Buckby-style, but who?

[Peter Adgeling]

Possibly in the style of Black Country metalwork, but do /did they do galvanised? Original paintwork has mostly gone, not such a good attempt to repaint. Whichever way, not for sale.

[alan_fincher]

The image seems very low resolution, so difficult to see much detail.

 

Any Black Country Metalworks can I have seen is galvanised.

However the quality of the soldering is usually poor - the cans are not water tight, and details like handles have a havit of disconnecting themselves.

[dave moore]

That looks very much like a water can made by Birmingham tinsmiths A G Lester. All of the many I’ve painted were galvanised. You are right to hang on to it, decent cans are hard to come by these days. Black Country Metalworks cans are really only souvenir ware, Lesters were quality. They stopped making them in the late 90s, I think. I agree with your comment about the paintwork!

[Peter Adgeling]

This should be a better pic. I did wonder about  A G Lester but thought maybe their solder-work was better?

[dave moore]

Maybe,,as an older can it might have been repaired. Lesters soldering I’ve always found to be good.

[David Schweizer]

It bears a very close resemblence to a can I bought in a shop on Farmers Bridge Flight back in the 1960's, I always believed it to be a Lesters can, but I replaced the original wire and rotating wood handle with an old bucket handle, which I re-shaped, I have probably destroyed it's value!!

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by David Schweizer

[Rob-M]

This is our Lesters can

[dave moore]

Cheers Rob....must be a few years since I did that for you. Good to see it again!👍

[Graham_Robinson]

BW, remember them, were selling cans like these at the various boat rallies and festivals they attended back in the 80's.
I purchased/ bartered this one off them when I was on the site and services team @ Glasson Dock in 1989.
A Lesters can. They were OK'ish, tin gauge got thinner as the years progressed though.
Wonder who did the painting for Waterways Dave?

Edited July 4, 2023 by Graham_Robinson

[David Mack]

A while ago there was talk on the forum of somebody making a small batch of new Buckby cans for sale. Does anyone remember who was going to do this and did it ever happen?

[dave moore]

Hi Graham. 

The painter of that can was a lady I knew called Gill Buxbaum, quite busy long ago. I’ve not seen or heard of her for some time, I think they moved from North Wales to Scotland. 

David, as far as I’m aware, there are only 2 sources of water cans these days. Quality replica Grand Union 2 gallon cans are sometimes available from Rose Narrowboats at Brinklow while souvenir type stuff, quite different, comes from Black Country Metalworks, based in Oswestry. I’ve had conversations with a few folk interested in making cans but I think that the practicalities/ profitability aspects have got in the way. For me, as a painter, it’s a bit of a bugger!

[alan_fincher]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

A while ago there was talk on the forum of somebody making a small batch of new Buckby cans for sale. Does anyone remember who was going to do this and did it ever happen?

 

I don't recall anybody other than Rose Narrowboats saying they would make some.

[Graham_Robinson]

1 minute ago, alan_fincher said:

 

I don't recall anybody other than Rose Narrowboats saying they would make some.

Dave is right you can get unpainted cans from BCM but they don't hold water, literally.

46 minutes ago, dave moore said:

Hi Graham. 

The painter of that can was a lady I knew called Gill Buxbaum

 

Thanks for that Dave.

 

[alan_fincher]

15 minutes ago, Graham_Robinson said:

Dave is right you can get unpainted cans from BCM but they don't hold water, literally.

 

 

Yes, I was only talking about anybody offering a can that is water-tight.

 

I'm well aware of the deficiencies of the BCM cans, because I once made the foolish mistake of buying one

 

A tree incident removed (only) the handle into the cut, whilst leaving the rest of the can on the roof.  I failed to "magnet fish" it, so took the incomplete can to the local tip.

[Graham_Robinson]

I've been trying for some years now to get some/any information on the holloware ( can ) makers particularly in Birmingham.
Probably because it's a niche market and all the firms are long gone, I think Lesters were the last,  for making cans that is there is virtually no record.
 

[Ray T]

Did the water cans Terence Edgar had stolen ever come to light?

[Graham_Robinson]

1 hour ago, Ray T said:

Did the water cans Terence Edgar had stolen ever come to light?

Were they painted or plain?
Think some of his unpainted cans came from E.Europe before he decorated them.
There's one hanging up in Brinklow Boats woodwork shop. They definitely are/were crap. ( Technical Term ) Certainly that one is.
Dave Moore and I had a discussion on this forum some years ago about cans and the lack of a reputable British firm producing before Rose started manufacturing them.
Everything else I've forgotten!! It's an age thing. Daves' memory might not be as frazzled as mine.😄
Does Terence ever pop in here? See he's mentioned on the BCM site as is the Waterways Craft guild.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Graham_Robinson

[pete23]

I’ve a couple of buckby cans in my dads shed.

been in there for the last 25yrs and at least 45yrs old.

must dig them out and ask your opinion on them…..

[alan_fincher]

15 hours ago, Ray T said:

Did the water cans Terence Edgar had stolen ever come to light?

 

14 hours ago, Graham_Robinson said:

Were they painted or plain?

 

My somewhat flaky memory wants to say that what Terence had stolen was a large amount of "raw "items awaiting painting.  I don't recall ever hearing that any was recovered, but it is a long time ago, and I may be wrong.

I got the impression they were BCM "manufactured" items.

[LEO]

Interesting comments, I picked a can up in 1989 from an Antique shop in Woburn (a real 'Boy's Toys' emporium) in 1989 for about £50. The decoration by S.Darling is basic to say the least, but the can is good, well galvanised, holds water and when I picked up from my storage shed at Cowroast mooring a few years ago was home to 4 Glis Glis.

 

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, LEO said:

Interesting comments, I picked a can up in 1989 from an Antique shop in Woburn (a real 'Boy's Toys' emporium) in 1989 for about £50. The decoration by S.Darling is basic to say the least, but the can is good, well galvanised, holds water and when I picked up from my storage shed at Cowroast mooring a few years ago was home to 4 Glis Glis.

 

 

Ah, the glis glis, possibly the most unfortunate animal in the world -- aka the "Edible Dormouse of Tring", a name which not only describes how delicious it is but where it lives... 😉

[dave moore]

A proper can . Thanks!!

[mark99]

Is BCM shorthand for made in the far east?

[Rob-M]

4 minutes ago, mark99 said:

Is BCM shorthand for made in the far east?

I don't think Oswestry is in the far East.

[Dorlan]

I bought these two galvanized cans 40 years ago, and they are both still watertight. I haven't a clue who made them, though!

I think I bought them at the shop that was at the bottom of Foxton.