Another day, Another vasculum!

This vasculum has two compartments, just like the original after which it was patterned. It is slightly longer than the first one, but the other details are very similar. The original had a place inside the cover to store the garden shovel for digging up plant specimens.

Vasculum Completed!

For some time now, I have wanted to construct a vasculum, an oval tin carrying case. There were a variety of uses for such a case, including the toolbox of the intinerant tinsmith, the tinker's pig. They were also frequently used by botanists to carry specimens collected in the field for further study at home. This one has a sliding wire latch, strap loops for a woven hemp shoulder strap, and triple beading on the body and lid for added strength. It is patterned on originals that I have and pictures of originals.

Got Tin?... and yes, the pie is real.

The trade show in Oshkosh each February provides the inspiration (or is it desperation?) to get some tinware completed for the shelves. Each year I try to introduce at least one new item to my inventory. This year it was a four-sided lantern. I also completed a number of long spouted coffee pots, three-sided lanterns, and 2 and 2 1/4 sheet kettles. My biggest seller, however, was the iron hinges and cinched hinge nails that I have acquired. While at the show, I worked on producing baking pans and the coffee bean roaster previously shown. I also spent some time working with one of the 1861 Enos Dodd oil can tinware patterns that I have. The writing on it is difficult to read, but it either says 1/8 or 1/2 gallon. I'm going to put one together and see what it will become. I did receive an order to make a tin "vasculum," a type of botanist's case, for an artist to use for his supplies. He also wants a turpentine cup, a piece I haven't seen available from any other smiths. He is the cartographer for the 3rd New York, an NWTA unit.

Coffee Roaster

There are two great original coffee bean roasters in the Great Kitchen at Grand Portage National Monument. They provided the basis for a roaster that I just completed. After trying a few different materials for the construction, I finally settled on an unplated steel that should simulate the original sheet iron after it seasons. All of the connections are mechanical, flat seams or rivets, since it will be exposed to heat. The canister is 7 1/2 inches tall and 5 inches in diameter. The turning rod has a turned oak handle and is 4 feet in length. It will become part of the kit for the good Widow Black, who keeps the Slightly Obsessed blogspot.

Thanksgiving Feast Pictures

One of the members of our FYLHS posted pictures of our feast this week. They included my "apprentice" making his candle holder. I thought I'd post a couple of them here, as well as some others from the weekend. It was a very good feast!

Another Day, More Time to Play

I am back in the north lands for a couple of weeks, hoping to get a few things done around the house here. I've got some tinplate to get cut so that I can take it back for a Christmas workshop for our Fort Yargo Living History Society. We are in the planning stages for a workshop that I will be able to use for demonstrations and classes in the future! I spent a Saturday out there a couple of weeks ago, by myself, demonstrating for whatever public wandered by and just enjoying the beauty of the area and the fort. The next weekend was our Thanksgiving feast, and it was a wonderful success. Many of the members got to see my work for the first time, and I am grateful for their kind words of encouragement, It was noted that I not only prepared dishes for the meal, but also the dishes used to cook those items. My food preparation was for "timbales of macaroni and Shenandoah cheddar," aka mac-n-cheese. It was baked in the clay bake oven and turned out well.

I had a young man, a second grade student, show enough interest in tinsmithing that he and I made a candle holder that he could take home with him. He was looking forward to the show and tell that he would be able to share when he returned to school. Seeing a face like that one light up is one of my purest joys.

One of the benefits of being a member of the FYLHS is having access to the 1792 block house and other facilities we have. The outdoor hearth and bake oven are both functional, and the siding should be on the smokehouse by the end of December. There a four or five rope beds in the block house, and they recently gave us a porta potty that we are working to disguise. I am hoping to find a time to invite some friends down for a weekend at the fort. This place is helping to make my move to Georgia a very rewarding one. The state park where the fort is located has also asked me to be their man in the red suit from the North Pole this year. I am looking forward to that as well.

I've also been busy working at our new online book shop, Big River Books. It's an Amazon company, and we are listing books and media materials that have too much value to simply recycle. It is rewarding to know that the landfills get less each time we sell or recycle these items. In my spare time I have stripped down the main bathroom in our GA house and have begun to remodel it. My goal is to get it back into operation before Margaret and Jeremy come down for Christmas. The house if progressing nicely and the interior should be completed by Spring. It has been a challenge to get a handle on landscaping, given the fact that the seasons are somewhat different and the current drought situation has reduced the interest in outdoor landscaping. Maybe tin roses and daisies would catch on.... lol

A Touch of History

I had the privilege of visiting The Southern Museum, home of the famous General, at the invitation of their curator. While there, we examined a few of their tin and sheet iron pieces, looking at construction details and techniques. The first piece was a simple "mucket" with a nicely detailed support bead in the handle and a cullender bead on the side. Its general dimensions tell me that it was made from standard 10 x 14 sheet stock, and it presented very well. I also examined a drum style canteen with a fiddle-shaped support at the neck. I am hoping to get a discussion going on a couple of the pieces I looked at. One was made by the GEM MFG CO PGH PA. It appears to be a railroad related piece. Another similar piece showed quite a it of additional structural reinforcement on the bottom. Most curious pieces, indeed!

PLEASE NOTE that the pictures posted here are not to be copied or disseminated in any manner. They remain the copyrighted property of The Southern Museum. Permission was granted for me to post them here only for the sake of education and discussion with the Tintinkers.org chat group. Thank you.

Ahhh, the life of a tinker. As I wandered this month, I found so many interesting places to be and people to meet. Early in the month I was at the Half Point Gathering in Union Grove. Our small camp there had the luster of tinplate gleaming from every angle.








From there is was off to Powder Springs, Georgia, for the Seven Springs Arts Festival. My day camp there gave me the chance to demonstrate for the local citizens and meet a few new people, including the blacksmith from Bare Foot Forge. For this event, I dressed out in my new early 19c. kit and found it to be very comfortable. I guess I am becoming a slave to modern fashions, slowly but surely.





Then it was off to the real destination of my fall trek, Winder, Georgia, and the Fort Yargo Living History Society which I joined recently. I had a wonderful Saturday with the members there (was supposed to be Friday and Saturday but the weather was not cooperative enough). I fell under the spell of the original 18c. trading post blockhouse (1792) and the recently added clay bake oven, open hearth, and a smokehouse (in progress). Saturday evening brought many tourists from the state park's festival, and I had the privilege to share the tale of Jack O' the Lantern with them a few times after listening to Omer tell it. Looks like I am going back this weekend to do a bit of tin knocking there. I can't think of a much nicer way to celebrate my birthday!