# How to make an Oil Can? Like Kayes, Braimes, etc



## Rhyolith (26 Apr 2019)

Does anyone know how the old oil cans were made? 

I assume they are made from multiple pressed plates, but its not clear how these were attached together. The old kayes ones in particular look far to neat to be any method of welding or brazing I am aware of.


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## AndyT (26 Apr 2019)

I would also like to know!
I'd add a guess to your list and suggest that they used proper tinplate and soft solder. And that their staff were good at painting just enough flux on and adding just enough solder to disappear inside the joint.

I've seen tooling for cutting similar shapes out of tinplate in museums, using a flypress. Different products but possibly a similar technique.

(In the locksmith's shop at the Black Country museum and at the Coffin Works in Birmingham - both well worth a visit.)


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## custard (26 Apr 2019)

Who wouldn't be smitten by this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf6-pmM6zdU


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## CHJ (26 Apr 2019)

I was taught to make similar item constructs by ensuring the pressed out or folded parts were a sliding fit and paint the join area of one piece with solder paste.
(ground up solder and flux) 

Heating the join area then caused the solder to bond with no visible excess fillet.


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## Rhyolith (27 Apr 2019)

I really like the kayes oil cans and am actually quite surprised no one has tried to make any to the same standard since.


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## Rhyolith (27 Apr 2019)

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is this solder?


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## Jamesc (27 Apr 2019)

I have quite a collection of Kayes oil cans of various forms (well over 50). Ans some show no evidence of solder whilst others have it splodged all over the place. They were definately soft soldered together. As has been suggested the majority were made by people who knew exactly what they were doing and how much colder and flux to use, others were clearly made by the apprentice.

With reagards the manufacturing process I can't find much. A member of the Kaye family put this website together Kayes. There is also reference that the firm was taken over by ASA Abaloy Abaloy history page. 
If anyone has any further information I would be very interested as (yes I admit it) I am a collector.

James


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## Rhyolith (29 Apr 2019)

Thanks for that James, didn’t know about those sites. I would be interested to see some pics of your collection. 

What I am actually thinking is to try and make one of these. It seems like it would be easy to do, but hard to do well.


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## TFrench (29 Apr 2019)

Looks pretty complex to me, and I bash tin for a living :lol:


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## Dave Moore (30 Apr 2019)

Hi,
For the marking out of an oil can see if in the library ‘The Geometry of Sheetmetal Work’


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## nabs (1 May 2019)

this thread made me dig out my Braime's oil can,

I was surprised to find out that Braime (apparently founded 1888 making sheet steel pressing) are still trading and doing metal pressings (but not oil cans, so far as I can tell).

According to this history nothing much happened between 1888 and 1971 apart from in 1909 when they invented the "seamless steel bucket" 
https://go4b.co.uk/braime-company-history#.XMniwxPYpjt

..this site Kayes came up with the "seamless oil can" though.

https://tskayeandsons.weebly.com/and-now.html

Dare I ask which of Kaye and Braime made the best oil cans?
https://go4b.co.uk/braime-company-history#.XMniwxPYpjt


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