Copper smithing. Advice on books, courses (As a hobby.)

[Billy]

I'm looking for first hand information books and courses in coppersmithing. I'm particularly interested in working sheet copper into bowls and pots. I liv in the Glasgow area. Thanks.

Billy

[EricP]

Don't think you are in book territory for a newbee. Books tend to be refinement of technique rather than basic starting.

Does a local college do a course? Do you know any tinsmiths? Lots of trades cover tinsmithing in some way and even half an hour with one can beat any book.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Just keep beating it up in true Glaswegian style till it resembles the shape you want.

A ball peine hammer is a useful staring point, as are a multitude of curved hardwood blocks.

Ocasionally heat it to red heat and let it cool down to anneal it.

[Andy Dingley]

Start out with S/H bookshops or eBay and find a cheap school metalwork textbook from the '60s or earlier. They're good on the basics of sinking and raising (rather harder than sinking in copper), and also obsessed with the construction of 2d developments for making 3d shapes such as conical jugs!

Oppi Untracht is another good high-end book and there are a number of well-known books (web search) on copper patination and colouring. You're also likely to want Arts & Crafts textbooks from around 1900, which was the peak era of art coppersmithing, especially in the USA.

Basic tools are snips, mallets (wood and rawhide), assorted blocks of firewood and a few gouges to start shaping your own forms. A leather sandbag can be bought or made. The shape comes from the interaction of form, mallet and where you hit it, rather than just beating it into a mould, but a range of rough curvatures is useful.

A blowtorch and a firebrick or two are pretty important, for annealing and for soldering. Or you can even use a gas cooker. Silver solder is another thing that comes cheap from eBay - especially if you don't mind old stock with cadmium in it.

Avoid hammers until you've got the knack. Then when you do, keep them all mirror-polished and in a sealed box with some dessicant. You don't want rust pits.

Mark out in soft pencil or thin marker pen, as scratches won't come out easily later.

Finish with a set of Garryflex blocks. Marvellous things. I also use a small power drill with a whirling abrasive wire wheel in it, only with plastic bristles rather than metal It's a great thing for cleaning copper and has little effect on the metal itself.

Cheapest copper sheet is scrap immersion heaters from the local dump.

If you're near Ironbridge, I think they have a working coppersmith in the Blists Hill museum,.

[cerberus]

The standard academic work on coppersmithing is: Fuller, John. The Art of Coppersmithing: A Practical Treatise on Working Sheet Copper into all Forms. Mendham, NJ: Astragal Press, 1993. (reprint of the original 1894 edition). ISBN 1879335379

You should be able to get a copy from your local library.

Don.

[Billy]

Thanks folks.

[1501]

But there's more material in the cylinders!