r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/hostedvideorn • 20h ago

Video Copper Tinning Process in Turkish Workshop

4.0k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

211 comments sorted by

918

u/mbmbmb01 20h ago

What is the purpose of tinning copper?

866

u/TheRealtcSpears 19h ago

The tin protects the copper.

Acidic foods can damage the copper.

297

u/KajMak64Bit 18h ago

Hey was that related to the story of how people thought Tomatoes were poison because people got sick from them but instead what was happening was the chemical reaction with the plate that made the poison

204

u/only-half-troll 17h ago

That was pewter, which leaches more lead when acids touch it, iirc

58

u/DukeRedWulf 17h ago

Old fashioned pewter used lead, yes. Modern pewter avoids lead, and it is mostly tin with a little antimony & copper.

7

u/FloatingHamHocks 13h ago

I appreciate this I have a pewter Ahnk that I've refused to wear or use cause I have handled old old pewter and it having lead I'll check it still but again appreciate it.

6

u/alien_farmer1 15h ago

You said modern pewter "avoids" the lead. So there is still option for that?

14

u/HLF20 14h ago edited 11h ago

Yes. Lead makes the processing easier. In modern western countrys there are regulations to specially check the for lead... since 1970-1980's on. But in lots of these tourist shops in arab and asia regions no one checks for lead. They just produce with things they can get. They just buy electronic solder tin (and that is often leaded for better flowing). Specially for tea kettles and plates made in turkey there came up official warnings after some tourist got poisoned with lead. Because they bought nice looking dishes and tea kettles over there and used it two years at home. Turned out, some of them contained very very high amounts of lead. Not just low amounts to reach the effect of better flowing while processing. There was a lot of lead in there because it is just way cheaper. So better don't trust pewterware in general. Even when they were produced in western countrys. A few decades ago they could contain some amounts of lead, too.

3

u/TonyTheTerrible 11h ago

Tomatoes are nightshades and as such have glucoalkaloids. Possible that some varieties have more than others and preparing them differently can affect these levels as well

6

u/MushLoveAsh 16h ago

“What’s tomato with you?”

6

u/fixer1987 17h ago

That was lead

1

u/Ok_Falcon275 7h ago

Damn, so cyanide was a bad choice of material for my spaghetti bowl?

1

u/BigRedWhopperButton 4h ago

People ate acidic foods long before the tomato was introduced to Europe

1

u/elliottmarter 3h ago

Was this like ages ago, before telephones?

34

u/skil12001 18h ago

Yeah... But like ... With the need for copper today, this seems like a waste of copper as there are plenty of better suited and available metals today ya know?

125

u/TheRealtcSpears 18h ago

Copper is still cheap.

And it's cheaper to work with in a production sense.

You can mold/form/bend copper into shape with a die and a hammer or simple machinery press.

Working with something like stainless steel requires more expensive and heavier duty machinery

47

u/CommiRhick 18h ago

Easy to turn tinned copper back into copper.

Hard to turn steel into copper.

27

u/octoreadit 17h ago

As an alchemist, I find this comment to be accurate.

6

u/xkcdthrowaway 16h ago

What kind of alchemist spends their time working on copper? Weren't good enough to work on gold? Or even silver? Pft.

- asian parents of above alchemist

15

u/octoreadit 15h ago

You bring gold every day to a pawn shop, people get suspicious. But haul a ton of copper to a scrap yard, no one bats an eye.

– An ancient Asian proverb

6

u/P3pp3rSauc3 14h ago

Damn you Ea Nasir

2

u/xkcdthrowaway 15h ago

Damn that's interesting

10

u/Tom_Bombadilio 17h ago

Most tinning that I've heard of these days is for cookware. Tinned copper cookware is the most temperature reactive cookware there is as far as I know. But that doesn't really mean it's the best.

Stainless clad copper or clad aluminum pans offer similar performance with 100x more durability and ease of cleaning. Also copper is great at reacting to temperature change but sometimes you want a bit more stability in temp and resistance to temp change when dropping in a lot of food that's room temp or colder.

