Tinsmith 1865
Page 31
Co zrobiłeś – What have you done?
Cyna – tin
Czemu – why?
Człowieku – man
Daj spokój – Come on! (exclamation)
Dobranoc – Good Night
Dziękuję Ci – thank you
Głupi – stupid
Gówno – shit / refuse
Kochanie – honey, sweetheart
Kowal – smith
Kurczaki – chickens
Miłość – love
Mój Boże – My God
Mój najdroższy – my dearest
Mój syn – my son
Moja miłość, zawiodłem Cię – My love, I failed you
Moje serce – my heart
Może nie udać – you may not go
Nauczyciel – teacher, master
Nie – no
Nierosądny – foolish
Odpieprz się! – fuck off!
Ojciec – Father
On zostawił mnie – he left me
Oświadczyny – traditional engagement period before marriage
Pamiętasz – Do you remember
Pieprzyć go – fuck it
Pierdoła – asshole
Półgęsek – smoked goose breast
Polonia – Poland
Pośpiech – hurry
Prosić – please
Przekleństwo – damn, damnation
Siostra – sister
Święty piekło – holy hell
Szablas – saber, sword
Szlachta – nobility
Szczęśliwy – happy, lucky, good
Tak – yes
Tarka do gałka muszkatołowej – loosely translates to “grate the nutmeg” or nutmeg grater
Usługa – help
Wesołych Świąt – Merry Christmas
Wynoś się – get the hell out!
NORWEGIAN
Bestemor – Grandma
Honning – honey
Kjæreste – dearest
Kjære – dear
Klubb – a type of potato dumpling
A Trade Glossary & Terminology for Tinsmiths and Coppersmiths
Beading Machine: a bead may be applied to a piece of tin or copper ware to strengthen tall sides or floppy forms, but often it is used to create a bit of a design or pattern as well. The beading machine comes with a variety of “beads” that can be interchanged on one side and can create different types of beads/lines in the metal. The most common are the single, double, and triple bead.
Burin: like an awl, it is a short, stocky piece of iron or steel with a very pointy end for drawing on softer metal sheet or carving into harder metals with pressure.
Burnish: to polish or make flat.
Burr: pulling a metal edge out so it is ready for a seam. Typically a burr is at a right angle from a cookware pot, and is where a seam or fold is formed along a top or bottom. However, burr can also mean a place on a metal cut that is sharp and not smooth, causing problems during the building of a ware.
Burring Machine: a machine for tinsmithing and coppersmithing that creates a burr along the edge of a metal sheet. This speeds up the process of burring considerably, which is need for most seams in the trade.
Coppers: copper shapes hammered into different sizes and tips for getting tin solder into the corners and seams of cookware. The copper heads were usually attached to long iron handles that were tempered by wooden handholds. They were heated by being put into a hot coal brazier before use. Today modern tinners often use electric soldering irons for the same job.
Cross-Hatching: creating very light criss-crosses into a harder metal and then heating or pushing a softer metal on top. Similar to false damascening, it gives a rougher surface for the softer metal to cling to without actually having to go through the work of carving into the steel or iron.
Damascening: inlaying one metal into another without actually heating the two metals or melting them together. Usually a cut in the metal would be made with a slight angle or dovetail, so the softer metal inlayed inside the cut will get “stuck” inside the groove. Usually seen with gold, silver, or other soft metals being pounded into a harder metal like steel or iron or even bronze.
Encrusting: instead of laying a softer metal flush with a harder one when making a design, a smith would allow the softer metal to pile up on top, creating texture—but in reality it is simply another way to do a false damascening.
False Damascening: giving the impression of damascening, but the softer metal is actually laid on top of the hard metal, not inlaying it inside.
Flux: a substance needed on tin or copper so the tin solder runs along tin and copper plate and can seal seams, cracks, and repairs.
Gauge: the thickness measurement of a metal sheet.
Grooving Machine: When creating a crimp seam, or a seam where the metals are folded into each other to create a seam, the grooving machine will set down the metal around the folded seam all in one quick swipe.
Hot-Dip: traditional tinsmiths only had access to thin sheets of steel that were dipped in vats of melted tin (hence “hot dip”). Today the same tin sheets are usually electroplated, but you can sometimes see hot dipping done at tinsmith convergences.
