I’m obviously something of a visionary. Well, when I say visionary, I mean I’ve found another blog post about stainless steel pocket cups after I’d touted a return to the vest-pocket ashtray.

Anyway, the above fella somehow got somebody at Boing Boing all excited because he’d made his own - wait for it - stainless steel pocket protector.

“The first thing I noticed when I met Dan is that he was wearing a aluminum stainless steel pocket protector. He said he made it himself after realizing that he was tearing through at least one plastic pocket protector a week. The side seams are sewn with copper wire and coated with cellophane tape so it doesn’t snag his shirt. I think it’s a real beaut.”

Well I suggest popping round to a see a seasoned sheet metal place that knows how to weld stainless steel if you’re having to cover the seams with sellotape. I also expect you’d come across quite a few other handy contraptions they may have rustled together whilst there’s a lull.

Anybody else care to share some little project they’ve completed to make their life easier round the workshop?

Following on from the same lady who gave us the antique sheet metal tools, we also have the list of sheetmetal fabrication books dating from as early as 1907.

Here’s the listing of the books as it was provided to me in the email:

Antique books

1. sheet metal

a) Sheet Metal Work; Neubecker; approx 1912; fair cond.; sections include: tools and methods of obtaining patters, workshop problems, skylights, roofing, cornice work, index. 263pgs

b) [Practical] Exhaust and Blow Piping, a treatise on the planning and installing of fan-piping in all its branches; W. H. Hayes; 3rd ed. 1922 [copyright 1918]; The Sheet Metal Publication Company, New York; excellent cond.; chapters include: connecting dust separator and feeder, constructing the feeder nozzle and switch, designs for hoods and sweepers…; 200pgs

c) Sales catalogue for roofers and sheet metal workers; LD Berger, merchant and manufacturer, tinners’ and roofers’ supplies, 59 2nd st. Philadelphia; 1914; poor to fair cond; includes pictures, descriptions, and pricing for a wide variety of tools and sheet metal products, cornices; 255pgs

d) Warm Air Heating and Winter Air Conditioning; The Lennox Furnace Company; 1948; good to excellent cond.; chapters: different types of heating systems describedk designing a gravity warm air heating system, industrial and commercial wramair installations; good to excellent cond; 285pgs

e) Practical Sheet Metal Work and Demonstrated Patterns; Volume III – skylights; a comprehensive treatise in several volumes on shop and outside practice and pattern drafting; 1911; good cond; David Williams Company, New York; chapters: Making flat skylights; a novel method of building a double pitch skylight with gable ends; pattern for a valley bar, a turret skylight, details of a lifting sash…; 114pgs

f) Practical Sheet Metal Work and Demonstrated Patterns; Volume V – Cornice Patterns; a comprehensive treatise in several volumes on shop and outside practice and pattern drafting; 1911; good cond.; David Williams Company, New York; Chapters: Pattern for a Head to fill the end of a cornice cut off obliquely, pattern for mullion intersecting gable mold; pediment chart, pattern for a miter a different angles, pattern for bottom on bay window…; 112pgs.

g) The New Metal Worker Pattern Book, a treatise on the principles and practice of pattern curring as applied to sheet metal work; Geo W. Kittredge, David Williams Co. New York; 1907 [copyright 1896]; fair to poor condition; contents: terms and definintions, drawing instruments and materials, linear drawing, geometrical problems, principles of pattern cutting, pattern problems; 421pgs.

h) Standard Practice in Sheet Metal Work; National Association Sheet Metal Contractors, a reference book compiled for the use of architects, engineers, sheet metal contractors, installers of warm aair heating systems, and vocational training schools; by the trade development committee of the national association of sheet metal contractors of the U.S.; 1929; very good condition; Sections: roofing, gutters, skylights and ventilators, metal cornices, metal ceilings, blow pipe and exhaust systems…; 767pgs.

I don’t have any pictures of these, but I suppose some could be arranged if need be. I’d appreciate anybody who has any knowledge or interest in these to get in touch and I’ll pass your information on.

Three or so weeks ago I was contacted by a lady who’d inherited her grandfather’s entire set of sheet metal tools and has had them in her garage since he passed away 30 years ago. She’s not only wondering what’s what, but would also like to determine how much, if anything, they’re worth. She could very well be prepared to donate all or part of the collection to a museum if somebody was interested.

I’ve uploaded all the tool pictures to a flickr account and there’s 70 pictures (by my bad mathematic reckoning) of all manner of old school sheet metal tools including snips, pliers, calipers, saws, drills, tapes, set squares and a host of other bits and bobs - in fact, you can check the entire sheet metal tool collection out here.

If anybody knows exactly which certain tools are which and/or what they may be worth, please feel free to leave a comment under any of the corresponding photos.

Now I’m not on any kind of cut and nor are we necessarily trying to sell them off. We’d just like to get as much information on the collection as possible.

I also have the lady’s email address for anybody who’d like to get in touch with her personally.

Thanks.

Unlike a decent wine, Google’s blog search doesn’t seem to improve with age. Well not when you look for something sheet metal related that is.

It doesn’t bother me so much that it displays any sheet metal site that’s come within a country mile of an RSS feed, but call it an RSS feed search as opposed to a blog search. I know it’s not quite as snazzy, but it would at least say on the tin what’s inside it.

Anyway, I will give it the thumbs up for throwing welding web into the fray. Probably a devilishly useful site for welding fans.

Are you asking whether some guy wearing roller blades has an angle grinder duct taped to his ankle?

Well he has.

It’s such a dumb idea that even Wile Coyote never even thought of it.

Everybody knows you’d fly along at a rare old rate of knots if you strapped a couple of sanding belts to your slippers.