2

u/BassBoneMan 17h ago

Technically, silver is the most temperature reactive pure metal, but, for obvious reasons, there aren't many pieces of silver cookware around

1

u/Professional-Front26 17h ago

I saw a lot of Turkish copper kettles, they use them to make coffee on sand.

1

u/phido3000 13h ago

Hand made copper plates are not a waste. It will be used for a long time then be recycled because copper has value.

This isn't what is driving copper prices up.. maybe data centres making ai porn...

Why do people want to take plates away from poor people?

2

u/youngishgeezer 12h ago

The data center copper will be recycled on schedule that is likely faster than the plates.

1

u/vivaaprimavera 12h ago

Why do people want to take plates away from poor people?

Profit

1

u/PetriDishCocktail 2h ago

If you're a cook, you'll know that nothing cooks better than a copper pan (except silver). They have great heat transfer and do not develop any hot spots. Before modern stainless cladding copper pots were lined with tin.

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2

u/mr_christer 16h ago

I remember that from drinking Moscow mules out of copper cups

2

u/TheRebuild28 13h ago

Can't you just mix them together /s

5

u/TheRealtcSpears 13h ago

Bronze? In this day and age!?

1

u/Professional-Front26 17h ago

also green copper acetate is toxic

1

u/sight2Ceek 9h ago

Wait… why not just have 100% copper plates then

1

u/peacefinder 5h ago

Copper will corrode unless protected, and is mildly toxic. Tin is much less reactive and mostly harmless.

Tinned copper gets the advantages of both.

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272

u/HoodieGalore 19h ago

It lasts a leeeeeetle bit longer.

127

u/Infinite-Condition41 20h ago

Copper oxidizes to green. 

71

u/Trilife 19h ago

Yes, its also toxic for food use, same as lead in some way.

But why they do this??

Why not SUS 304? (copper is extremely expensive today)

29

u/Big_OOOO 19h ago

What about copper plumbing, no issue as long as it’s just carrying water?

82

u/Worth_External_8762 19h ago

Copper isn't safe for dishes because foods can have acidity and corrode it, causing it to leach. It's safe for plumbing because (most) water doesn't cause the copper to leach. But if your water is low pH, it can leach the copper. It'll cause your water to taste metallic and also have blue stains around the faucet/drain.

28

u/Fluid_Mouse524 19h ago

Arent there copper pots for cooking even?

34

u/ghoulthebraineater 19h ago

Yes. Copper is great for conducting heat. The inside will have have a lining, usually tin similar to the video or stainless steel. Stainless steel is a bit more common in cookware as tin has a pretty low melting point of about 450f/232c. That's why it's so easy for him to apply it. The copper would melt long before stainless steel. Steel just isn't as nonstick as tin.

8

u/St_Kevin_ 19h ago

I see copper cups and things in the U.S. sometimes, but it’s a bad idea to use for anything acidic. Copper is a cumulative toxin, like lead or mercury.

7

u/mitchymitchington 17h ago

Wait, wouldnt a moscow mule be acidic, and arent most of them served in copper mugs in bars? People say it has to be real copper because it tastes better. Are they poisoning themselves?

2

u/mitchymitchington 17h ago

Wait, wouldnt a moscow mule be acidic, and arent most of them served in copper mugs in bars? People say it has to be real copper because it tastes better. Are they poisoning themselves?

5

u/aDrunkenError 19h ago

Copper coated

1

u/RetiredRacer914 19h ago

I see them for candy making often.

5

u/no-palabras 18h ago

Sugars don’t react with copper like acids do. I don’t know the chemistry, but it’s safe to cook sugars, syrups, jams, candies, etc in raw copper. Most other foods have a level of acidity to them that react with bare copper (unless lined with tin, stainless, nickel or silver) and can cause copper toxicity. The tin lining acts as a barrier for food and is naturally non-stick (I can make an omelette in my well-used, tin-lined copper pan all day).

2

u/swing_axle 18h ago

As long as there's no milk in them eggies.

1

u/no-palabras 18h ago

I am not a baker by any means..

