Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

Coopers.

The word cooper is apparently of low Dutch origin. The modern Dutch word for cooper is cuper. In medieval latin cuparius, cuperius, was formed from cupa, a cask. The word is not an English derivative of coop, which, so far as appears, has never had the sense of 'cask'. One can find in the 15th. century various spelling of the word, such as, couper, cowper, cowpar, (Oxford Dictionary ).

The craft is mentioned in the bible and was known in Ancient Egypt. By the close of the Middle Ages the barrel was the standard means of packing, and the craft was widespread. On board ships, almost everything was towered in casks, and the coopers continued to be important members of the ship's crew until the mid-19th century. In British ports it was customary to load ships with a large number of roughly-shaped staves. On the outward journey to some far corner of the globe the coopers would be busily engaged in making barrels, in which various cargoes would be stored for the return voyage.

In England the coopers made a variety of items from butter churns to brewing vats. The Coopers' Company in England received its Charter of Incorporation in 1501 and was formed along the lines of other craft gilds of the period.

Coopers are considered as among the west highly skilled of all craftsmen, since they work to no written measurements or patterns, and to make a barrel of a specified diameter and capacity they depend on long experience and instinct alone. They were often classified as to the type of work they performed or the type of cask they fabricated.

Dry-coopering is the making of barrels for holding non-liquid substances, such as flour, sugar or fish. It is considered the least specialised category of the craft. For making this type of barrel the cooper mainly uses fir staves , bound together with ash or hazel hoops. ii The staves themselves are less tightly edged together than in wet coopering, and the finished barrels are far less bulged.

White coopering is that of making pails, butter churns, ash tubs, and a variety of other utensils for dairy and household use. The main material used by the white cooper was oak, but for dairy utensils he used a great deal of sycamore.

By far the most important, of the category of cooperage is that of the wet cooper who makes barrels to hold liquids. His work is more exacting as he must make and mount his staves so they will afford the necessary tightness.

It appears that in large cooperages in Europe the cooper purchased his staves and headings already prepared. The write ^{? writes} on cooperage in Descriptions des Arts et Metiers mentions that they were purchased elsewhere and Edlin in Woodland Crafts in Britain states that "Barrel staves have been imported to Britain for so long and in such large quantities that the cleaving of them from freshly felled oak is now rarely practised here." He mentions that in the great forest of Troncais, in the Allier Department of central France, the art of making staves is still carried on, and that tradition asserts it has been carried on since Roman times. Mr. Edlin's book was published in 1949 and he writes that he had visited this place. His description of the first process is interesting: The tree used is oak, cut from trees averaging three feet in diameter. The great logs are first of all cross-cut to length and then cleft into segments with wedges and a mallet until the pieces are small enough to handle. Each trimmed segment is then carried to a Y-shaped frame or break, composed of the natural fork of a tree and standing on three posts within a rough woodland shelter. (see illustrations A and B, pp. 26-27) A tool resembling the English froe and having a handle two-and-a-half feet long, is then used to cleave the segment into two or more staves. (see iii. tool section, page 32, fig. 11.) The description that follows is similar to that included in this report.

Coopering remains one of the few crafts where hand methods have not been superseded by machinery, and where the methods have not changed substantially for centuries.

Plate I
Diderot.

• Worker a is preparing a stave over the block using a cooper's curved axe (page 1).
• b is shaving a stave on the shaving-horse (page 3).
• c is planning a stave over the jointer (page 4).
• d is mounting a barrel (page 6).
• e is tightening the barrel with a windlass that draws the staves tights (page 7).
• f making the notch on the hoop (page 16).
• g placing the cross-bar with a cant-hook (page 18).
• h driving the hoops with a driver or drift (page 17)

Plate II

Déscriptions de Arts et Métiers.

