Graham Swales from Mineville, N.S., has made a name for himself crafting sheet metal lighthouses.
At the age of 81, he’s now known as ‘Graham the Lighthouse Man.’
He built his first lighthouse out of sheet metal for his wife after she visited Mahone Bay, N.S., and was going to buy a wooden lighthouse.
“I built my first one eight years ago and gave it to her for Christmas. That lighthouse is down on the lake,” he said.
Swales gets his sheet metal from Scotia Metal Products, a roofing company in Dartmouth. He gets it all as flat sheets painted with a plastic coating over top.
“I have two pieces of equipment from sheet metal, to carry me through to make them,” he said.
Swales makes more than just lighthouses out of the sheet metal.
“I make sheet metal cabinets on request, people will order them. I still make wishing wells on request, but they weren’t as popular as the lighthouses.”
His lighthouses come in four different sizes: small, medium, large, and extra-large. Swales said his biggest seller is the large sized lighthouse, which is about 43 inches high.
It takes Swales about six hours to complete each one.
Originally he placed an electric cord in all of them to light them up, but he said he had requests for solar powered ones. Now he offers both options.
“I have two [lighthouses] in the U.S. Quite a few out west from the tourists, so Saskatchewan, B.C.,” he said. “I enjoy it so much and it's relatively easy for me because I’ve done it my whole life.”
To purchase one of Graham’s lighthouses, you can visit Swales Custom Sheet Metal on Facebook.
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