((PKG)) FEMALE COPPERSMITH
((Banner: Female Coppersmith))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera: Sara Dahman))
((Video Editor: Lisa Vohra))
((Map: Grafton, Wisconsin))
((Main characters: 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: Sara Dahmen))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
As far as I can tell and find, I am the only woman building
copper cookware from scratch, both the vintage ways and
more modern rendition of copper cookware.
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
I had never taken a shop class. I didn't know how to operate
power tools. I didn't know any of the terminology.
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
As a historical fiction writer, it's important to get your facts
right and to really dive into the past in order to bring it to the
future.
((Courtesy: Sara Dahmen))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
So, when I started to write Widow
1881 and eventually Tinsmith 1865, I was writing
about Pioneer women and discovered so much of what they
did. And where they spent their time was in the kitchen.
((Courtesy: Sara Dahmen))
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
So, over time, I started to do more and more research
about Pioneer kitchens, American cookware and how was it
made and what was used? Eventually that became me
saying to my husband, ‘I want to start a cookware line. I
want it to be American made.’
((Courtesy: Sara Dahmen))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
Flash forward a few more months and I decided to do even
more research and ended up discovering Bob Bartelme, who
is a traditional tinsmith, who lived a few minutes from my
home. He was generous enough to take me under his wing
and I ended up going there, multiple times a week, and I still
do even though it's been over four years now. I’m learning
from him.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
In my new book, Copper, Iron and Clay, A Smith's Journey, I
talk about the process of starting a cookware line. I had to
ask a lot of questions and screw up and redo things over and
over and over again. I will build traditional reproduction
cookware that is built exactly the way it has been done since
the 1700s. I will also create more modern heavy-duty
pieces. I'll do custom designs based on people's specs that
they give me.
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
All these machines are originally from the early 1800s,
starting about 1810 to 1820s. So, they still work. I still
use them and I’m still able to use them to build custom
pieces from scratch and everything still works the same as it
did 200 years ago.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
There’s a lot of pieces that go into the elongation and the
heat treatment and that's all poured and done and ground
out on the West Coast and then shipped back here to
Wisconsin.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
After that then, they're in my hands and they're raw. I have
to prepare them. Once I get a piece of copper cookware
over the tinning fire, then we can apply that very necessary
interior lining of tin which will make the cookware food-
safe. And when you're done with that, you still have a
beautiful piece of cookware, but there's usually a little bit of
clean up on the edge. There's definitely some polishing that
needs to happen to this piece, both on the buffing wheel and
hand polish. And once that is done, then, then this can go
home and be used for the next several hundred years.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
The reason many chefs especially are gravitating towards it
still after all this time, is because of the precision you get
when you're cooking with it. Tin-lined copper cookware is 25
times more conductive than stainless steel. So, for a fraction
of the heat, you're getting the same if not better results. So,
it is not only energy efficient, but it allows for extreme
precision when you're cooking.
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and
Cookware))
It all comes down to using the right tools for the meal that
you're preparing in order to offer nourishment that is
correctly and beautifully and well prepared.
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen, Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
So there's investments, there's fearlessness and there's asking a
lot of questions. And eventually over time, over mistakes,
over trial-and-error, you can eventually start calling yourself a
coppersmith.
((NATS))
