Yankees catcher Yogi Berra is credited with saying, "You can see a lot just by observing."

Darryl Kirschner has taken Yogi's advice to heart. Over the years, the retired postal worker said, he has learned to carve wooden spoons and bowls, to make wooden pitchforks and to hew logs into beams, mostly by watching other craftsmen.

		Listen in Staff writer Len Barcousky talks with owner Darryl Kirschner about Harmony Tin. Len Barcousky talks with owner Al Breitenbach keeping colonial traditions alive.

Now Mr. Kirschner has taken on what he describes as his newest apprenticeship: making tinware with the guidance of his Butler County neighbor, Al Breitenbach.

Mr. Kirschner, 67, and Mr. Breitenbach, 59, have turned their avocation into a business called Harmony Tin. Working almost exclusively with 18th- and 19th-century tools and techniques, the partners hand-craft boxes, dippers, cups, lanterns and candle holders from sheets of tin-plated iron.

In one of their few concessions to 21st-century technology, they use electric soldering irons to attach components and seal joints.

Tinsmiths also were known as whitesmiths because they worked with light-colored metals. Their basic tools include shears and smaller sets of cutters called snips or nippers. They also use anvils and stakes of various sizes for forming curved shapes and irregular pieces.

Most of Harmony Tin's designs are traditional, making use of sunburst, wheat and willow patterns that were popular two centuries ago, Mr. Breitenbach said.

While new to tinsmithing, he had a long career as a metal craftsman. Before taking early retirement, he was employed for 38 years as a sheet-metal worker. He spent most of his time fabricating duct work for heating and air-conditioning systems for industrial and commercial buildings.

He does most of the design work, sketching out ideas on a large drafting table set up in the room next to his basement workshop. His recent design challenges have included a tin box with a rounded lid. "It's a request from my wife," he said.

"Sometimes I'll just make something [from tin], then draw up the plans," he said. For more complicated, multi-part objects, he'll make a drawing, with dimensions, before starting on the prototype."

	Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Neighbors Darryl Kirschner, left, and Al Breitenbach create tinware in Mr. Breitenbach's garage workshop in Jackson. Click photo for larger image.

Since retiring from the U.S. Postal Service in 1992, Mr. Kirschner has demonstrated traditional crafts at fairs and festivals in southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

"I wanted to preserve history," he said. "I learned a lot of things just from watching old-timers around here." Among his mentors was Harmony carpenter and woodcarver E. Gregg Kristophel, from whom he learned how to make wooden spoons.

As Mr. Kirschner traveled around the region to fairs and craft shows, he noted the absence of tinsmiths. About six months ago, he approached Mr. Breitenbach, his backyard neighbor in Jackson, about filling that gap.

Since they live only a few miles north of Harmony, a community founded by German immigrants known for the quality of their craftsmanship, they named their business after the town.

Both are interested in local history and both said they strive to continue to learn new skills.

"Al is the master, and I am the apprentice," Mr. Kirschner said. He offered an example.

"I described a hinged tin box for storing candles to him," Mr. Kirschner said. "It included space for flint and tinder, and it was designed so that one candle would pop up when you opened the box. An hour later, he had made a model of one."

Mr. Breitenbach grew up in Ross and graduated from North Hills High School. He began his sheet-metal apprenticeship after high school but was drafted into the Army. After overseas service in Vietnam and Germany, he returned to Western Pennsylvania.

He and his wife, the former Sharon Shirk, have two children and two grandchildren.

He calls his decision four years ago to retire early, "the best thing I ever did."

He spent more than a year researching family trees for both the Breitenbach and Shirk families. He continues to study Spanish, practicing for a half-hour two times a day.

Sharon Breitenbach was pleased when Mr. Kirschner approached her husband with the tinsmithing proposal.

"Sharon has always liked tinware, but I always say that she had to wait 30 years to get some," Mr. Breitenbach said.

"Now I have a lot of it," she said, gesturing toward a table in her living room where a variety of Harmony Tin items were displayed.

Mr. Kirschner grew up on Pittsburgh's North Side. He studied printing at Connolly Vocational High School and worked briefly at that trade. He served in Southeast Asia with Navy Special Forces in the early 1960s.

Following his time in the Navy, he worked at a variety of jobs, including tree trimmer and truck driver, before joining the Post Service. Since retirement, he has worked as a cashier, bus driver and, most recently, as a part-time carpenter.

A Butler County resident since 1970, he is an ex-president of Historic Harmony, the community's historical society. His wife, Arlene, is an herbalist who has accompanied him to fairs and festivals.

They have a son, seven daughters and stepdaughters, 17 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

The partners say they are eager to pass on what they have learned about traditional crafts.

"I was afraid that these skills were being lost," Mr. Breitenbach said.

"I've learned -- mostly by watching -- how to hew a log with an axe and to smooth the inside of a wooden bowl with a chip of glass," Mr. Kirschner said. "We both hope that young people will come up to us when we are demonstrating and ask, 'Can I learn to do that, too?' "

Al Breitenbach and Darryl Kirschner recently demonstrated their skills close to home at Zelienople's annual Horsetrading Days. They will demonstrate their craft and sell their wares Sept. 14-16 at the Tiffin-Seneca Heritage Festival in Tiffin, Ohio, and Sept. 22-23 and 29-30 at the Penn's Colony Festival in Saxonburg.

For more information on Harmony Tin, go to harmonytin.com or call Mr. Kirschner at 724-452-5477 or Mr. Breitenbach's at 724-452-8645.