Coopering
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Coopering is the art of making barrels. There were dry or wet coopers. Wet coopering required more skill as the barrels had to be water tight. The craft employed many people in the 1700s and 1800s as all liquids were moved in barrels, along with many dry agricultural products (get closer by clicking the images).
The trade declined in the 1900s with mass production of cheaper vessels. Each branch of industry had its own standard measure of barrels. For example, a hogshead of whiskey held 55 gallons, while a hogshead of brandy held 60 gallons.
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A croze was a tool used to cut a groove, also known as the croze, around the inside of the staves of a barrel, to take the head pieces. This croze stem or post, length 28cm, would have fitted into a large semicircular piece of wood called the fence (missing here). The cutting iron, contained within a brass guard, is saw-tooth shaped with a hooked hawksbill-shaped router tooth at one end to tidy up the cut. The letters OB are stamped on the wood. These may have been initials of a previous owner. Museum number 2003.3
Croze
Museum number 2000.44
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Chive plane
Museum number 2000.43
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Hoop driving head
Museum number 2002.2.3
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