• Fig. 1Worker who is preparing a stave with an axe over the block.
• Fig. 2Work who is shaving the stave over the block with the broad axe.
• Fig. 3Manner of cutting a stave over the shaving-horse: the worker is seated with a leg over each side of the bench, and with a draw-knife cuts the stave. The stave is held in the vice by pressing across-piece below with his foot.
• Fig. 4Worker dressing the stave over the blade of the jointer.
• Fig. 5Planks for the bottom placed on an old barrel. Worker traces a mark for cutting with a compass.
• Fig. 6Worker who saws the planks for the bottom, following the mark.
• Fig. 7Worker who mounts or builds a barrel, and who arranges the staves around the hoop.
• Fig. 8When the barrel is held at one of its ends with one or two hoops, each stave a the opposite end tends to move apart and in order to press them together the cooper uses the windlass and places a hoop similar to the other end hoop around them to hold them securely.
• Fig. 9The barrel placed in the cutting-horse. The worker forms the groove by moving the croze around the interior circumference of the barrel.

The Various Operations in Making a Barrel

Most of the operations described are from Déscriptions Des Arts Et Métiers Art Du Tonnelier, Tome VII, Neuchatel, 1777. Ed. J. E. Bertrand.

The section on tools, pages 30 to 42, are from Diderot, Recueil De Planches, Tonnelier, Tome X, Paris, 1777, unless otherwise stated.

The various operations described:

• 1. Preparation of the staves, pp. 1-5.
• 2. Mounting the barrel, pp. 6-8.
• 3.Trimming the staves and cutting the croze, pp. 9-12.
• 4.Preparation of the cross-pieces for the bottoms, pp. 13-15.
• 5.Mounting the bottoms, p. 15.
• 6.Method of placing and fastening the hoops around a barrel, pp. 16-17.
• 7.7. Re-enforcing the bottoms, pp. 18-19.
• 8.The bung hole and parts of a barrel, p. 20.
• 9.Iron re-binding hoop, p. 21.
• 10.Making hoops. (from Edlin) p. 22-25.
• 11.Illustration A. Rough preparation of material for staves and bottoms, p.26.
• 12.Illustration B, Break, p. 27.
• 13.Flagging iron and il1ustration of use, p. 28.
• 14Cooper's brace or dowelling stocks, p. 28.
• 15.Cleaver or splitter. Preparation of the cane for binding hoops, p.29.
• 16.Cooper's tools, pp. 30-42.
• 17.Evidence of cooper's tools in colonial Virginia, p. 43-44.
• 18.Evidence of iron bound casks, p. 44.
• 19.Bibliography, p. 45.

1.

PREPARATION OF THE STAVES

The cooper stacks his stave-wood or stuff (an eighteenth-century expression to designate the wood an object is to be made from) close to the block he is going to cut them on. He has two types of blocks for this purpose: 1. A round block of wood with legs raised about three feet from the ground. On the surface of the block are two up-right smaller pieces, one smooth at the top and the other with a short extension, Fig. 10. Fig. 10 2. Another type of block is one made from a wooden hub of a wagon, in the opening where the axle of the cart was inserted is placed a smaller block and to the side of the hub is placed an upright piece that has on its top a small raised piece, Fig. 11. Fig. 11 Note that the working surface of each of these blocks is similar Although these blocks greatly ease the cutting of the stave-wood or stuff they are not altogether necessary as this work could be performed on any hard surface. Note in plate I, Diderot, worker a is preparing a stave over the hub type block; and in plate II, Déscriptions, Figs. 1 and 2.

To understand better the processes performed on the stave one should keep in mind the shape of a barrel. The fact that it bulges out in the middle and is of a circular shape. Therefore it is necessary that each stave is given the proper shape to accomplish this. These operations require experience and skill on the part of the worker.

First preparation: on the block with a froe and broad or side axe.

The cooper takes the stave-wood or stuff and placing it on the block roughly cuts it with the frow into the proper size. Then with a broad or side axe he proceeds to roughly shape the stave as follows: 2. Side or Broad Axe Froe, Frow, or Fromard

• (1)Cuts it into a rough shape and to size, fig. 1
• (2)Trims the outside middle portion of the stave lengthwise sos that the middle is thicker than the sides. This gives a convex shape to the outside of the stave, fig. 2. (You will note in the illustration, figure 2, that only the exterior part of the stave is given a semi-circular shape. The Author in Déscriptions states that it is not necessary to shape the interior of the stave in a concave manner. However, the interior of most staves were given a concave shape.)
• (3)Cuts the width at each end so that the middle width is greater than the two ends, fig. 3. (see illustration A).

