There are many shapes and sizes of tin cans and boxes as every one knows; round, square, elliptical, tall, short, or flat. A surprising number of attractive shapes and sizes may be collected in a short time in any community. Housewives are only too glad to find some one to use them.

Cans that are well rinsed with hot water as soon as the contents are removed are not at all objectionable to work with; but cans that have not been rinsed out, or that have been thrown out and exposed to the weather are very unpleasant objects, and besides, a rusty can is very difficult to solder. It is a simple matter to rinse or scald out a can as soon as the contents are removed.

Tomato, corn, pea and condensed milk cans are the most plentiful. Coffee, tea, cocoa, jam, mackerel and sardine cans, olive and cooking oil cans, baking powder and spice cans are all useful for making the things described in this book and for many more besides. Biscuit boxes, tobacco boxes, cold cream, ointment, and the small adhesive tape boxes all contain possibilities. The screw tops of olive oil and cooking oil cans, and bottle caps should be collected for this work. Jelly glass lids, in fact, all shallow tin lids are useful. Syrup and molasses cans with separate lids, that push into place are worth saving, especially the lids. Certain containers of dry material are now largely made of pasteboard with tin tops, lids and bottoms. The tin parts of these containers are often of an attractive shape. The large round gallon cans used by hotels and restaurants are particularly useful, and a sizable piece of tin may be obtained from the sides of the can and the bottoms may be used for large candlestick saucers and many other things. Large square tin boxes used to contain 100 pounds of cocoa may be obtained from some restaurants. These are made of heavy tin and five large sheets may be cut from the bottom and sides. Considerably over $1 would have to be paid for the same amount of tin.

Preparing Cans for the Work.—Cans that have contained paint, stove-blacking, heavy oils or greases, or cans that have been standing about with part of the contents exposed to the air may be thoroughly cleaned of all foreign matter by the hot lye bath. This bath is made up by adding two heaping tablespoonfuls of lye or washing soda to the gallon of boiling water. Cans boiled up in this solution for a few minutes will be cleaned of all paint, paper labels, etc. Keep the hands out of the solution and do not allow any of it to come in contact with the clothes. Lift the work out of it with a wire hook and rinse off the lye with hot water; stand the cans bottom up so that they will drain out without any water remaining in them. The lye solution may be used for a number of times and then may be poured down the sink, as lye is an excellent thing for drain pipes. Do not leave a lye bath in the shop without covering it tightly when not in use, as the fumes from it are sure to rust every tool in the place.

Coffee, tea, cocoa, talcum and other cans that have contained dry material need not be put in the lye bath until ready to paint, unless the labels are too much in the way for soldering. Small boxes such as contain tobacco are almost covered with a sort of varnished paint. This may be scraped away where the box is to be soldered, but if much soldering is to be done the whole box should be boiled up in the lye bath until all the paint is removed. Sometimes the lye softens the paint but does not entirely remove it. More lye may be added to the bath and the work left in it awhile longer, or the work may be removed from the bath and the softened paint scrubbed away with a scrubbing brush and plenty of clean water. After being used several times, the bath will become too muddy and weak for further use and then a fresh one should be made, as the lye is inexpensive.

For good work, it is necessary that the cans be thoroughly clean.

Cutting Into and Opening Out Cans and Boxes.—There is one very easy way to cut into and open out a can or box. To make wheels, small trays and other things, a good part of the sides of the can must be cut away leaving a small portion of the sides attached to the bottom. The part that is cut away may be flattened out and used to make various things. As most of the cans used are cut down to various dimensions in this manner, either to use the bottom with part of the sides, or to obtain flat sheets of tin, it will be well to consider the easiest way of doing it.

First, determine how much of the bottom portion of the can is to be left intact. Then using a pair of dividers opened to this dimension, make a line parallel with the base of the can and completely around it. To do this, hold the can down to the bench with the left hand so that it may be turned against the divider points as shown in Plate IV, a. Hold the dividers firmly down to the bench and against the can so that the uppermost point is held at exactly the same height from the bench during the turning or marking, while turning the can against the point to mark it.

Then using a pair of straight metal shears, cut down each side of the seam or joint in the side of the can to within one-half inch of the horizontal line you have marked with the dividers (see Plate IV, b).