Rosin: a type of flux used specifically for tin and copper, made from the resin of pine trees. Typically it was pulverized into a powder for ease of use.
Sal ammoniac: a soft, white mineral used in the tinning process to keep copper soldering irons clean.
Setting Down Machine: Once two pieces of metal are folded and joined properly, the two separate burrs or folds need to be compressed together. This is always done at first with a setting down hammer, but to create a very smooth finish, one then, after hammering, “sets down” the seam with the machine.
Snips: tinner’s scissors, meant for cutting metal. These come in myriad sizes.
Solder: tin put in bars or sticks that melt easily with heat for sealing seams and cracks. Sometimes it was bought as “shot” or small pebbles of tin (my children call solder “metal glue”).
Tinner’s Bench: a heavy wooden bench with shelves and rectangular spaces for a tinner’s stake plate, where the stakes are set for use in a shop.
Tinner’s Stakes: long, specially formed iron pieces meant to fit within the holes of a tinner’s bench stake plate (holder of stakes), which come in a variety of sizes and shapes and uses. Some look like elongated blacksmith anvils, while others have grooves for writing, and still others are for forming oftenmade tinware. The needlecase stake, for instance, was often uses for making needlecases.
Turning Machine: Before a piece is wired, typically a turning machine would half-curl and press open the end of a piece so it would be prepared for a wire to be applied to strengthen the ware. It generally prepares a tin or copper piece to have a wire put in. The turning machine is best used for round objects.
Wiring Machine: best for round objects, a wiring machine will set down metal around a wire, with the smith’s guidance, in order to finish a piece’s top, for instance, and strengthen it, as well as remove any sharp edges.
Bibliography
Barr, Roger. The American Frontier. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1996.
Bartlett, Richard A. The New Country: A Social History of the American Frontier 1776-1890. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.
Brady, Cyrus Townsend. The Sioux Indian Wars: From the Powder River to the Little Big Horn. New York: Indian Head Books, 1992.
Carmichael, Marcia C. Putting Down Roots: Gardening Insights. Madison WI: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2011.
Fife, Austin E. and Alta S. Fife. Cowboy and Western Songs: A Comprehensive Anthology. New York: Bramhall House, 1982.
Hasluck, Paul N. Tinplate Work. London: Cassel and Company Limited, 1907.
Hoover, Herbert T. The Yankton Sioux. New York: Chelsea House Publisher, 1998.
Hyslop, Stephen G. The Old West. Washington DC: National Geographic Society, 2015.
Kallen, Stuart A. Women of the American Frontier. Fa
rmington Hills MI: Lucent Books, 2004.
Kalman, Bobbie. 19th Century Clothing. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 1993.
Kalman, Bobbie. A Visual Dictionary of a Pioneer Community. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2008.
Kalman, Bobbie, and Lynda Hale. Pioneer Recipes. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2001.
Kalman, Bobbie. Food for the Settler. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 1982.
Kalman, Bobbie. Settler Sayings. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 1994.
Langum, David J. “Pioneer Justice on the Overland Trails.” Western Historical Quarterly Vol. 5 (1974): 421-439.
Lubetkin, John M. Jay Cooke’s Gamble: The Northern Pacific Railroad, the Sioux and the Panic of 1873. Oklahoma City: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.
Nadeau, Remi. Fort Laramie and the Sioux Indians. Engelwood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1967.
Neihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks. Albany NY: State University of New York Press, 1932.
Treur, Anton, Indian Nations of North America. Washington DC: National Geographic Society, 2010.
Treuer, Anton. The Indian Wars: Battles, Bloodshed and the Fight for Freedom on the American Frontier. Washington DC: National Geographic Partners, 2016.
The Flats Junction Series
Tinsmith 1865
Medicineman 1876
Widow 1881
Outcast 1883
Trader 1884
Stranger 1886
For more information,
visit www.flatsjunction.com.
To connect with Sara,
visit www.saradahmen.com.
Find her on Twitter at @saradahmenbooks,
on Facebook, or Instagram at @sara_dahmen.
To learn about Sara’s cookware line
inspired by her research for Flats Junction,
visit www.housecopper.com.