This latter operation, number 2, is necessary since the top and bottom of a barrel are smaller in diameter than the middle or bulge, as it is called. Therefore by cutting the width of the staves narrower at the two ends than in the middle, the hoops, when placed around the staves and tightened, draw in these narrow ends and gives the barrel a smaller diameter at the top and bottom than in the bulge.

3.

Fig. 1.
Rough Cut.

Fig. 2.
Convex shape.

Fig. 3.
Cut narrow at the ends, wider at the middle A.

Second preparation: on the shaving-horse with a draw-knife.

Shaving horse:

Draw-knife.

The stave is then held in the shaving-horse between the jaws, H & E, and setting on the bench the cooper draws the draw-knife over the roughly cut surfaces he has previously made, further smoothing them out.

This operation is shown in Plate I, worker b; and in Plate II, fig. 3.

4.

Third preparation: on the jointer. Bevel of the stave.

He then finishes the stave with the use of the jointer. On the jointer the bevel or slope to the edges of the stave are cut. The worker holds the stave uprights and sideways slightly inclining the stave as he pushes it over and away from himself on the blade of the jointer, and thus cuts the bevel or slope. The use of the jointer is seen in Plate I, worker c; and Plate II, fig. 4. See illustration below.

Staves beveled and placed together. A is the slope.

The purpose of this bevel is to give the circular shape to the barrel. When the staves are mounted the outer edges of the staves come together while the inner edges are separated. When the hoops are applied and drawn these inner edges will joine.

When these operations are completed the staves are then ready for mounting.

Some coopers have patterns for the purpose of the curve or convex shape of the stave for various types of barrels. These patterns are placed over the exterior surface of the stave to determine if the stave has the right curve.

Another similar pattern is used for marking and checking the bevel or slope of the stave. You will note that the part a b instead of being perpendicular as in the other 5. patterns has a definite slope. This slope is used to measure the bevel of the stave. When the pattern is placed over the stave the space formed by a b is the slope desired.

6.

Mounting the barrel¹

When the staves are prepared they are placed in a stack ready for mounting.

To mount the barrel he begins by tieing four hoops whose dimensions will conform to the barrel he is constructing. Two of these hoops, called bulge-hoops, will be placed approximately six inches from each side of the bung-hole and the other two hoops, called head-hoops, are placed near the cross-groove at both ends. The cooper, in order to be exact in making these four hoops, has several iron hoops of different sizes according to the gage of the barrel that he proposes to construct. It is around these iron hoops that he binds the hoops mentioned above. He arranges the number of staves he feels will form his barrel as shown in fig. 1, or places them upright along a wall.

Fig. 1.
Bundle of hoops
A - the bundle.
B - the stave prop.
C - the hoop.

The cooper then takes one of the head-hoops that will regulate the dimension of the barrel at the cross-groove. On the inside of this hop he screws the cooper's vice, fig. 2.

Fig. 2.
b - the cooper's vice.

7.

He first chooses the largest stave and leans it against the vice. At the side of this one he places a second, third, fourth, etc., fig. 3. When he has only a small place left to fill and his last stave will not fit he either trims one to fit, or removes the preceding stave and trys to fill the space with one wider.

Fig. 3. Setting up the Staves.

When all the staves are in the hoop he strikes them at the top and on the inside to make them fit in place. He then places one of the bulge-hoops, which is larger than the head hoop, below the first head hoop and drives it in place around the staves, fig. 4.

To finish the other end, he turns it over and places the rope of the windlass around this un-hooped end, fig. 5. The rope is tightened by means of the small lever b, which when turned draws in the staves. Around this end he then places the second head hoop, drives it down, and releases the windlass. He then places the second bulge hoop below the head hoop and drives it in place, fig. 6. The barrel, now held by four hoops, is ready for the operation of placing a head at both^each ends.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Fig. 6.

8.

Windlass
E - the rope that goes around the staves.
C - the part that is next to the staves.

9.

TRIMMING THE STAVES AND CUTTING THE CROZE.

The barrel is now mounted but neither the outside nor inside of the barrel forms a perfect round appearance, rather the various staves form a polygon. This necessitates two operations on the inside top edges of the staves before one can cut the croze for receiving the bottom of the barrel. To better understand these operations study fig. 1. You will note that the croze is a recessed groove cut into the staves in which the bottom will fit; the chime is that portion between the croze and the end of the barrel; and the chamfer is the sloping ends of the staves.