Bend out the narrow strip containing the seam and cut it off with the shears. This will give you an open slot in the side of the can in which the shears may be easily introduced to cut horizontally around it.

Do not try to cut directly on the line marked around the can with the dividers but begin cutting about half an inch above this line and cut completely around the can until you have cut off the whole top part of it. After you have cut away the larger portion of the metal, the narrow strip remaining above the line may be easily cut away as it curls up out of the way as it is cut by the shears.

The can should be held in the left hand with the open end or top toward you (see Plate IV, c). Be sure you hold the can in this manner. With the tin snips held in the right hand, start cutting toward the left hand always when cutting around a can or box. Bend the tin out of the way as you cut. You will find that it is impossible to cut in a straight line or to make a continuous unbroken cut while cutting away a large portion of the can. But, after the larger piece is out of the way, the narrow strip remaining above the line may be easily cut away if you cut toward your left hand and hold the open end of the can toward you. It is impossible to cut a straight line around a cylindrical form with a pair of straight shears unless the shears cut from right to left and that part of the metal which is cut away is nearest the operator.

The beginner will perhaps find it easier to handle the cans if a pair of old thin kid gloves are worn.

If one can afford it, the pair of double cutting shears such as are listed in the supplementary tools on page 31 are excellent things to have for opening and cutting around cans. These shears have three blades, and one blade cutting between two fixed blades cuts away a narrow strip of tin as the shears are worked along in such a manner that a straight line may be followed around a can at the first cutting. The point of the single blade may be punched into the side of a can and the cut started around the can at any point. If many cans are to be cut down, these double cutting shears will save much time and trouble. However, the straight shears will answer well enough, if the above directions are carefully followed.

Be sure to try not to cut to the line the first time you cut around a can. Cut away the larger part first and then cut to the line when there is only a narrow strip to cut away. Do not mind if the first piece cut away looks very rough and jagged. It may be a little difficult at first, but patience and practice will soon make it quite easy to cut open a can in this manner, using a pair of ordinary straight shears.

Cut away the top of the can or the rolled edge adhering to that part of the can which is cut away; trim away all jagged edges; place flat on the bench or anvil and flatten out the tin with light blows of a wooden mallet. Lay this tin aside until needed.

I find it convenient to cut away the top or rolled edge of large round cans before cutting around them near the bottom, as then it is easy to bend the comparatively large sheet of tin out of the way of the shears as I cut around the can at the bottom. A large pair of shears is very convenient for opening large cans, but small ones will do if intelligently used.

When cutting metal with a pair of shears, always remember that the shears cut more powerfully near the joint or bolt, particularly when cutting through a folded seam or soldered joint. Keep the shears well oiled and have them sharpened by a competent mechanic when they become dull.

When cutting narrow strips of tin, be careful not to get the tin jammed between the shear blades so that the blades are forced apart sideways. Keep the bolt tightened so that the blades fit closely together.

One might suppose that cut or burned fingers would be plentiful in a large class of tin toy makers, but such has not proved to be the case. There have been surprisingly few accidents of this sort and none of them at all serious.

One soon learns how to handle tin so as to avoid rough or sharp edges and that a soldering copper is provided with an ample handle so that it may be safely and easily handled when hot.

Some of the students found that old kid gloves with parts of the fingers cut off afforded protection to hands that were not used to shop work.

A bottle of iodine was kept handy and such slight cuts that were encountered were immediately washed with cold water and iodine applied to the cut which was then lightly bandaged. This treatment proved most effective and no ill effects resulted.

A mixture of pure linseed oil and lime water may be obtained at any druggists and this is a very effective remedy for burns. The solution should be well shaken up and applied directly to the burn which should then be bandaged with bandages wet with the mixture.

Common brown laundry soap worked up into a thick lather is an excellent remedy for slight burns.

Care and patience used in handling the tin and the tools will leave very little use for the above remedies in the shop.

The various problems presented in this book of tin can toys should be worked out in the order in which they are presented as each one bears a definite relation to the others. Be sure to work out the simpler problems first—even if you have had considerable experience in other forms of metal working. A number of processes particularly adapted to working tin are used in making tin can toys.

While these processes are very simple, they are somewhat unlike those involved in copper working and jewelry making, though more closely allied to the commercial metal work of to-day.