Hi Barry,
Instructions on how to join Coppermine (including the all-important global password) are pinned at the top of the Member's Only forum. If you're still stuck, send me a private message and I'll sort it out for you.
You should also be able to post images direct to messages - click on "Attachments and other options" below the box where you type, then click "Choose File" in the Attach section. If you need more, click on "(more attachments)" underneath to add another box, up to 6 per post. Note that some people do have technical difficulties attaching images directly - I have no idea why, it seems to be some combination of browser + the forum software + a bad hair day...
If you do choose to attach direct, it would be much appreciated if you could please reduce the size of digital photos before posting; most of them are 3000+ pixels wide these days, and they just end up HUGE on the screen. If you're a Windows user, there's a free piece of software called
Faststone Image Resizer which does a fantastic job of batch shrinking photos. I'd suggest a laptop-friendly resolution of 800x600, or maybe 1024x768. Minor variations due to the aspect ratio of your photos are quite acceptable.
HTH!
Ade.
PS: Sorry, can't answer your copper washer question....!