January 3, 2008

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Home-Made Metal Furniture from Beer Cans (Aug, 1936)

Filed under: DIY — @ 12:12 am
Source: Science And Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1936
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420 cans eh?

Home-Made Metal Furniture from Beer Cans

420 cans soldered together produced the garden furniture shown in use below. Bernard Dier of Chicago made it in ten days.

11 Comments »

1. Can you imagine trying that now? Twiggy would break it.

   Comment by Blurgle — January 3, 2008 @ 12:29 am

2. Now you’d need a TIG welder to do it, even then it would be rough.

   Back in the good old days beer cans were tin-plated, lacquer-lined steel. You could solder the material relatively easily. When I was young and poor and interested in radio I used a good bit of tin-can materials for making toys and radio parts. Some cans weren’t good sources for material (can linings needing to be removed for electrical conductivity) but there were plenty of cans to choose from that were.

   Alan

   Comment by mrchurchill109 — January 3, 2008 @ 9:57 am

3. Smashing a beer can against your forehead was a real feat, back then.

   Comment by Orv — January 3, 2008 @ 10:38 am

4. Dig those outfits! I think I mihgt’ve seen those in a porno movie once.

   Oh, wait, I’ve never seen a porno movie.

   Comment by Charlie — January 3, 2008 @ 10:50 am

5. Bernard’s feat was especially impressive considering he was drinking 42 beers per day to acquire the needed materials

   Comment by Jesse Rendleman — January 3, 2008 @ 12:00 pm

6. How NOT to impress on a first date!

   Comment by nlpnt — January 3, 2008 @ 4:19 pm

7. I wonder if he knew the meaning of “420″ when he drank all that beer?

   Comment by Gene — January 3, 2008 @ 9:09 pm

8. Eh… that’s nothing. http://www.beercanhouse.org/

   Comment by blast — January 12, 2008 @ 2:43 pm

9. How far back in time did they still produe tin plated beer cans ? I would like to try soldering some for a craft project . I see some nice 1960 -1970;s cans on auction.Thanks, john.

   Comment by john — February 5, 2008 @ 9:09 pm

10. I’m going through this can stage at the moment. I’ve built an aluminium can stand for my canary with cage, and it only took 30 cans.

    P.S. The stand also doubles as a stool. It holds the weight of a 90 kilogram human;)

    Comment by rob — February 13, 2008 @ 8:12 pm

11. I suspect my late father, Bernard Dier made this.
    He was employed at an advertising agency in Chicago at the time.
    Note the can orientation so all the labels face the viewer.
    He instructed me how to solder when I was a kid.
    He could have easily made such a display.
    He never drank beer, it gave him a headache.
    Barney Dier retired from the Chicago Police Department as a Captian in 1967.

    Comment by Bernard Dier — June 12, 2008 @ 2:47 pm

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