Making a copper ladle with vintage hand tools

This video shows the process of making a copper ladle with traditional methods and vintage tools. This ladle has a forged steel handle. The copper bowl is fixed to the handle using two copper rivets. Tools used include vintage hacksaw, drill press and hand drill plus antique bellows and anvil. There is no talking or music in this video, just the sound of the tools.

John Wills, The Copper Elf, is a brazier-tinman making cookware and other household metal goods for reenactors, museums and TV & film as well as the general public. He also teaches blacksmithing and tinsmithing at Stanwick Lakes in Northamptonshire.

0:00 Marking out the copper
0:21 Cutting out the bowl (the big snips!)
0:37 Filing and smoothing the edges
1:35 Sinking the bowl
2:28 Planishing the bowl
3:30 Cutting the handle
4:15 Lighting the forge and pumping bellows
5:29 Forge up to heat with bellows
5:42 Forging out the handle
8:24 Forging a rat tail
8:45 Forging the handle loop
9:42 Setting down the handle for rivets
10:17 Drilling rivet holes in the handle
10:43 Drilling rivet holes in the bowl
11:06 Riveting the pieces together
12:12 The finished ladle