The tools listed may be bought at any good hardware store or ordered from the catalogues of any of the large mail order houses (except the Wooden Roofing Folder and the Forming Mallet). While the folder is not absolutely necessary for folding up angles in the tin, it is much better to have one to make the numerous angles employed in tin work than to attempt folding by hand, and particularly when long angles are to be made for lanterns, towers, automobile chassis and the like. In fact, it is in almost constant use.
The wooden roofing folder is not carried in stock by hardware and mail order houses, but it may be ordered from a dealer in tin-smiths’ or sheet metal workers’ tools. Any good tinner or plumber will tell you where to order one.
The forming mallet is easily made from a block of maple or a piece of broom handle as described under Shop Appliances.
It is taken for granted that such simple tools as rulers and pencils are at hand.
List of Tools for Making the Simpler Tin Can Toys and Decorative Objects
| 1 soldering copper, weight 1 lb. (1 lb. actual weight of copper end) | $ .75 |
| 1 wooden handle for copper | .10 |
| 1 pair tinners’ shears, 8 or 10 inch | .85 |
| 1 pair flat-nose pliers, 4 inch | .45 |
| 1 pair round-nose pliers, 4 inch | .45 |
| 1 pair dividers, 6 inch | 1.25 |
| 1 small riveting or tack hammer | .40 |
| 1 half round file, smooth milled cut, 8 to 10 inch | .20 |
| 1 wooden mallet, 3 inch face | .25 |
| 1 box of soldering paste | .25 |
| 1 bar of soft solder | 1.25 |
| 2 lbs. soft solder wire | 1.20 |
| 1 wooden forming mallet (home made) | |
| 1 wooden roofing folder (optional) | 4.50 |
| (Roofing folder may be obtained only from dealer in tinners’ tools.) | |
| 1 vise (3 inch jaws) | $3.50 to 5.00 |
| 1 try square, 6 inch | .65 |
Materials Needed Aside from the Cans.—Galvanized wire, 10 or 15 feet each of the following diameters: ⅟₁₆, ⅛, ³⁄₁₆, ¼ (if impossible to obtain all these diameters, get ⅛ inch or larger). Wire nails, about ½ lb. each of the following sizes: 2d, 3d, 4d, 6d, 8d, 10d, 20d (d is the abbreviation for penny). Tinned rivets, several dozen of the smallest size (a box containing one gross is about as cheap as six dozen). Can of lye or 2 pounds of washing soda. For heating the soldering copper, a heater of some kind, such as a blue flame kerosene stove, gas furnace or common one-burner gas stove, charcoal furnace, or gasoline plumbers’ torch with attachments for holding copper. A large can or pail, or an old wash boiler for holding the hot lye solution.
Supplementary Tool List.—The tools named in this list will be found very convenient for making the more advanced models, particularly the hand drill and the twist drills which are used with the hand drill. The supplementary tools are by no means necessary for making the tin can toys, but if one can afford to get them, they will be found extremely convenient. However, almost any of the models may be made with the tools listed on [page 29], if one is sufficiently skillful in the use of them. The more work one does with tools the fewer tools one needs if the tools are intelligently used.
The tools in both lists should be purchased, if possible, as they are all tools commonly used in metal working shops. Purchase the tools listed on [page 29] first and go as far as possible with them, and then purchase as many of the supplementary tools as possible when you need them.