. Acid is nasty stuff.  I have since figured how to simulate the rust with acrylic paints. Not so nasty.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thank you so much for such a detailed tutorial, Bill.  I have admired your work for years, if only in photos.  I hope to try out some of your techniques someday and am glad to know now where to go for direction.

 

Holly Burke

Kalamazoo, Michigan 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Back to the old project still continuing.  This is lunch pail #9 of 10.  All the aging was done using poster chalks.  A brush was dipped in water and then rubbed on various chalks to make a blended paste.  This was dabbed on and right away dabbed with a terrycloth rag. Various tints of age were added and dabbed off until I was satisfied.  Once it is dry I coated it with matt artist fixative.

 

Only one lunch pail left. Once it is claimed that is the last of these that I will make.

 

 

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New project, a series of buckets.   Years ago I built and sold buckets and they were fun to build so I decide to revive making them in between projects.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Bringing in the big gun.

 

Some times when silver soldering heavier steel materials the little micro torches are not hot enough or take too long and the plumbing type torches that screw on top of a small LP bottle are too hot and noisy.

 

I reverted back to my old Presto-lite torch that I started with back in the early 1970s.  The one gallon gas tank that I first had for it is outdated and can not be refiled so I replaced it with a three gallon tank. Because the newer tank it larger I had to add more hose to the torch so I can set the tank on the floor and still use the torch. The tip on this torch gives me a nice pin point flame but it has more over flame than the micro torches.

 

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  I use a layout dye called Dykem.  It is especially formulated for lay out on metals.  It can be cleaned off with alcohol. It comes in several colors however it lasts for ever so I have not changed colors.  I think this bottle is about 15 years old. It also comes in pens.  Rather than buying so much you can use a regular off the shelf wide tip felt pen.  the dye forms a thin film so that you can scratch inlines for your layout. You do not need to scratch so heavy that it cuts into the metal. 

 

Paint thinner does not hurt metals.  It is essentially solvent. I use thinner to remove stubborn oils but mostly use Original Dove detergent thinned with water to remove oils and cleaning up after soldering.  Paint thinner is fairly safe on well aged enamel paint for clean up as long as you do not let it set long. It might take the gloss off some. Lacquer thinner will clean off enamel paint almost immediately and will damage most plastics.

 

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Thanks Bill, 

 

I am going to try the felt tip marker / sharpie on brass.  Last year, in the evening at GS I was trying to see the scratches on my brass pieces, and oh my, what an experience cutting brass with my jewelers saw without proper lighting and not being able to see at the right height... (I am not tall...)... this did not result in good accuracy... so using this technique will surely improve my results -

 

My learning has been reinforced!

 

Thanks for taking time to answer this question for us.

 

Tamra

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The method I finally settled on for my little strong box hinges is the following. First I am soldering brass to steel; the brass heats faster. Holding a small piece of brass (1/16" long part of hinge) accurately in place presents a problem.  Using some thing to hold the tube down sucks up the heat and prevents soldering.  Also the solder jumps to the brass first when the solder becomes liquid. My solution is to cut the brass a little over the length form outside to outside of the two hinges.  I slightly file a flat on the bottom. I also file a deeper flat in the middle middle that will not be part of the hinges. I scribe a line where I want the center of the hinges to be and using brass beading wire I bind the brass in place.  The second wire goes through the tube to help hold it in line with the scribed line.  

 

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The piece shown here is the top of the box.  The lid has already been soldered and trimmed. It will be used to match this piece. Rather that solder the brass on top of the lid I solder it on the edge of the lid.

 

The whole piece is placed on the soldering block with the part to be soldered hanging over about 1/4".   I apply flux where I want the solder to flow. Then I hammer flat a length of easy silver solder and cut it into 1/32" length called pallions. I push pillion into the flux against the tube and base. 

 

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 I have and have used several kinds of flux for silver soldering but keep coming back to the white paste flux.The reason I like paste it that when it is heated to transparent it is near melting point of the solder. I apply the flame lightly to the top of the piece until the flux turns clear then I concentrate the flame from below at the solder joint until the solder flows. I then move to the other end and heat it. Once soldered I drop it into water to flash cool. I don't use pickle solution as the steel will turn the brass pink.

 

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Once the piece is cooled I cut away the excess brass between the hinge parts and true up each hinge piece.  

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Thank you Bill, I use the same solder and a powder flux that you make yourself into a paste...guess I need more practise. I find soldering steel easier than brass.

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I first started out soldering steel many years ago then added brass as time went by.  It is soldering brass to steel that is the challenge. Brass heast up more quickly so there is a balance of applying the heat so as not to over heat the brass.  I should probably look into powder as the past dries out over time.

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Bill, I really appreciate the photos of the products you have tried, tested and know that they work for you.  We are so fortunate that you are sharing your experience with us.  As you might guess, one of my most favorite things to receive from a workshop instructor is a list of stuff I should buy to continue my at home study.  Oh, I wish I had been able to afford to travel when you were teaching!

 

I learned to solder brass wire when I was in Penny Champion's class and we did a faux enamel stained glass shade.  It was another confidence building experience, but I know there is still so much to learn!  The Guild has provided me with so many learning opportunities, and I never dreamed that we would have our own forum so the opportunities continue even if you are not able to travel to Guild School.

 

Tamra

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Back to the thread from page #216.  There I showed how I wired and soldered the hinge parts on the top. Here I show making the lid for the top and fitting it to the top. I wired the tube on the edge of the lid (not shown) first then silver soldered the tubing on. I measured and cut the basic cuts then sawed away the excess.

 

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When I am working on a project I do not make formal drawings rather I keep a little note book on my work bench area and jot down measurements and a few details so I have something to go back to.  This sketch is an earlier concept of the hinges where I had planned turning the tube down leaving only the hinge parts raised. I gave that up in favor of just soldering the tube on and then cutting out the waste.

 

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  • 5 months later...
On 10/22/2015 at 9:19 AM, Bill Hudson said:

 

Most all soldering irons come tinned or coated so it is pretty hard to know what base metal they are made of.  ... If you buy a new iron check to be sure the tip is copper.  ...  If copper then buy the soldering iron. Or, if you have a metal lathe make your own tip.

Bill, what do you use as cutting fluid when you turn your copper tips?   Thanks.

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1 hour ago, MeezerMama said:

Bill, what do you use as cutting fluid when you turn your copper tips?   Thanks.

Nothing.  I use the same tool as I would use for brass. flat topped no rake. Take light cuts as copper can bog down and jamb if cutting to heavy.  It also makes a difference what type (alloy) of copper. Some copper is soft and gummy other hard and turns well. My metal supply is lots of scrap I have picked up at the scrap yard so I really do not know what alloy it actually is. 

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