We usually made our cartridge paper templates out of cardboard and traced the shape onto paper.
A newbie (you could tell because his trousers were still creased) walked up and saw me tracing out cartridge papers. He asked me what I was doing and what that cardboard template was. After the explanation, he asked to borrow my template to make his own. More than happy to help a new guy, I loaned him mine.
Next day, he came by and told me that he'd accidentally ruined my template. No problem, I can make another. He surprised me by telling me he'd already done that, but had a couple of adjustments to make and instructed me to drop by sutler's row to pick it up before I left.
Turns out, the guy was a tinsmith. He'd made me a tin template complete with rolled edges and a small handle on top! Two things crossed my mind: 1) That was awful nice of him. 2) Why didn't I think of that first!?! He's probably making a killin' off of that idea.
You Might be a Tinsmith
in You might be a Tinsmith if
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I was a Civil War reenactor for a LOOONG time.
We usually made our cartridge paper templates out of cardboard and traced the shape onto paper.
A newbie (you could tell because his trousers were still creased) walked up and saw me tracing out cartridge papers. He asked me what I was doing and what that cardboard template was. After the explanation, he asked to borrow my template to make his own. More than happy to help a new guy, I loaned him mine.
Next day, he came by and told me that he'd accidentally ruined my template. No problem, I can make another. He surprised me by telling me he'd already done that, but had a couple of adjustments to make and instructed me to drop by sutler's row to pick it up before I left.
Turns out, the guy was a tinsmith. He'd made me a tin template complete with rolled edges and a small handle on top! Two things crossed my mind: 1) That was awful nice of him. 2) Why didn't I think of that first!?! He's probably making a killin' off of that idea.