Has anyone tried burning and japanning Altoids tins? Any other suggestions for similar size tins? I need a few for carrying char cloth, a butane cigarette lighter (for emergency use) etc.

They work great. Just toss them into a fire, burn off the outside stuff, and you are good to go!!! ps...don't let them get toooo hot though or they will warp!!!

I have burned the finish off a few and than steel wooled them, finished with a light coat of bee's wax.They turned out great and I haven't had any problems with rust.

I've had problems with some of the newer tins. The printing doesn't burn off! I've even got some of the cans red hot.
Had to resort to a wire brush and steelwool.

quote:

Originally posted by Sage Rider:
They work great. Just toss them into a fire, burn off the outside stuff, and you are good to go!!! ps...don't let them get toooo hot though or they will warp!!!

Right. That is just how the real mountain men did it.

I also burned off the paint in a fire and rubbed them down with steel wool. I use them to carry premeasured shot charges and wads / cards for my fowler. Best regards. Rockerhound

I use both the big ones and the "tiny tins" that they used to sell. The new ones with the lettering embossed into the metal I have never used. There are other tins available that work well.
I like the little tins to carry my prelubed patches in. The big ones I use for many things including char cloth.

Steve

The ones with the embossed lettering hammer out into a nice domed lid.

I have a good supply of the little tins that once contained percussion caps and musket caps. Some are quite old having been purchased back in the 1960s. I use them for lubed patches, wads, etc. The oldest ones are bare tin with a paper label on the lid and these are ultra easy to clean off. The newer ones are painted and would require more effort to clean.

Ah, the Alt-noids are among us...

Woodman, what form or bowl did you use to shape the lid into a dome? I've got a small number of those tins myself. Shoot sharp, Mike

Yes, I've got a couple of them inside each of my shooting bags to hold various items. You can buy just the tins without anything painted on them or if you don't like the new embossing that Altoids stamps on there you can buy a tin of "Fisherman's Friend" cough drops which come in the same flat tins. Here's a link to a place where you can buy those kind of tins;
http://www.papermart.com/Produ...tGroupID=19037#23271

quote:

Originally posted by MikeJ:
Has anyone tried burning and japanning Altoids tins? Any other suggestions for similar size tins? I need a few for carrying char cloth, a butane cigarette lighter (for emergency use) etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Nesbitt:
Ah, the Alt-noids are among us...

Woodman, what form or bowl did you use to shape the lid into a dome? I've got a small number of those tins myself. Shoot sharp, Mike

Used a sand bag to hammer on to dome then hammered on anvil lightly to smooth.

quote:

Originally posted by bull3540:
Here's a link to a place where you can buy those kind of tins;
http://www.papermart.com/Produ...tGroupID=19037#23271

Excellent website, thanks for posting the link...

quote:

Used a sand bag to hammer on to dome then hammered on anvil lightly to smooth.

Woodman, I'll try it!! Thanks and shoot sharp, Mike

You can also find tin boxes at artbeads.com under Crafts and Accessories. Look for Tin Boxes.

http://www.hotdiptin.com/tinware/tobacco.html

I really like Shay's tinsmithing. He uses actual hot dipped tin, something that Ive not seen since way back when Chuck Baker took me on as an apprentice for one summer. The Hot Dipped, looks much different than electroplated tin, or in the case of these altioids boxes, raw steel or sometimes even, dare I say it, All-you-minimum.

And well, buy buying from Shay, you support a real working 18th Century Tinsmith.

Rather than burning them, why not sand the paint off and re-paint them? In my opinion, this is the better option. For one thing, they don't rust as bad. Rather than having a mess, you can have a nicly painted tin, say blue or white. On one, I left the outer red paint and just sanded the center where all the writing was at. Just had to get rid of "Altoids" and re-painted that inside and bottom white. They look nice and stay nice. They make nice patch containers or if using a shotgun, wad containers.

The only time I'd consider burning one is if I was going to use it over and over to make char cloth in. In that case, throwing it into the fire makes perfict sence.

Load fast and aim slow.

I have hammered lots of these. No bag needed, just start around the edges and work your way in, it domes on it's own.

Just used a auto body hammer by the way, but a ball peen would work as well.







Added almost a 1/4" of space, allowing for a bigger piece of flint.

thanks for the picture.

Rich

PS: to the person who injected the PC issue, I hope you never have a heart condition or diabetes. If you do, please enlighten the rest of us with the frontier medicines you substitute.

Not to Sharpshoot ya, but ever use a wagon with an internal combustion engine to arrive at a Rendevous, or a telephone to call up your pards?