Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
My STORY - HOW I BECAME A TINSMITH
How It Started
For many years, I worked in a university setting, until a reorganization gave me the opportunity to move outside academia to do something new and creative. I did a bit of woodworking, and even sold some of my creations to friends and strangers alike. I still like woodworking, but something drew me instead to tinsmithing.
I met my first tinsmith at a local arts festival in 2004. I was amazed by the beautiful and practical things he made out of tinplate. I bought a small cup from him that first year, and continued to seek him out each year, buying more pieces each time.
After a while, I felt the urge to begin some training as a tinsmith. Unlike many other artisanal crafts, there aren’t many tinsmiths around and even fewer people offering training. I began an internet search and lucked upon a weekend workshop in tinsmithing for families at the Stuhr Museum of the Praire Pioneer in Grand Island, Nebraska. Although a five-hour drive away from my home, this was the closest opportunity available, and had the added bonus that my entire family—my wife and two boys—could attend and learn, too.
So, I signed us up and we drove down to spend 16 hours learning about and doing tinsmithing. We were able to make many items over the course of that weekend and it was a fun experience for all of us. I am grateful to the Stuhr Museum's resident tinsmith, Loren Miller, for his teaching and guidance.
After that weekend workshop, I took the plunge and began purchasing tinsmithing tools to equip my workshop. I relied on Ebay to find what I needed. It took me several months, but I was eventually able to find and buy enough tools to outfit a working tin shop in my basement. Some of the tools, particularly the hand-powered tinner’s machines, were in good shape mechanically, but rusted over and badly in need of restoration. I did that restoration work myself. Machines that were once in poor condition are now almost as good as new. I like to think their original owners in the 1840s and 1850s would be pleased with the results.
Even with an equipped shop, I soon realized, however, that 16 hours of training wasn’t enough to give me what I needed in the way of tinsmithing experience. Happily, I learned that there was a convergence of tinsmiths taking place within another five-hour drive of home, so my family and I went to see what this group was all about. While there, my wife noticed a flyer of programs being held at Historic Eastfield Village in East Nassau county, New York. The programs included longer workshops in tinsmithing, taught by master tinsmith William McMillen, who was arguably the finest and most experienced tinsmith in the US at that time. I got to meet Bill at the convergence and he was all that and more.
On the drive home from that weekend, my wife, Nadine, and I talked about how much I wanted to be a tinsmith and she encouraged me to apply for the workshop in New York, even though it would be a costly venture to undertake. So. . . . I took this next plunge and did extended training with Bill McMillen. It was, without overstatement, a life-altering event. Those 40 hours provided me with the exact foundation I needed. I learned time-honored techniques by making several items of tinware, using 19th century tools and historical designs. I came home from that experience both invigorated and inspired. Since then, I work every day in the shop, even when I'm not completing an order, perfecting my techniques and working on new designs. As with any artisanal craft, constant practice is key to mastering it.
In August 2018, I returned to Historic Eastfield Village in New York to take another workshop, Advanced Tinsmithing. It was taught by Bill McMillen and Steve Delisle, who is the Master Tinsmith at Colonial Williamsburg. I took a final workshop at Historic Eastfield Village in August 2022. Unfortunately, three months later, my mentor, William McMillen, passed away. I still feel his loss greatly.
My Work Today
My work focuses on using primarily 19th century tools to make tinware using 18th and 19th century designs – in essence, I am an historical tinsmith. When I don’t have patterns with which to make something, I buy antique tinware for use as study pieces. I am able to measure old pieces and reproduce them as new pieces. I also visit museums to study original pieces.
I also enjoy designing and making Christmas ornaments and other decorative tinwork, drawing upon European and Pennsylvania German folk art for inspiration. My ancestors lived in Pennsylvania in the 1700s, so this gets me back to my roots.
Following in my mentor's footsteps, I have taught tinsmithing workshops, both in the United States, and in England. I taught a three-day workshop at North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota, in summer 2019. In September 2022, I taught two week-long workshops in Derby, England, which were sponsored by the UK-based Heritage Crafts Association (of which I am a member) with partial funding coming from the Worshipful Society of Tinplate Workers alias Wire Workers, one of the livery companies in London. The host site for the workshops was the Museum of Making in Derby, which is located inside a former early 18th century silk mill, considered to be the world's first factory (it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site).
I had 14 adult students (of a variety of ages) over the two weeks who worked through a series of tinsmithing processes and then could spend time developing tin products, either based on patterns I brought with me, or objects of their own design. The courses were all hands-on, using primarily vintage English tinsmithing tools.
The goal of the master classes was to keep traditional workshop-based tinsmithing alive in the UK where, according to the Heritage Crafts Association, it is 'critically endangered' due to a lack of practitioners.
To add to my understanding of historical tinware, I collect and study the tinware pieces of other tinsmiths, including William McMillen, Peter Blum III, Horman Foose, Joseph Messersmith, Joseph Messner, Wib Lauter, Christian Hagemann, and Charles Rittle, among others. I also research and write about tinware and tinsmithing. I've published the following articles about the history of tinsmithing:
"Tinsmithing and Tin Goods in the Fur Trade," EAIA Chronicle, Vol. 72, No. 2 (June 2019): 42-54.
"The Steamboat Bertrand: A Tinware Time Capsule from 1865," EAIA Chronicle, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Sept. 2019): 109-121.
"William Billinge's Early 19th Century Tinman's and Brazier's Tools Catalogue," Tools and Trades (UK), No. 155, (Summer 2023): 21-28.
"Thomas Passmore: Tinsmithing Entrepreneur in the Early Republic," EAIA Chronicle, Vol. 76, No. 2 (June 2023): 45-65.
tools of the tinsmithing trade
The tools below are all ones I use every day in my shop. Most of them are from the 19th century; many of the tools pre-date the US Civil War.
This photo shows a basic set of tinsmith's hand tools, including stakes, over which the tinplate is shaped.
These are the three main swedges used by tinsmiths historically. From top to bottom: square-pan swedge, creasing swedge, and cullender swedge.
Beginning in the early 19th century, tinsmith's used simple hand-crank machines to speed up some of the repetitive work. From left to right in this photo: a large burring machine and a wiring machine.
In this photo, clockwise from the top left, are three additional tinsmith's machines: small burring machine, setting down machine (with original wood stand), and a turning machine.