Where can I find Tinplate

[rifleshooter2]

I was looking at this site http://www.northwestjournal.ca/XIV122.htm
and thought tinsmithing a few items would be a fun project, but I can't find a source for tinplate. Anybody have any suggestions I have done a search but no luck.

Andy
www.legionville.com

 

[ameling]

You can contact most any of the current tinsmiths advertising in the magazines or through web site links. There is also a tinsmiths organization you might want to check out. I don't know if you will be able to see much on their web site until you join, but here's the link Tin Tinkers

There are also two types of tin plate out there - modern electroplated sheets, and hand-dipped sheets. Most of the tin stuff you see nowdays was made with that modern electroplated stuff. It's good stuff and pretty smooth/consistant, but is a kind of thin layer on the iron. The hand-dipped sheets have a much heavier coating/plating, and it isn't as smooth or even a coating. But the hand-dipped is much much closer to what was originally used back before the late 1800's.

One note about those "machines" most tinsmiths use to make their items. Those machines started to come into production and use in the mid 1800's. So the types of seams they create are kind of different from the hand-formed seams in earlier items.

As I recall, Bob at Backwoods Tin is the current prez of the Tinsmith group. If you search for his web site, you should be able to then ask him for some sources - especially if there are any near you. He also would have both types of tinplate on hand. But if you locate a tinsmith near you, they could be talked out of a sheet or three. Or if you are going to an event and you know a tinsmith is going to be there, contact them and see if they will bring a couple sheets along.

That Northwest Journal web site is great! They have that Making your own Copper Pot article, step by step and with pictures. A good source for some copper sheet to make it is the local antique store. Go and find one of those old large oval "wash boilers" to use for material. You should be able to get a good deal on one that is a little beat up. Or get some scrap sections of roofing copper from a local contractor. They always have short sections or odd pieces from a roofing job. Altho, scrap copper prices have been pretty high lately.

Hope this helps. Good luck on your "tinsmithing" project.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[ameling]

One other note: Tinplate is just sheet iron that has a coating of tin on the outside - either by dipping it in hot tin or by electro-plating it.

But you can do the same type of work with just thin sheet iron - as in 18 guage, 20 guage, or even thinner. 18 or 20 guage sheet iron will make a pretty good/heavy/solid soldier's Mess Kettle/Pot. And once you have it made, you can "tin" the inside or the whole kettle if you wish. So that soldier's issued mess kettle could be fully tinned, tinned only on the inside, or just sheet iron.

YOu can get sheet iron at most any metal working or welding shop - or they can order some for you. Same thing for any shop that does auto-body work. And plain sheet iron is cheaper than tinplate.

Another "scrounged" source of sheet iron would be the common 55 gallon oil drum. And it is pretty ... maleable/workable. But you do need to "clean" any oil/chemical residue off of it. Heating it up to a red color usually does that. If you can still find any of those old Square 5 gallon cans, they are great material to tinker with!

Just a few more humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[kansas_volunteer]

Make your own tin plate:
http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/tin_plate.htm

 

[rifleshooter2]

Thanks guys :thumbsup: You can always count on this forum for great answers and ideas.

Andy

 

[LRB]

Hey Mike. Any reason one could not, or should not use roofing tin sheet?

 

[ameling]

Roofing tin tends to be galvanized sheet iron. That coating can be of concern if you are heating/cooking in it. Then some of that coating can potentially come off. For just holding/carrying water, no problem.

The other version of roofing tin is sheet iron that has been coated with enamel paint. That enamel paint coating can/will come off when working the metal, and especially when you heat it up.

I have taken scraps from modern roofing tin, burnt the paint off of it in the forge, and then shaped it as I needed. But I have not used it for anything associated with cooking. If you heat the iron up hot enough to glow red, any paint on it should be completely burnt off. Ditto if you are using iron from an old oil barrel. But heating up galvanized roofing tin will turn that coating into vapor. Breathing that zinc vapor can have serious effects on your health. Just don't breathe it.

Sheet iron from automobiles will also work, but it has that paint coating (and possible some rust-coating underneath).

Just a few more humble thoughts to share.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[LRB]

Thanks Mike. I did not consider the zinc. But I wonder if it would really be harnful, since many people use zinc as a nutritional suppliment. I would think it would be harmless if boiling food. I have eaten food boiled in a galvanized container. Not going to recommend it, but have done so with no ill effects. That I know of?

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Over the decades I have noticed many welders drink lots of milk, (mostly buttermilk) when welding and grinding on galvanized steel.

Supposedly kept them from short term upchucking and long term protection.

Might have been old wives' tale, but they swore by it.

 

[ameling]

I don't know the specifics, but a lot has to do with what form the Zinc is in. I know that breathing in vaporized zinc can be pretty bad. The zinc in vitamins is somehow different.

And I have heard about something in milk somehow bonding with the zinc you might breathe in - and helping it get through your system. But I don't know any specifics.

I just know that the galvanized coating is bad for you if you breath it in.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[John Ezra Jest]

If possible, you should always use hand dipped tin plate. I work in a plant that makes what people commonly call "resistors". Those things you see on electric poles. We hand tin dip the copper stud inside of the porcelain. For various reasons, we some times have them shipped to a plater. The plated tin can be sand blasted off much easier than hand dipped. I was told that the heat from dipping makes the tin bond to the copper.

John Ezra