Hand-Making an Aluminum Dustpan

Maybe I’m weird (OK, I know I’m weird), but I was absolutely enthralled by this two-part (so far) Ron Covell video. The skills on display here are inspiring.

In the videos, Ron builds a hammer form for fabricating a gorgeous aluminum dustpan. The project is a collaboration between Ron and This Old Tony. Ron is making the pan and Tony will make the handle. Ron has one more video in the series and then Tony will do a video on making the handle.

There are some great tips in here, like annealing (softening) aluminum by using black permanent marker to cover the metal and then burning it off with a propane torch. The ink burns off at the temperature needed for annealing to happen. And using bar soap on a disk sander and the workpiece to act as a lubricant and to keep the disk from getting loaded up with aluminum filings (aka swarf).