1- BRIEF history of zinc bar tops. How we went from roofs to resin?
Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in earth’s crust and one of the easier metals to mine. With current mining technology, zinc is obtained from Sphalerite, first discovered around 1850, though smaller quantities of zinc have been used for centuries. It is mined underground from veins containing the material in Australia, Canada, the United States, and China, and we don’t seem to be nearing depletion.
Zinc is rolled into sheets or drawn into wire, and can be easily moulded because of its soft, ductile qualities.
One of its widest uses, as the primary component in the galvanization plating process, helps steel hold up in harsh outdoor environments.
It can be easily recycled in pure form, which reduces our future dependency on new mining sources.
Bistros first began in France and likely developed out of the basement kitchens of Parisian apartments where tenants paid for both room and board. These small enterprises served simple, moderately priced meals and alcohol in a modest setting, first to their tenants, then increasingly to other travelers.
Over time, these bistros or cafes came to be known as “Les Zincs” after their metal counters, which were fabricated by roofers out of the same rolled materials and with the same details used to keep water out of structures. These first bars were made of pewter and cleaned with corks that were bound together with string- the first iterations of scotch-brite pads!
These bars continued to be fabricated in France, where one company, still in operation today, began in the 1930s.
After World War II in the US, sheet metal shops, many of which specialized in HVAC duct fabrication, began dabbling in sheet metal tops, though these initial offerings were basic construction with straight extrusions or soldered edges. This continued into the 1990s, serving a very small, niche market.
In the last half of the first decade of the twentieth century, companies began applying a technology that grew out of a deposition process developed during WW2 that was later used in the film prop industry for the application of decorative coatings. This new construction had many benefits, including the ability to produce more complex geometry than sheet metal brake form edges, and it produced tops that could mimic the original bistro edges, but on a much larger scale.
Since this time, several companies have dabbled with this deposition technique, many unsuccessfully, while chasing the ideas for a new method of manufacturing.
At the same time, the concept of “cold casting” was thrust upon the public with limited success.
The French manufacturers are still producing small bistro tops as they did more than 100 years ago, and the American markets are making brakeform soldered products with sheet metal and trying to figure out this newly applied deposition process. The industry is ripe for new products with these attributes:
Exceptional Quality
Complex and Interesting Geometry Never Before Possible
A Larger Variety of Metal Choices and Alloys
Grander Scale with Larger Quantities
Rapid and Responsive Project Turnaround