The Wood Pile Strikes Back

Crafting the barrel: Where a skilled trade becomes artistry.

 

- Jim Dykstra

So here we are. We have an idea of what it takes to become a cooper, and we’ve examined foudriers, the “aristocrats of the trade,” in the words of Dick Cantwell.

But what sort of Jedi mastery does it really take to craft a barrel? What are the tools? What do they do? And what does the wood do to the beer? Let’s find out.

The Cooper’s arsenal

As we know, coopers are a rare bunch. They’re able to handle rough, taxing physical labor without faltering more than a thousandth of an inch during measurement-taking, sawing, shaving, fitting, hammering and more.

But before hand tools enter the equation, it starts with one of our most primitive, and powerful tools: the eye. Which tree is going to produce the best wood for barrel-making? There are usually arborists whose entire profession revolves around cultivating and harvesting the wood needed for barrels, but a well-trained cooper can find what he or she needs: Is it straight, tall, thick, and ready for “seasoning” – where it will be aged for a number of years, generally open to the elements? If so, it’s time to harvest, removing a wedge from the tree in the direction it is aimed to fall, often with lines to help guide, sometime between December and March, as that’s the time when trees are least moist, and easiest to fell.

Branches are removed, and the appropriately sized and grained pieces between the trunk and top are cut in stave-sized sections, also called bolts.

Again, the cooper will generally step in a bit later in the process, but any self-respecting cooper will have an array of saws and axes, for splitting, chopping and cutting in any other format, the wood he needs, and more likely in a different era, would do so.