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His collection includes cans from machine guns, railroads, steamships, farm equipment, watchmakers, automobiles and gas engines, to name a few. A special find, he says, is an early, tin oil can.
"The early handmade tin cans are real interesting," he says. "There's no two alike. That's what the tinsmiths did in the winter, that's when they would make that kind of thing. Originally, I went for those early cans. But they're so hard to find."
At least one has family ties.
Guy doesn't know the stories behind all of his oil cans. But as soon as he opens his suitcases, the tales pour out.
"At the shows, people will come by and talk about the cans they remember," he says. "That's how we identify a lot of them.
"I learn something every time I go to a show," he says. "Like my Eagle Oil Can: it had this ugly cotton cloth bag with a drawstring. I was going to throw the bag away. Then one day, these three ladies came up, looked at it, and started laughing. 'That's one of our bags!', one said. They had worked at a sewing machine company, and the cans they used on their machines left oil marks on their work area, so they made bags to protect the surface. Women like the collection," he says. "They get tired of looking at hit-and-miss engines."
The pieces in his collection show the passage of time, as well as hard use.
"A lot of times they're not in as good a condition as you'd like," he says.
But he leaves them as he finds them.