Metal spinning - Crawshaw

Sheet metal, which is now pressed and stamped into a great variety of forms for commercial uses, was, up to a few years ago, either hammered or spun into the desired shapes by a comparatively few artisans who had learned the art of cold-metal working in Europe. Like so many other of the old-time crafts, the one of metal spinning has partially come into disuse because of commercial competition and the failure of the younger generation of men to familiarize themselves with the handwork of their fathers. In the United States, it is only in the larger cities that one occasionally finds an artisan who does metal spinning; when such a person is found, he is usually occupied in producing forms out of thin metal that require great care in making or are difficult to produce with a stamp or press. Sometimes, however, where only a comparatively few articles of any particular shape are desired, they are spun instead of stamped out, to save the cost of dies.

It is believed in some quarters, particularly among metal spinners, that pressing and stamping metal can never fully take the place of spinning it. It is impossible to press or stamp some forms except as they are produced in parts and these parts soldered, brazed or riveted together. This is manifestly undesirable for many kinds of work.

The fact that modern commercial tendencies are in the direction of abolishing metal spinning wherever possible does not mean that large sheet-metal working establishments do not employ metal spinners; it does mean, however, that these men are called upon to do the hardest kind of spinning without much possibility of learning how to do the simpler forms of this work.

It is for the double purpose, therefore, of making it possible for amateurs to be helped in me\a spinning and to renew this craft where metal spinning is really more serviceable than its substitutes, that this book is written.

From the standpoint of the craftsman, metal spinning is a craft which is highly desirable of attainment and which may replace beaten-metal work in some cases, or, in many cases be used in connection with it. The principal field of the metal spinner, however, is the production of forms for plated ware. Practically all silver plate has white metal, which has been pressed or spun into shape, as a base. There are also many forms used in connection with manufactured articles, notably electric fixtures, which can be, and many times are, spun with greater certainty of good results than could be possible if other methods are used.

For those who take up this work for the first time, it is suggested that forms be undertaken after the order of those described in the following chapters and that copper well annealed be used as the practice metal.