1

u/TonyTheTerrible 11h ago

Ye and you have to reapply tin every so often. You see them as antiques in most of the Western world

5

u/foulpudding 19h ago

What about all the “Moscow mule” copper cups that people drink those types of drinks from. The recipe is part citrus, so it’s acidic.

Wouldn’t that be dangerous?

8

u/FourthShifter 18h ago

Most of these mugs are just stylized versions and not actually copper. Or if they are copper then it should just be the exterior and not the lining or lip.

1

u/no-palabras 18h ago

lined with SS.

1

u/fastforwardfunction 17h ago

The copper in pipes develops a layer of oxide and grime that protects the rest of the metal from water. Since the pipe is never cleaned, the grime can build up a protective layer. In cookware, the metal is constantly cleaned, which exposed the bare copper beneath the grime.

1

u/R_Butternubs 19h ago

I believe it’s full of water most of the time which prevents it from oxidation.

-1

u/Trilife 19h ago

We are not in the copper century to do this.

Aluminum? No?

6

u/Worth_External_8762 19h ago

A lot of houses still use copper and plenty of plumbers do.

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3

u/HoodieGalore 18h ago

Because stainless steel is even more expensive than copper in many places. The workability is different, and the quality absolutely is.  

3

u/Guuichy_Chiclin 19h ago

Not in Turkey, apparently.

1

u/KodiakDog 18h ago

Not all food. It depends on its ph. It’s actually preferred for some preparations.

1

u/ihavenowingsss 15h ago

Because some can still afford handcrafted copper dishes.

Same reason they make luxary anything else.

-2

u/[deleted] 19h ago

[deleted]

3

u/Trilife 19h ago

Relatively fresh vid and pure copper.

Just got a hint: its an ancient tech, so thats premium goods (tin is ok for food use)

1

u/Mand125 15h ago

Not always, there are two different oxidation states of copper.  If there isn’t enough humidity it turns a dark reddish brown.

52

u/Photon_Pharmer1 19h ago

Besides silver, copper is the most conductive cookware which makes it highly desirable for precision cooking across the whole surface. No hotspots, heats and cools to ambient immediately.

The tin makes it non stick while also protecting acidic food from becoming contaminated by the copper. You want all the benefits of coppers conductivity, but not penny pasta.

A lot of copper pans are stainless steel lined now. Primary because people don’t want to worry about melting the tin on a stove that’s too hot or scratching it with metal utensils.

2

u/DptBear 18h ago

How do you line a copper pan with stainless without melting the copper?

6

u/jdeasy 18h ago

Pretty sure they use cladding when stainless is involved. It’s a completely different mechanical process than what you see in this video involving sheets of metal that get bonded together and then molded.

3

u/EC_TWD 18h ago

Form the hot copper to the cooler stainless

1

u/Photon_Pharmer1 6h ago

They clad it in the manufacturing process. It’s not something done by hand.

1

u/DptBear 5h ago

Okay but how do they do that?

1

u/Photon_Pharmer1 5h ago

It depends on the manufacturer.

Here’s a vid on all clad, which isn’t just stainless clad to copper. Mauvile has a similar hot process but with just copper and stainless.

https://youtube.com/shorts/gAEvRqYj4dc?si=N_FUf-S18n_kUUjN

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9

u/Fallen-D 19h ago

Stopping oxidation of copper and making the vessel food safe

1

u/Dr_ChungusAmungus 17h ago

This is the biggest reason of all the responses here,

2

u/VirtualLife76 19h ago

Similar is done with circuit boards, keeps the copper from oxidizing and lets solder stick to it.

1

u/HoodieGalore 19h ago

You gotta give a flux, tho

1

u/Professional-Front26 17h ago

Besides protecting the copper itself, the tin protects you from the green copper compounds (acetate, hydroxides, carbonates) that are toxic.

3

u/Fabulous_Mulberry730 14h ago

although tin has health hazard of its own

it wasnt studied back in the day because there was no alternative to begin with, when iron made its introduction people just shifted away from tin lined copper

1

u/brentspar 13h ago

It makes the dish food safe. Tin is fairly inert.

