Stovetop Kettle: a Square Copper Kettle (Hasluck, 1907)

For a body 9 x 9 x 3 5/8 in, cut two ends 9 1/2 x 4 in and two sides 9 1/4 x 4 in, notched for box seams at the corners (Figs. 190-191), with allowances to fold at top and bottom. Punch the spout hole in the front. Cut the bottom 9 1/2 in square, notched for a 1/4 in edge. Set out the top as a 10 1/2 in square with curved allowances for hollowing and a 4 in circle for the cover hole (Fig. 193); set out the spout from the elevation (Fig. 192), the cover and its cone-shaped rim (Figs. 194-195).

Thin the long edges by hammering. Set in the throat with a stretching hammer on a beak iron, bend the spout round until the edges overlap, bind it with wire, lay spelter and borax along the inside of the seam and braze it; then close and braze the under seam. Fill it with lead and bend the neck with a round-faced hammer on the hollowing block; file off spare spelter and smooth it. Run out the lead, throw off a seating round the large end, trim the top with snips and tin the inside.

Fold the top edges square, the front and back outwards and the sides likewise; fold the bottom edges right over inwards to take the bottom (Fig. 188). Hook each side's end over the front's and work the corner seam on a straight-edged tool (Figs. 198-199). Turn up the bottom's 1/4 in edge, push it edge-down into the bottom folds, and solder the bottom and seams.

Hollow the top on the block: sink the four sides a little, hollow the corners with a bullet-faced hammer, flatten each side along the block edge, even the shoulder and smooth it all over. Pare the edges, mark the flange with an edging machine, set it down square with a hatchet stake and mallet, and take up an edge to fit over the body. Cut the cover hole with circular snips and fit a narrow wired rim, worked over inside. Make the cover: solder its cone rim to fit the wired rim, throw off a flange, hollow the cover disc and seam it on, and fix the knob.

Cut two handle uprights from stout brass or copper band (Fig. 196), drill them for rivets and for the spindle that carries the wooden handle, and bend them to shape. Rivet them to the top and solder over the rivet heads inside. Pene the top down onto the body and solder along each edge. Push the spout through its hole from inside until its large end butts against the front, and solder it strongly from inside.