Thin copper for corrugation

Dear Jennifer Friedman,

Copper “flashing” as used in roofing used to be fairly common but is
now rarely used except on high-end jobs. So Home Depot, Lowe’s and
that sort of home handyperson place is not likely to carry it.
However, if you have a commercial sheet-metal or tinsmith shop in
your area that does roofing work, they will likely know where to get
the stuff fast and easy even if they don’t happen to have any in
stock. After all, they never know when they might get a call for a
fancy job repairing an old church roof or the like.

If I were starting to search from scratch, I’d look in the local
yellow pages (or the nearest city if you’re way out in the sticks)
and look for the oldest sheet-metal contractor or roofing contractor
in the area. Talk to the oldest guys on the payroll. They would, at
least, know what you are talking about when you ask for copper
flashing. It comes in rolls of various widths, 6", 12" and probably
even wider. They could probably order a roll for you if they don’t
have any old left-overs gathering dust in the back room.

If I recall correctly (it sometimes happens that way) the stuff is
fairly thin, about 22 gauge. Anyway, that sort of industrial source
is likely to have a price more-or-less reflective of the straight
dollars-per-pound value of the copper, whereas craft-type suppliers
will more likely tend to treat it as a precious substance, doled out
in small, wasteful packages at highly inflated prices.

Oh yes, I have seen the garden store copper strips mentioned by K.
Hung in a post a few days ago. That stuff is very very thin, really
almost what I would consider “foil” rather than “sheet” copper. I
don’t know if that is what you want to use. Anyway, it comes in
rather narrow strips and I think you mentioned you want bigger
sizes. And, by the way, that copper foil is almost useless for
stopping slugs so don’t waste your money on it for that purpose.

If garden slugs are your problem, write to me off-line and we can
share slug murder recipes and tactics.

Marty in Victoria , BC, the “City of Gardens” - where the average
garden slug is bigger than an ear of Iowa sweet corn, an Arizona
Gila monster, or a New York City dachshund, and eats its own weight
in fancy lettuce or broccoli before you’ve had your morning coffee.

Dear Marty,

      And, by the way, that copper foil is almost useless for
stopping slugs so don't waste your money on it for that purpose. If
garden slugs are your problem, write to me off-line and we can
share slug murder recipes and tactics. 

Well I am a jeweler but your slug murder words are what really
interest me tonight. I was just about to go dig out some old
roofing copper I have around here from my old enamelling days
(roofing copper is a really bad idea for enamel as they don’t care
about the purity and the enamel does). We have just built two
beautiful boxes for planting vegetables and I’ve been reading about
putting copper around the edges to stop the slugs. I dont want to
use poison on my food and I have cats and kids–the website I found
advised picking them off and dropping them in soapy water which
works quite well and is also one of the absolute most disgusting
things I have ever done in my life. A medium sized bowl full of
soapy water and dead slugs. I don’t even know where to dump it…

I hope the impressive large slugs you are describing are not related
to our beloved banana slugs. I used to gather those into plastic
baggies (couldn’t possibly squish them–they are the size of, well,
bananas. Smallish bananas but still…) But I have since learned
that those eat dead stuff and dog droppings and things like that and
so are not to be banned from the garden. At least that’s what I’ve
been led to believe.

I am ready for your slug murdering secrets.

Yours,
Janet

I hope the impressive large slugs you are describing are not related
to our beloved banana slugs. I used to gather those into plastic
baggies (couldn’t possibly squish them–they are the size of, well,
bananas. Smallish bananas but still…) But I have since learned
that those eat dead stuff and dog droppings and things like that and
so are not to be banned from the garden. At least that’s what I’ve
been led to believe.

My advice- Get a couple of chickens. They eat the slugs, protecting
your garden. And when they get really big and fat, you have poultry
and vegetables too.

Lee Einer
Dos Manos Jewelry
http://www.dosmanosjewelry.com

I am ready for your slug murdering secrets. 

To avoid being slugged to death on humid summer nights we used to
put a saucer of beer out in the most sluggish section of the patio.
Invariably we would have a few drowned customers there in the
morning. I hate to kill living critters, but I console myself with
the thought that at least they probably died happy. By the
way…does anyone have a good solvent for slugslime? The stuff is
almost impossible to get off any surface.

Dee

Here is a website full of slug wars methods.
Ugh...Slugs Check out the preferred beer of
slugs near the end of page.