Tinsmithing?

[JokerGirl]

Does anyone here know anything about tinsmithing? Matt took a course about a month ago on it, and really enjoyed it. He's asked me if I could pick up a few of the essential tools for him for X-mas.

He showed me a couple of auctions on eBay of the main things, but all I can remember at this point is that he wanted a stake plate, a blowhorn anvil, a crimper/bead roller, and a metal brake.

Is there anything else that I should be looking for in the process? I've gotten the jist that Pexto is the brand to have with this stuff, so I'm currently bidding on a Pexto stake plate and blowhorn anvil for him. Depending on how much they end up going for is what will determine if I'll get him anything else.

[BigSkyBart]

when he gets good at tinsmithing, maybe he can make one of these for you

[JokerGirl]

Originally posted by BigSkyBart
when he gets good at tinsmithing, maybe he can make one of these for you

Fine with me! The tinman is hot!

[Travis L. Stevens]

I've done my fair share of armorcrafting in my days, and let me tell you. Be the wise one. If he doesn't have it now, buy him all the top-of-the-line protective equipment you can afford that he doesn't have before you buy him one piece of tools or materials. Granted, chances are he already has them, but there are greater chances that a man will go into something he likes doing under-protected.

Now that he's protected, it's time to be even wiser and gear him for organization. Buy tool boxes, trays, shelves, etc. Whatever will fit in his work area. You can add tools as necessary. This will give the typical unorganized man a hint that the woman that wears the pants in the family wants him to be clean, organized, and uninjured after he finishes working on a project.

To make sure he gets the gear that he wants, just fill the drawers and toolboxes with giftcards or cash where he can go out and buy exactly what he wants. He can get it, bring it home, and put it in the slot he wants.

Now if you don't want to go with that approach, after you have him all geared up find out how much he wants to DIY before you go and buy all these expensive items. Granted, blacksmithing with 12-16 gauge steel that I've done is completely different than the delicate and decorative tin that he is doing, the same rules still apply (basically). But a lot of the tools you can make yourself. For example, if you don't have a planishing hammer, you can make one by grinding and polishing a regular hammer to a high finish. Also, instead of buying a bunch of expensive planishing dishes, you can get a wide, hardwood stump, and carve out dishes (and high-heat treat them for sturdiness) in the stump so he can dish out metal in there. Plus, if the stump is wide enough, he might be able to get multiple sizes and depths in there making the stump a 4-n-1 use or along those lines.

Once that's all said and done, you'll still be forced to have to buy certain things. Even though it is predominately about steel and armour, I highly recommend reading through the various articles at The Arador Armour Library. You can look through articles like this one, http://www.arador.com/construction/index.html Just look under the heading "Tools"/subcategory "Plate" just over half way down and you'll get a link to various tools that they use for heavy steel. Granted, tinsmithing is quite decorative, so you'll need a lot of finesse tools such as engravers, light weight hammers, awls, etc.

[JokerGirl]

Thanks for the lengthy post Travis!

Matt is an autobody man with a specialty in framework, so a lot of the protective gear and heavy metal working tools he already has unfortunately. He just bought himself a new Snap-On toolbox for at work, and as a "gift" for spending that much money, he was given a 2nd toolbox which is now at home in the barn to go along with all his Snap-On paraphenalia there. Since his shop is the barn, space isn't a problem.

The stump idea of yours is really interesting. I don't think I've ever seen it done that way before. To make it even better, we cut down a huge dead tree this summer and have some gigantic stump pieces we don't know what to do with.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Once again, this is all about steel and armorsmithing, BUT this should give you a broad idea of what tools a modern armorsmith uses
http://justus.pair.com/ShopPhotos/Tour.html