From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A tinsmith, or tinner or tinplate worker, is a person who makes and repairs things made of light-coloured metal, particularly tinware. By extension it can also refer to the person who deals in tinware.

Contents 1 Training of tinsmiths 2 Raw material 3 Tinsmithing Tools 4 History of Tinsmithing

The tinsmith, or whitesmith, learned his trade, like many other artisans, by serving an apprenticeship of 4 to 6 years with a master tinsmith. He learned first to make cake stamps (cookie cutters), pill boxes and other simple items. Next, he formed objects such as milk pails, basins, cake and pie pans. Later he tackled more complicated pieces such as chandeliers and crooked-spout coffee pots.

After his apprenticeship was completed, he then became a journeyman, not yet being a master smith employing others. Many young tinsmiths took to the road as peddlers or tinkers in an effort to save enough money to open a shop in town.

Main article: Tinplate

Tinplate consists of sheet iron coated with tin and then run through rollers. This process was first discovered in the 16th century, but was hardly introduced to England until about the 1720s. Previously Great Britain had imported most tinplate from Hamburg.

Pure tin is an expensive and soft metal and it is not practical to use it alone. However it could be alloyed with lead to make pewter or copper to produce bronze. Today's tinplate is mild steel electroplated with tin. Its non-rusting qualities make it an invaluable coating. However, its quality depends on the iron or steel being free from rust and the surface tin an unbroken coating. When you see rust on a piece of tinware it is because the tin coating has worn away or been cut in the metal. The respective properties of the metals mean that corrosion once started is likely to be rapid.

The simple shapes made by the tinsmith, required only a few basic tools. In addition to the big shears anchored in a hole in his bench, he used hand snips and nippers for cutting. The tin was flattened on an anvil made of a block of steel and straight and curved anvils (stakes) were used to turn and roll the edges of the tin. Solder was used to join the pieces together and a soldering iron and fire pot were needed to do this.

Tinwares were being produced in London by the 1630s, being known as Crooked Lane Wares (from the street where they were made).^[1] The Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers were incorporated as a separate London Livery Company in 1670. However, tinplate workers were widespread.

The tinsmith has been plying his trade in America since 1720. The British Iron Act of 1750 prohibited (amongst other things) the erection of new rolling mills, which prevented the erection of new tinplate works in America until after the American Revolution.

Colonial tinsmiths used tinplate, wire, solder, and a few simple tools to produce their wares. When tinplate was finally produced in America in the early 1800's the products of the tinsmith became more widely available. They in turn saw an increase in demand and a need to speed up production. This brought about the development of many ingenious hand powered machines which sped up production and helped the tinsmith meet the demands for his products. The goods were "brought to market" by peddlers who are aliens traveling from village to village.

1. ^ W. Minchinton, The British tinplate industry: a history (clarendon Press, Oxford,1957), 3.

Metalworking:
Metalworking smiths:	Smiths | Blacksmith | Coppersmith | Goldsmith | Gunsmith | Locksmith | Pewtersmith | Silversmith | Bladesmith | Tinsmith | Whitesmith
Metalworking tools:	Anvil | Forge | Forging | Fuller | Hardy hole | Hardy tools | Pritchel | Slack tub | Steam hammer | Swage block | Trip hammer
Metalworking topics:	Casting | CNC | Cutting tools | Drilling and threading | Fabrication | Finishing | Grinding | Jewellery | Lathe (tool) | Machining | Machine tooling | Measuring | Metalworking | Hand tools | Metallurgy | Milling | Occupations | Press tools | Smithing | Terminology | Welding