ElgaKoster Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Looking good Bill! you sure are going to a lot of trouble to get this just right. I like this one with the cup without a handle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted September 12, 2015 Author Share Posted September 12, 2015 Experiments in rusting. I have been playing around with some of my reject lunch pails, trying to rust them so they look right. First two pictures are of full rust. The second picture is after etching with the air eraser. Feedback welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 I like them better in the last photo, but for me if I put something like this in a Victorian cottage for example I would like it nice and shiny, ready for the man of the house to take it to work the next day, no good wife would put her husband's lunch in a rusted container.Rusted they will look good in a modern attic, garage etc, I guess it all depends on the setting you want to put it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted September 12, 2015 Author Share Posted September 12, 2015 Thank you Elga, I agree only the real pails were steel not tin and would have a gray or dull gray cast to them. Although I doubt the good wife would buy a new bucket each time and hubby probably puts the bucket where it gets knocked around and exposed to dirt and moisture etc. Of all my years of working in the woods and saw mills most lunch pails were fairly beat up. Most of the lunch pails we had were the black, painted, barn roof pails with a thermos inside. They usually had paint knocked off and usually the glass thermos got broken so we had a steel thermos that was too large to fit in the bucket. It was carried separately. So a shiny tin bucket would not be authentic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted September 12, 2015 Author Share Posted September 12, 2015 The one on the left is probably more close to the authentic look. A coat of clear simi-gloss lacquer would make it more shiny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 I guess the picture of the miniature salesman sample got stuck in my brain somewhere...that one certainly shines.http://www.halslamppost.com/Miscellaneous%20Mining%20Items/slides/Miniature%20Lisk%20Miner%27s%20Lunch%20Pail%20with%205%20Pieces.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted September 12, 2015 Author Share Posted September 12, 2015 A little scrubbing with an SOS pad and it is ready to go again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miraclechicken Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Everything has it's place. I love them all. I sort of like the more beat up the better though. But again it depends on the setting. On a beautiful old pail like this one I like everything but shiny new--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted September 13, 2015 Author Share Posted September 13, 2015 What is the difference between the two? HINT: look at the dome on the cup bottoms. The one on the left has a fuller dome going out to the outer edge, more in keeping with the real ones. I am retooling for that style. The handles are the same one is just hanging down all the way while the other one is partially down. It is a matter of adjustment. What you are seeing here are incomplete projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted September 15, 2015 Author Share Posted September 15, 2015 Sometimes I need a simple jig but don't want to go to all that work to machine one especially when it is a limited use jig.This is the case for soldering the dome cap (bottom) on the little cup. This jig was a piece of scrap wood. I squared it to the drill press and drilled a hole all the way through it. Then I cut out an opening with my band saw. An aluminum tube is uses as the arbor. It has a stop ring on it just a bit longer than the cup side. The edge of the tin cup is soldered and the cap is tinned. The cap is placed in the hole in the bottom of the jig, the dome keeping it in place.The cup body is tinned around the bottom edge and is slipped on the tube until it hits the stop. The tube pushes the cup ring down into the domed cap and the joints are soldered. I hit the joint with a lite flame of the torch to cause the solder to flow around the joint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 I like the dome on the left better in your previous post, it looks like the dome is a bit wider and the flat edge narrower than the one on the right. As for the handle, it looks longer on the pail on the right and I like that it hangs further down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted September 18, 2015 Author Share Posted September 18, 2015 First one completed. No aging just a little wear here and there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted September 20, 2015 Author Share Posted September 20, 2015 Rust, real or fake? Both or one? The one on the right is fake, done with acrylic paint. On the left is acid etched and rusted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mesouth Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Bill, thank you so much for this incredible tutorial! You are indeed a generous Master!Martha in Louisiana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 A brief history of tin in America. Early tin in America was imported from England. There were two weights of tin, one cross (1X) and the thicker two cross (2X). The more common 1X came in sheets 13 3/4” x 10”. 2X measured 16 1/4” X 12 1/2”. The largest cylinders that could be rolled would be around four and five inches. Imaginative splicing had t be employed to form a can or box of any decent size. A good sign of a piece of tin being from 19th century would be several splices in the body ofd the piece. The early tin was not the shiny tin of today, rather it was a dull gray and had streaks running down it. The iron or steel sheet was well cleaned and then soaked in German tin. Then it was buffed down and dipped in the better English tin. As the sheet was removed the excess tin ran down back into the vat leaving streaks on the plate. The plating tin used was 15% tin and 85% lead. As the lead oxidized it turned a gray color. Below is a photo of a late 1800s milk cooling pan. You can see both multiple splices and the streaks. Also note that the joints were folded joints and inside the joints were soldered to keep the pan from leaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miraclechicken Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Very interesting! Thank you--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm. R. Robertson Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 I just opened my little lunch box and it is fantastic, much better than you can imagine or that the pictures even show. WOW!Thank you Bill! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catshooter Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Mind boggling I tell you. The pains you take for authenticity is what makes the miniature truly remarkable you know. Cat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 One of the most important tool in tin work is the soldering iron. My preference is 35 watts. I have, for years, bought cheap throw away irons for my classes. They used to cost me $5 each. My last one went to soldering iron heaven and I tried to replace it. The same irons are now around $26. I found an adjustable heat one in a nice stand for about the same price. The sales person said it had copper tips which is what I want. It turns out the the tips are plated iron and will not hold solder. I spent this morning making a copper tip for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miraclechicken Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 What a drag, but at least you can fabricate what you need. Still a time sink....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElgaKoster Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Too many sales people have given me wrong/false information...for the most part these days I take everything they say with a very large pinch of salt!Great that you could make your own tip, let us know how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Too many sales people have given me wrong/false information...for the most part these days I take everything they say with a very large pinch of salt!Great that you could make your own tip, let us know how it works. Most all soldering irons come tinned or coated so it is pretty hard to know what base metal they are made of. These tips came with nice coating of, what looks like, tin. I usually like to reshape the tips for my own purpose and once I did that the tip quit working. The tip metal is very hard like Stainless steel. For a while copper was in the price range of silver and therefore many companies changed to steel coated with tin. If you buy a new iron check to be sure the tip is copper. Usually there are replacement tips available. If so just buy the tip and take it home and file it. If copper then buy the soldering iron. Or, if you have a metal lathe make your own tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavischeyne Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I also thank you Bill, great tutorial. MavisN.Z. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hudson Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Follow upon the home made soldering iron tip. It made it through the test runs. It holds the solder very well and it is easy to place the solder where I want it. I have this one filed to a four sided pyramid. I think I will also make one three sided and one chisel shaped. When needing to heat and solder near another solder joint use a wire to hold the piece together. Here I have soldered in the bottom with a soldering iron and to smooth the solder out I hit it with the soft flame of a torch. The wire prevented the joint from unsoldering. The tweezers act like a heat sink on the spout to keep it from all unsoldering. Two more sprinkling cans in progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeekendMiniaturist Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Thank you Bill for telling us about the tips of our soldering irons. My soldering iron is variable heat, and old, and since It was purchased at an auction I had never ever considered what the tip of the soldering iron was made of. I have scrapped it off to clean it with a xacto, but I've never scrapped it to the point of trying to find out what it is made of. So, it looks like I have another use for my lathe, perhaps I can turn a tip from copper on my lathe? although I do not ever recall seeing solid copper in the hardware store, so I'll add that to my list; I have copper pipe, but no solid copper in my supplies. Still learning! Tamra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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