Fig. 1. Staves mounted.

10.

Study the tool called a croze in fig. 2. A, B, C, are from Diderot and Déscriptions and D is from a modern tool catalog. The similarity is obvious. In D note the iron of the croze — saw like teeth enclosed in a cover of sheet-iron. Déscriptions describes the iron of the croze in the same manner. This cover is adjustable as to depth of cut desired. In making the croze or groove in the staves the guard a runs around the edges of the stave and regulates evenly the cut of the saw tooth blade on the inside. The croze is generally cut 5 or 6 inches below the edges^ends of the staves. ^{? PB}

Fig. 2. Croze.

The two necessary operations before the croze can be cut are: first, the edges of the staves must be equal, if not this would give an uneven cut tot he croze. Second, the interior of the staves where the croze is to be cut must be smooth and circular. If not this would give an unequal depth to the cut.

Trimming the staves: The barrel, held by the hoops, is placed up-right on an even surface and the staves struck in place and even with the ground. The barrel is then placed, with the even end toward the back, in a trimming-horse, fig. 3. He then, with a hatchet, cuts off the uneven staves.

11.

The edges are then smoothed with a "sun" or "topping" plane. Fig. 4.

Fig. 3. Trimming-horse.

Fig. 4. "Sun" or "Topping" plane.

Smoothing the interior of the staves: So that the croze will have an even depth the surface of the staves on the inside will have to be smoothed. This may be performed with a round shave, fig. 5. You will note in figure 1, a recessed area in which the croze is cut. This is cut with a howel, fig. 6. This has a convex sole and iron. This makes a smooth circle for the croze to follow.

Fig. 5.
Round shaves.

Fig. 6.
Howel.

Chamfer: This operation is not necessary but is done on most barrels, See fig. 1. The author of Déscriptions states that this gives a certain neatness to the barrel "without doubt because our eyes are accustomed to it." He also states that it is easier to carry by its ends with this chamfer and further that it is claimed that the wood by being chamfered is less likely to splinter. The tool used is a chamfer or sometimes called a "jigger." Fig. 7.

12.

Fig. 7.

Cutting the croze: The croze is cut while the barrel is fastened in the trimming-horse with the croze, fig. 2. The croze or groove is cut from 1/6 to 1/4 inch deep depending on the type of barrel made. Déscriptions states that this operation does not demand a great skill but only force and precise attention so that he will not give the groove more depth in one place than another.

The author of Déscriptions inserts an interesting sideline at this point. He writes that in some coopers' shops where each worker has a set task to perform the groove-cutter plays a trick on the apprentice by giving him a barrel with the edges badly trimmed so that when he runs the croze around the circumference of the edges the cut would be uneven!

The croze made the cooper can now arrange the bottoms that are to form the two ends of the barrel.

13.

PREPARATION OF THE (CROSS-PIECES FOR THE ^HeadsBOTTOMS.)

The wood that is to be used to make the stretchers or cross-pieces for the bottoms^heads would be prepared in the same manner as the staves. They would be first roughly cut into size on the block with a frow and further shaped with the adze or cooper's axe. They then would be placed in the shaving horse, and the outer side only would be smoothed down and the edges would be leveled by a plane or on the jointer so that when joined there would be no intervals between them.

The bottoms^heads of the barrel may be made from several pieces; four, five, or six. The plank or two planks that are to make the center of the bottoms^Heads are generally larger than the side pieces. Déscription calls the center piece or pieces the main or principle piece; the side pieces, braces; and the corner pieces, cants.

Four cross-pieces.

Five cross-pieces.

Six cross-pieces.

A or AA	- main or principal piece.
	(Middle piece).
B B	- the braces or side pieces.
C C	- The cants.

14.

To cut the pieces into the desired diameter for the bottoms^heads of the barrel under construction he first measures with a compass the diameter at the top of his mounted staves at the place he has cut the croze and then laying the planks for making the bottoms on an old barrel and clamping them down with a clamp he places the point of one arm of the compass in the center of the middle piece and proceeds to mark with the other arm of the compass around the planks thus marking where they are to be cut. Plate II, fig. 5, shows the worker marking the planks for cutting.