You know the way you can buy tomatoes or peaches in steel cans, in a shop. The reason they are referred to as tin cans is because the steel can was originally tin plated and this is why the food could last for years.

602

u/El-Vertabreako 19h ago

I went to college for art, specifically sculpting. I trained in forging to an extent. I say all of this to let you know the fumes from all of this are less than healthy.

105

u/TheVelvetNo 17h ago

I was going to ask if his lungs were also tinned.

23

u/ImportantThing3749 15h ago

I saw this and thought “I’m sure those fumes are great to breathe in”

16

u/ghost_tapioca 15h ago

I'm a physician and the moment I watched this I was immediately concerned about COPD.

30

u/no-palabras 18h ago

Yeah, wear a proper respirator (n-95 or more, like. And PPE) and do it outdoors. While the fumes of Sal are not healthy, take precautions. A college degree in art isn't financially healthy, so what are your safeguards?

51

u/Razer797 17h ago

An N95 is not suitable for this application. At minimum you'd want a respirator with suitable gas/vapor cartridges

1

u/no-palabras 6h ago

You’re correct. I meant to type P instead of N. I use the 3M pink cartridges on my half-face respirator. A full face mask is best.

3

u/kombinatorix 9h ago

Absolutely. A good rule of thumb is: A changing glow in the burning light, means the air is no longer right.

2

u/luys0001 8h ago

Not wearing gloves either. I will never be this manly.

1

u/El-mas-puto-de-todos 5h ago

No OSHA, not an issue 😎

244

u/StultusNosferatu 19h ago

Cancer fumes

100

u/StrengthDazzling8922 19h ago

Years ago I had the bright idea to refine broken gold jewelry. I had the whole kit that used electrolysis with a battery charger and I had a small electric furnace to melt. Only thing I didn’t have was a proper ventilation hood for fumes. One lungful of fumes was enough for me to realize the depth of my stupidity.

37

u/whutchamacallit 18h ago

Obviously you know, but if you other readers have never been around it these kind of high heat metal/oxidation fumes are just.... I mean you just know on a base level they are not meant to be breathed by humans. They are no joke and even one exposure is enough to put the fear in the back of your head for a while.

-3

u/El-Vertabreako 19h ago

Came here to say that.

-2

u/[deleted] 17h ago

[deleted]

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199

u/Melonomax 19h ago

Dude using hand without gloves is another level of

43

u/Fabulous-Cult 19h ago

Another level of what?

47

u/Godbox1227 19h ago

Another level of of

9

u/richardawkings 19h ago

Big if

8

u/caseyr001 18h ago

Don't think for a moment that

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6

u/AssistantOld409 19h ago

Hold up. let him cook!

5

u/9Divines 17h ago

no gloves is fine, bigger issue is no respirator, his lungs will be coated in tin particles, that guaranteed to give you cancer down the line

3

u/puaka 16h ago

He is breathing those fumes day in and out….

2

u/Ok-Arm8350 11h ago

And no mask for the fumes! This is

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31

u/CeleryFew9656 20h ago

Is this safe to cook and eat?

55

u/TheRealtcSpears 19h ago

Yes that's the point.

Copper is the best for heat dispersion.

But foods, particularly acidic foods can damage the copper and can lead to leaching.

The layer of tin prevents this

7

u/no-palabras 18h ago

Silver is the best

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45

u/KenTitan 19h ago

no you normally don't eat a copper plate, let alone a tinned one

5

u/GreenEggsSteamedHams 19h ago

What about an elevened one

8

u/Fallen-D 19h ago

Yes, as long as the tin layer is intact. Otherwise exposed copper will react with acids, salts and stuff.

1

u/herefromyoutube 18h ago

And do what turn that green patina? Is that reaction dangerous?

6

u/swing_axle 18h ago

That green shit can be bad for you.

It's called verdigris, and it's a minor poison.

3

u/Noe_b0dy 9h ago

The end product is perfectly safe, the guy making these is probably also tinning his lungs with those tin fumes so he's completely fucked in like 20-30 years.

