Anyone into coopering?

[chain]

A really 'feel-good' story in this month's "Show-Me" publication of a family owned cooperage-winery in central Missouri.

One of the owners stated, " it takes a 100 years to make a barrel", the meaning of course, as white oak grows slowly a century may pass from acorn to a stave to make a barrel. They age their wines in the white oak barrels, a steady growing business from 500 cases to about 1000 cases of wine in three years!

[Mooseherder]

I would like to learn more about both processes.  They're very intriguing.
There are a lot of Wineries but not too many Cooperages.

[Chuck White]

I saw a documentary a couple of year ago on PBS on barrel making.

There's a lot more to it than most would imagine.

Very interesting.  Well worth the watch.

[Buck]

I watched Mike Rowe do it on Dirty Jobs. That is an art all its own.

[r.man]

Chuck was that a doc that showed them firing the inside of the barrel as it was being made? The one I saw was for making barrels specifically for aging some sort of alcoholic beverage. The cooper was working in an area that had at least one floor height burner going all the time and he kept taking the barrels over and scorching the inside to enhance the flavour of whatever was then stored in them. A lot of specialty sawing to the pieces as well.

[woodmills1]

one of my good customers is a true cooper


he is the resident period cooper at the strawberry bank museum in portsmouth NH

I have watched him work


make a barrel by hand that holds liquid

notice I didn't say water

[redbeard]

Not sure if coopering is used in wood stave water mains but they were made using white oak and wrapped with a spiral of 1/4 " wire.The inside of pipe was black i thought maybe it was tar could have been burned. Amazing how long they lasted underground.

[HOOF-ER]

That would be whiskey that is aged in charred barrels. Jack Daniels comes to mind.

[Chuck White]

Chuck was that a doc that showed them firing the inside of the barrel as it was being made? The one I saw was for making barrels specifically for aging some sort of alcoholic beverage. The cooper was working in an area that had at least one floor height burner going all the time and he kept taking the barrels over and scorching the inside to enhance the flavour of whatever was then stored in them. A lot of specialty sawing to the pieces as well.

Yes it showed them firing the barrels.

Supposed to add a charcoal flavoring to the burbon or whiskey that was going to be put in the barrels!

[r.man]

This is not the one I was thinking about but it shows the basics.

I love specialized machinery. I do remember that the doc I saw showed a lot of splitting of blocks of wood before any sawing was done.

[just_sawing]

I have  a interest in coopering and have watched demonstrations where ever I can. Saying this I watched a demonstration at willimsburg VA in the village. The young lad was such an expert that he he took exception to me asking why he was using Red Oak for a water barrel. I tried to explain to him but his knowledge got in the way of the fact that red oak leaks down and white does not.

[rph816]

Guinness had an amazing coopering exhibit/video at St. James Gate in Dublin.  They didn't use any of the automation shown in the video above.  I can't seem to find the video online, so I'll just say, if you're ever in Dublin, make sure to go to the Guinness Brewery, "Craft of the Cooper" is on the first floor of the Storehouse. http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/WhatsInside.aspx

Ryan

[Papa1stuff]

My SIL is a cooper as a hobby ,he makes a lot of different kinds of buckets.
I have some pictures of his work somewhere,I'see if I can find them!!

[Papa1stuff]

I found the pictures of his work!!

[kderby]

What a fine collection.   Good job Mr Soninlaw!  Thanks for the pic Papa.

[beenthere]

More about making wine barrels.

[Magicman]

There were many more steps and much more manual labor than I imagined. 

[jpassardi]

Not sure if coopering is used in wood stave water mains but they were made using white oak and wrapped with a spiral of 1/4 " wire.The inside of pipe was black i thought maybe it was tar could have been burned. Amazing how long they lasted underground.

I work for a large water and sewer municipality. We have a piece of an old water main that came out of our system. It's in surprisingly good condition.
The wood segments were cut on angles to fight tightly like a barrel, it was spirally wrapped with steel banding then asphalt was applied to the outside.
Modern ductile iron water mains are cement lined on the inside to prevent tuberculation (deposits that build on the walls). The outside is asphalt coated.

[DanielW]

I'm curious, from the videos other folks have posted, it seems like the curve of the staves is now typically done with multi-head molders/planers. Does anyone still use a 'stave mill', with the barrel-shaped saws to cut their staves? I've seen a couple ones at antique shows - here's a video of one. I suspect they're probably not used anymore - probably not enough demand for a large company like Simonds to make those specialized barrel saws, and I heard hammering one can be a bit of a nightmare:

Stave Mill - Barrel Saw