The Bucyrus Copper Kettle Works

the year was 1874 ulysses s grant was president and at a small shop at 119 South Walnut Street craftsmen began making copper kettles and while the world has changed inside these walls the tradition continues copper kettles been made in this location for over 140 years [Music] it all started in 1874 the reason it started was apple butter everyone was making it and that required a copper kettle but 1880 was a bad year for apples so they weren't getting orders for apple butter kettles so they diversified started making Swiss cheese kettles candy kettles and timpani kettle drums for orchestras today in the same little shop in new Syrus Ohio they're still making kettles and they're still producing handmade timpani shells these are destined for the Adams drum company in Holland the design is based on a drum manufactured in Dresden Germany in the 1880s but ours are unique because we can make them an even thickness all the way through and we hammer them the even thickness and hammer hardened copper results in the unique signature sound prized by symphonies around the globe they are as I understand the only handmade timpani in the world if that sounds expensive it is a Finnish drum starts at around 25,000 dollars but only a fraction of that money finds its way back to Bucyrus [Music] whether it's drums or kettles virtually everything is made in the shop we make our own handles and bales making a handle to the blacksmithing operation hammers are used to shape the copper but they do more than that the hammer strikes actually harden or temper the metal it's the only way copper can be strengthened from 1874 until 1912 everything with 100% hand done the power hammers go down around 1912 it came out of Detroit they're used in the automobile industry for sinking fenders and body parts for cars the magic is in the transformation how a flat sheet of metal is hand fashioned into the graceful curves of a Toledo Kevin [Music] let's cut it out using a powers here and then we take it into the next room we fold it in half wrap it around a stake and we cut not cos in it Bend every other tab up and that will form what we call a clamp will overlap the seen hammer the clamps down and that will hold it in place until we braise it all seems get treated with a mixture of granulated brass borax and water the seam is placed over a low flame to dry the water and pull the brass through the seam then things really heat up then we will put it on the the fuel oil Forge which is a fuel oil and air mixture Forge and that will heat the seam to a red hot melt the brass through the seam I get done with that we will grind the excess brass off and Hammer the scene after the seams are all hammered it goes into the sulfuric acid tank and that will clean all of the discoloration off from the brazing any flux it's left on there that cleans that off we will bring it out and rinse all this the acid off dry it over a low heat so that it doesn't tarnish and then it's ready to plant and the planning is hammering the kettle with amber the entire kettle and that hardens and brightens the copper upstairs the lip of the kettle is prepared for the iron reinforcement rod the rod is fed into a machine that bends it into a circle it's hammered to close the circle and through the rod then it's added to the kettle this is the handle I made on the Florida downstairs earlier and we're going to attach to the candy kettle with copper rivets for nearly 150 years little has changed within these walls the sound of the hammers the heat from the fires and the hands of men shaping metal generations of workers have come and gone I started started to work here in June of 1976 I didn't know anything about working copper Rex has worked here about 29 years and we can do just about everything in the shop he did a nice job a good guy coppersmiths are aware and Wendling brief was Steve and Bryce it was time to share their combined 70 years of experience with a new employee a young man named Sam it's kind of a hard condition to be and you just try to to watch and keep the person that's trying to learn try to show them what you can and hopefully their mind is in the same area that yours is fever X will show me then I just have to check out as I go no real type of training for it it's come along real well as far as I know there there isn't anybody in the imagines they could still do in top towards the way we do I guess we're kind of feel like dinosaurs lots of the line that's still doing the work that we do we're keeping the history going [Music] if you love our Ohio television then you'll enjoy being an our Ohio supporter for just $25 you can enjoy our Ohio magazine support Ohio food and farms and stay connected to what's happening in your community visit support our Ohio org [Music]

Channel: Our Ohio

Views: 79,878

Rating: 4.9099436 out of 5

Keywords: Bucyrus, Ohio

Id: aQB6NJFyBq8

Length: 7min 59sec (479 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 26 2017