Do you ever wonder how aluminum cans are made?

No, it’s just me.

Well, congratulations on having more interesting curiosities than the origins of your beverage can.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I do find some mundane things interesting, so now I must bore you with my recently accumulated knowledge of manufacturing aluminum cans.

First and foremost, aluminum cans can be recycled over and over again. Unlike plastic, aluminum never deteriorates. The cans are made from rolls of metal that can weigh 9 tons and can make 3/4 of a million drink cans at a rate of 1800 cans per minute.

The metal goes through all kinds of processes, from stamping, shaping, trimming, washing, drying, printing, varnishing, necking, flanging and screening. It’s actually really a fascinating process, or maybe I need to get out of the house more often.

Anyway, since I don’t get out enough, here is the exciting part. The inside spray coat of varnish keeps the beverage from tasting like metal and keeps the acids in the carbonation from dissolving the aluminum. This process has led to all those YouTube videos where folks dissolve their aluminum cans from the outside, leaving their soda in a sort of floppy can-shaped goo-like bag.

If you haven’t seen any of these videos, they are kind of fascinating and gross all at the same time. That is if you are interested in aluminum. If these cans hold no intrigue for you, then only the icky part may apply.

The other cool thing about the varnish is the coating on the bottom of the can. It’s added to help the cans glide smoothly on the conveyer belts and in vending machines, but that is not the interesting part. The part that intrigues me is they say the varnish shows up as a blue ring under ultraviolet lights. Unfortunately, I can’t confirm this as I got rid of all my velvet blacklight posters in the 80s.

Ok, that is a shameless lie. I actually never had any velvet blacklight posters, but it makes me sound way cooler, doesn’t it? One quote I read about why they were so popular said, “Blacklight Posters Make You Feel High Even When You Are Not.”

So now you know how exceptionally cool I was in high school because I never even experienced the high from a blacklight poster.

Anyway, if I did have an ultraviolet light, you can bet I would be dragging all my cans into the dark to see what it looked like because I know how to have a good time and because leaving the house requires pants.

Craft on, my friends.

In a nutshell, here are the three different methods to remove the top of aluminum cans.

1. Kitchen Can Opener
2. Draft Top Opener
3. Sandpaper

See more in the video tutorial.

Happy Upcycling,

Cindy

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