Bottom pieces marked to be cut. A - the mark.

Compass

Each of these pieces are then placed on the bench of the shaving-horse and holding them with his knee, as shown in Plate II, fig. 6, he saws the planks with a turning or bow saw by following the trace marked by the compass but being sure to leave the trace mark visible.

Turning or Bow-saw

He then forms a bevel or slope at the edge of each plank so that they will fit into the croze he has made in the staves. Cooper's saw (Diderot) 15. He places, in turn, each plank in the jaws of the shaving-horse. In this operation the mark that he left on the planks serve as a guide for this slope. He uses either a plane or the chamfering knife for this purpose. The planks when finished are then ready to be placed in the barrel to form the bottoms.

MOUNTING THE BOTTOMS^Heads?

To mount the bottoms^heads tho cooper loosens the head-hoop or the barrel. First he places the two corner-pieces or cants in the croze of the staves and then the side pieces and strikes them with a mallet so as to enter the croze.

With these pieces in place there remains but one opening for the middle piece and hence the cooper can no longer place his hand in and under the cross-pieces as he places this last one in place. He uses the cooper's vise which he inserts into the middle-piece and using this as what one might call a handle, places the middle piece in the croze. The staves are then struck all around on the outside with a mallet to drive them more firmly in the croze and tight. Then the head-hoop is replaced and tightened.

16.

METHOD OF PLACING AND FASTENING THE HOOPS AROUND A BARREL

The hoops are always longer than the circumference of the barrel at the place they are to be fastened. In order to bind the barrel the cooper takes a hoop and places it around the barrel at the place it is to go. He holds one end of the hoop in his right hand and with the left holds the same side of the hoop at about three quarters from the right hand. With the right hand he applies that end against the barrel at a place he has previously marked. Thus the middle of the hoop is raised and with his left hand he successively moves around the hoop pressing it against the barrel. When he reaches the middle part of the hoop he raises it against the barrel. When he reaches the middle part of the hoop he raises this right hand so that the starting end of the hoop he first applied against the barrel is now raised a little and places his right hand where his left now holds the hoop. He thus literally walks around the barrel pressing his hoop in place. When he reaches the end from where the excess portion if to be cut leaving enough space to place the notches he cuts at each end in order to bind the hoop together. He then removes the hoop, cuts it, and notches the ends. This may be seen in Plate I, worker f. He unites the two ends by placing the notches in one another and binds it at this place with blades of cane. He then places the hoop over the barrel.

Hoops
A - the notches.

17.

So as not to damage the hoop when forcing it down and around the barrel at the place marked he uses a driver or drift, a sort of wedge of wood or iron which he strikes with a mallet forcing the hoop to descend. Thus the barrel is completed. This last operation may be seen in Plate I, worker h.

Driver or drift.

18.

RE-ENFORCING THE BOTTOMS^Heads

It is sometimes necessary to re-enforce the bottoms ^heads of large barrels. This is done by the use of a cross-bar run opposite to the cross-pieces that formed the bottom and is held by pegs that are driven into the ends of the staves.

Cross-bar.
AA - the bevel.

Pegs. A - the head.
B - the point.

The bar to support the bottoms^? is composed of a piece of wood the diameter of the bottom^head. it is about four inches wide and one inch thick. This bar is prepared with an axe and smoothed with a plane. The ends are beveled to a point 5 or 6 inches from the ends. This bevel is the length and slope of the pegs that will hold it in place.

In the ends of the staves are bored holes with the bar-borer that serves for the pegs to be driven into. This hole is made about 2 inches above the bottom and is the diameter of the narrow end of the pegs. The pegs are tapered, cut at right angles at the taper end and are 4 or 5 inches long. He first drives these pegs in the holes on one side and then places ^? under the pegs and on top of the bottom the cross-bar. This tends to raise the other end of the cross-bar and in order to press this end down the cooper uses a cant or lever hook.

Bar-borer

He places a of the hook against a hoop and the end b over the cross-bar and using the handle as a lever raises it forcing this end of the cross-bar down. Thus holding it he secures it with similar pegs as he did the other side. See plate I, worker g. Illustration following page.