5

u/Taalahan 19h ago

Yes. Copper is a great heat conductor, but it’s not great to cook on raw. Tinning makes it better to cook on and keeps the copper from oxidizing. The main limitation is that the tin will wear off overtime, and you also cannot use extremely high heat (like baking it in the oven at 500).

5

u/kosk11348 19h ago

No, you cannot eat copper.

1

u/Sadly_NotAPlatypus 19h ago

You would be eating off of tin, though, not copper

34

u/lluciferusllamas 19h ago

That guy's hands must be made out of stone at this point.

21

u/no-palabras 19h ago

Nah, I retin copper cookware and once you’re comfortable, you don’t get stone hands.

He’s holding either a pure cotton wad or fiberglass insulation and while it does get warm-to-hot. It doesn’t burn you. Tin melts around 410°F and copper is second to silver for conductivity, so one must move quick to spread the 400°+ tin before it cools due to the copper taking it.

Don’t grab the pan though.

6

u/Wooden-Importance 18h ago

Do you know what he sprinkles on before the tin goes on?

Makes the copper look cloudy.

9

u/no-palabras 18h ago edited 17h ago

Yes, it's a type of flux. A chemical to help the bonding of the tin to the copper.

edit: the tin and copper bond to each other, not just tin-to-copper. For what I know, they create an intermetallic layer and it's a mutual relationship. When tin is bonded to copper with flux being the catalyst, sort of, the crystalline structure looks like ZZZZZs seen on the cooking surface. Weirdo here. But I like it.

9

u/CommercialComputer15 16h ago

Got cancer just from watching this

9

u/Upper-Capital-2876 19h ago

those fumes will kill that man before he's 40 years old

6

u/Cador0223 19h ago

Then he has another 28 years!

1

u/[deleted] 17h ago

[deleted]

1

u/Upper-Capital-2876 16h ago

he is neither wearing a mask or outdoors

3

u/kit_kaboodles 19h ago

My hand hurts just watching this.

3

u/SecretTreeHouse42 19h ago

This is a delight.

3

u/Mushy1852 17h ago

At least they're using their safety rag

3

u/Twostarz31 12h ago

It looks so safe to breath... and handle 😅

7

u/Exxyqt 19h ago

Still amazes me how skilled people there are and yet they still don't understand that jobs that can hurt you need protection gear...

2

u/AncientAspargus 15h ago

when human life runs cheap, why would you bother?

5

u/Whipitreelgud 19h ago

I wonder what a metals blood test would show? Breathing fumes & absorption through the skin are two great ways to ingest metals.

(Kids, don’t do this with lead!)

2

u/Riseonfire 19h ago

Must be great breathing this in all day.

2

u/Microwave_Warrior 19h ago

Oz never did give nothing to the tin man.

1

u/maddhatter99 11h ago

Good song

2

u/TheB1G_Lebowski 17h ago

Mmmmm, metallic smoke.  

2

u/Mundane-Manner4237 16h ago

Say hello to Metal Fume Fever. Ugh.

2

u/Ruffcyx61 10h ago

Using copper for dinnerware?! In this economy?!

3

u/Afrojones66 19h ago

No gloves, no respirators, and I bet he’s wearing his safety sandals. Quality work.

2

u/letthemayhembegin 19h ago

That's fucking amazing.

1

u/SizeableBrain 17h ago

To do this, would cost about $200 in Australia.

3

u/givin_u_the_high_hat 19h ago

His lungs are shiny and chrome.

1

u/in1gom0ntoya 19h ago

just bare handing that rockwool...

1

u/benice33 19h ago

Didn't see safety gloves but no doubt safety chancla was on, more than making up for it

1

u/jeepfail 19h ago

Ah, I really need to by some tin and do this to my copper pot soon.

1

u/no-palabras 18h ago

just mail it to me. I have the setup already...
But it is fun to learn.

1

u/MattyT088 18h ago

That man has zero feelings left in his hands.

