Table of Contents
What does a cooper do for a living?
A cooper is a person trained to make wooden casks, barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs and other similar containers from timber staves that were usually heated or steamed to make them pliable. Journeymen coopers also traditionally made wooden implements, such as rakes and wooden-bladed shovels.
How did colonial coopers make barrels?
Clear white oak staves (wooden planks for barrels) were split from the centers of mature trees. The tight cooper would then fashion the wooden parts with axes and knives before gathering them in a circular formation and securing them with iron rings.
What is a cooper in Williamsburg?
Coopers crafted casks which: Held flour, gunpowder, tobacco, and other commodities. Served as shipping containers. Stored liquids from wine to milk.
What did a cooper do?
In Colonial times, a cooper was the person who made wooden casks, barrels and other staved containers from timber that was usually heated or steamed so it could be fashioned. Casks were necessary to store goods such as ale, wine, flour, gunpowder, and tobacco.
What’s the difference between a barrel and a cask?
Casks are like the middle children of the aged spirits world. Rather, a “barrel” is a specific term of art in the beverage industry referring to a 50–53 gallon (180–200 liter) cask, often made of white oak. For the all-encompassing term for the vessel that you age spirits in, “cask” is the preferred nomenclature.
What did a Cooper do?
Why do wooden barrels not leak?
Because the barrels are not made with any glue or nails, the wood relies on the moisture from the spirit to expand the wood and keep the wooden staves sealed tight to ensure there are no leaks.
What did a cooper make?
In Colonial times, a cooper was the person who made wooden casks, barrels and other staved containers from timber that was usually heated or steamed so it could be fashioned. It took seven years for an apprentice to learn the craft of coopering.
What did Coopers do in the colonial times?
In Colonial times, a cooper was the person who made wooden casks, barrels and other staved containers from timber that was usually heated or steamed so it could be fashioned. It took seven years for an apprentice to learn the craft of coopering. Apprentices usually slept in the workshop, or cooperage, and learned the trade from a master craftsman.
What kind of jobs did people have in colonial America?
People that lived in the towns during Colonial times often worked at a specific trade. Here are some of the typical trades of Colonial America. Apothecary. The apothecaries of colonial times were similar to today’s pharmacists.
What kind of cargo did colonial Coopers carry?
Colonial coopers specialized in various types of containers. Dry or slack coopers made vessels to contain dry goods such as tobacco, fruit, vegetables, cereals and nails.
What kind of goods did a Cooper make?
Dry or slack coopers made vessels to contain dry goods such as tobacco, fruit, vegetables, cereals and nails. Tight coopers made containers designed to keep out moisture for more sensitive products such as flour and gunpowder.