Cant or Lever hook.

19.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Cross-bars:

Fig. 1.	Cross-bar held at each end by three pegs.
Fig. 2.	Cross-bar held at each end by five pegs.
Fig. 3.	Cross-bar held at each end by ten pegs.
A -	the bottom.
B -	The cross-bar.
C -	the pegs.

Completed barrels.

A -	bung-hole.
D -	cross-bar.

20.

As both bottoms of a liquid barrel are securely fastened it is necessary to have an opening in the middle of the barrel to extract the liquid within. This is referred to as a bung-hole and the plug used for closing the bunghole is called a bung. The tool used to bore this opening is called a bung-borer, see illustration.

Bung-borer

From: The Wooden Barrel Manual, Revised, 1951, The Associated Cooperage Industries of America, Inc., St. Louis, Mo.

21.

Iron re-binding hoop.

The iron hoop illustrated is for the purpose of re-binding-casks of wine and other liquids.

Various liquid casks were stored in caves or cellars where the dampness might tend to rot the hoops. The hoops are more likely to rot than the staves and therefore it is necessary that these casks be inspected from time to time and any hoop that need replacing is taken care of. If it was not advisable to replace the hoop with a wooden one an iron hoop was used. This is made of sections, flat but circular and the sections were hooked together. At the end is a screw-nut that is drawn together when the hoop is placed around the barrel. Déscriptions des Art et Métiers)

22.

MAKING HOOPS.

The making of hoops was generally a separate craft, although it is more than probable that the colonial cooper in most cases made his own hoops and staves.

Hazel wood was the favorite material, though chestnut, oak, birch, and other types of wood are used. Ash is used for stronger hoops intended for special purposes.

Method of making: There are three stages in the making of a hoop:

26.

ILLUSTRATION A.

Fig,. 1.
Edlin

Fig,. 2.
Edlin

Fig. 1, shows the log being cut into rough sections for staves or bottoms. The axe is held by one worker while the other strikes the axehead with a bestle, splitting the log into sections.

Fig. 2. Shows the split section being roughly trimmed with an ax.

27.

ILLUSTRATION B.

Edlin

30.

[Cooper's Tools]

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 1. Billhook. Sharp edge. Used to point wood.

Fig. 2. Cleaving-knife: Double beveled sharp edge. Used to trim rough wood. Or to rough-hew the work. Also could be sued to split the wood.

Fig. 3. Broad axe.

Used to roughly trim down the staves & to thin the ends of the hoops at the place where they are to be tied with wicket.

31.

Figs. 4 & 5.

Figs. 6 & 7.

Figs. 4 & 5. Round shaves. Has a very sharp cutting iron, curved in a half circle and has attached a small handle to render it more easy to use.

Figs. 6 & 7. Adz. This tool is used to round off a piece of work on the inside.

Figs. 20, 21, & 22.

Fig. 20. Flat pincers.
Fig. 21. Tongs or pincers.
Fig. 22. Square pincers.

32.

Fig. 10

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

Fig. 10. Mallet.
Fig. 11. Froe. A. cutting blade, B., handle. Used to split the stave stuff.
Fig. 12. Mallet or beetle, used to strike the frow.

Figs. 8 & 9. Drives or Drifts

The cooper places one end on the hoop that he wishes to drive and strikes the other end with a mallet in order to make the hoop tighten on the barrel.

Fig. 13. Cooper's vise. See text.

33.

Fig. 4. Shaving Horse.

Fig. 5. Jointer.

Fig. 134. Shows method of shaving the stave on the jointer.
Edlin.

34.

Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Patterns for measuring the curve of the staves.

Figs. 24 & 25. Cant hooks.

Cant hooks may be used to force the last or head hoop on the barrel.

Figs. 13-17

Figs. 13 and 17. Croze.
Fig. 16. Croze iron.
Fig. 14. Side piece of croze.
Fig. 15. Beam that fits into A of fig. 14.

35.

Figs. 12-14.

Fig. 12. Cooper's plane.
Fig. 13. Wedge
Fig. 14. The iron.

Figs. 15 & 16.

Fig. 15. Draw knife.
Fig. 16. Draw-knife. Appears to be a hollowing knife or hollowing-shave.