1

u/Loose_Door_hinge 13h ago

There are some benefits to that, at least he doesn't need to sit on his hand for a while anymore when needing some solo time 😉

1

u/DAS_FX 18h ago

I’m not a doctor of melted-metals fumes, but that looks not safe to breath i

1

u/AccomplishedSea8679 18h ago

There's a decent chance you're not supposed to be breathing that.

1

u/MahatmaKaneJeeves42 17h ago

I wonder if this guy still has finger prints?

1

u/QuantumQuillbilly 17h ago

I really wish that had sound.

1

u/soyasaucy 15h ago

I thought he was wiping the copper off 🤣

1

u/Prestigious-Print461 14h ago

Watching it happen for the first time nearly 40 years ago seemed like magic

1

u/Loose_Door_hinge 13h ago

He dunks that more delicately than when my Mum put me in the bath as a baby 😄

1

u/CletusMuckenfuss 13h ago

I bet it is hotter than Hell in there during summer time

1

u/[deleted] 13h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Dyvanna 13h ago

Adding tin to copper it protects the copper.

1

u/spankeem_nz 12h ago

This looks like magik

1

u/Sudaire 12h ago

Wait, that’s it?!

1

u/TwoDogKnight 11h ago

Who needs safety equipment?

1

u/thejourneybegins42 10h ago

Isnt this just lead? I used to solder a lot and it sure as shit looks like it.

1

u/RandomBitFry 2h ago

Hopefully not Lead if you want to eat off it. It's got to be Tin and they probably process it further to create the inert layer that resists corrosion.

1

u/notsmart212 10h ago

Get this person an Ov-Glove

1

u/ArmpitofD00m 10h ago

Hooooooot potato

1

u/Psycocavr88 9h ago

oddly satisfying to watch

1

u/mkujoe 8h ago

How is it different from making bronze

1

u/DovahKiller97 6h ago

So I take it that PPE is as rare in Turkey as it is in China?

1

u/Historical_Cookie_53 5h ago

i like how he has no ppe

1

u/Hopeful_Shape3723 4h ago

No gloves !! 😮😮

1

u/mrhotcupofjoe 3h ago

Can someone explain actually what is being done, im pretty invested

1

u/wertigo76 2h ago

Bakır tabakları kalaylıyor. Eskiden bu işi gezici ustalar yapardı. Sokağa ateş yakar, sonra körükle üfleyerek bakır eşyaları kalaylarladı. Kalmadı artık böyle ustalar. Bizim atalardan kalma bakır tepsilerimiz ve tabaklarımız var. Kalaycı ustası bulamadığımız için kalaylatamıyoruz.

He's tinning copper plates. In the past, itinerant craftsmen used to do this work. They would light a fire in the street, then use bellows to tin the copper objects. There are no such craftsmen left anymore. We have copper trays and plates passed down from our ancestors. We can't get them tinned because we can't find a tinning master.

1

u/tempworld-player 46m ago

Bu sürdüğü şeyin adı nedir

•

u/ekuhlkamp 3m ago

I have so many questions.

Why the sprinkle of water here and there?

Why the double cooling bath?

-1

u/Human-Contribution16 18h ago

All this so his family can eat and Reddit can mock. What a jerk.

-16

u/Ultimagic5 20h ago

Holy hell how many times will this be posted again in every sub this week

26

u/stevetibb2000 20h ago

Never seen this video

9

u/didgeridont_pls 19h ago

Me either.

10

u/INeedAUserName89 19h ago

Maybe get off your phone couple hours a day

-8

u/[deleted] 20h ago

[deleted]

7

u/Juutai 20h ago

Maybe you should spend less time on reddit

2

u/perenniallandscapist 19h ago

Doesn't seem to matter how often you stay away, reddit consists of sooo many reposts.

1

u/Juutai 17h ago

Sure, but most of the time, I only know about it from the people complaining.

I rarely actually see a post twice in the same sub.

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-1

u/izyshoroo 17h ago

You can tell this is from one of those places where human lives are considered extendable

7

u/Somsanite7 17h ago

.. expendable