Figs. 8 & 9.

Fig. 8. Spring compass.
Fig. 9. Compass.

36.

Figs. 28 & 29. Braces with their bits.

Fig. 31. Boring tool or small bung borer. Used on casks of wine.
Handle is used instead of a hammer to drive in the spigot.

Fig. 32. Tap borer.
Fig. 33. Bung-borer.

Fig. 30. étanchoir, a kind of knife to set stuffing. (étoupe) = Those that the cooper uses is ordinarily made from ragged linen cloth, reduced to lint. i.e. this would be used similar to the flagging iron.

37.

Figs. 26 & 27. Form used to make the bung (or plug).

Figs. 36 & 37. Bungs made.

Figs. 26 & 27.

Fig. 26. Hand saw.
Fig. 27. Turning or bow saw.

38.

Fig. 3. "La selle a rogner."
Cutting or trimming horse.

Fig. 7

Fig. 6

Fig. 6 and 7. Windlass.

39.

Fig. 14. Truss-hoop.

Figs. 15 and 16. Screw-hoop.

A re-binding hoop. Used when it is not advisable to replace a rotten hoop with a wood one.

Figs. 17 & 18.

Shows the various parts of the screw-hoop above. See page 21 for explanation of the use of this hoop.

40.

Fig. 1 & Fig. 2.

Fig. 1. Bump, a kind of siphon made to transpose liquids.

Fig. 2. A chip of beech wood made to purify and clarify wine.

Fig. 7 & Fig. 8.

Fig. 7. Large sledge for raising or lowering barrels.

Fig. 8. Same type of sledge with a windlass.

41.

Fig. 5 and 11. Blocks used to work the rough material into staves and bottoms.

Fig. 4. small sledge.

Fig. 21. Drag, carriage for transporting barrels.

42.

Figs. 1 and 12. Slings and tackle for hoisting.
Fig. 2. the hooks.
Figs. 3 & 4. The tackle block.

43.

Evidence of cooper's tools in Colonial Virginia.

The below listed tools are by no means complete. It does indicate the kind of tools used in Colonial Virginia.

1671-72:	Gimlets, Hand saws, adzs, round shaves, fores, large compasses, Augers, Bills, cross cut saws.1
1678:	Large files, axes, augers, plaining irons.2
1701:	"To 2 old Cooper Joynters…1 Cooper ax" hand saws, drawing knife.3
1709:	large gimlets, smaller gimlets, Bung Augers, Augers, plain irons & spoke shave, Crouse (croze) irons, handsaws, Brod (broad) axes, Coopers Brod (Broad) ax, adzes, 1 Cooper's adz.4
1728:	Inventory of Thomas Lord Fairfax's estate: Listed under tools. 6 hand Saws, 4 adzes, 1 hatchet, 26 augurs, 6 Drawing Knives, 7 Spike Gimlets, 4 Crescent Saws, 2 Hhd. crows, 1 Hhd. Compass, 1 hoop Dog, 2 spoke Shavers, 1 hoop anvil, 2 cooper joiners, 4 dowell Bits, 4 whip Saws, 2 cooper adzes, 2 cooper axes, 1 coopers Vice, 1 hollow drawing knife, 1 heading * do (drawing knife), 1 large bung borer, 49 axes, 2 Crow bars, 1 Jointer Iron, 3 plane Irons, 2 Bung Borers. (Only those tools that could be used by a cooper were copied).5
1766:	Cooper's tools advertised for sale in Norfolk Virginia. Cooper's adzes, cooper's axes, jointer and coopers irons, carpenters and cooper's bits, cooper's vices and tools, compasses, augers, gimlets, drawing knives.6
44.
1771:	An order for Cooper's tools: 3 Drawing knives; 3 Howells, 6 dowelling Bitts, 3 adzes, 3 Axes; 3 Jointers Irons. This order was received by a Williamsburg Carpenter.7

Evidence of Iron Bound Casks.

1771:	Inventory of Anthony Hay, Williamsburg Tavern Keeper (Raleigh Tavern).
	"1 iron bound Hogshead of Rum…"8
	Inventory of William Dudley, York County.
	"2 Iron bound Casks with abt. (about) 38 Gallons of Rum & 2 brass Cocks…"9