Cooper's workshop

A barrel was assembled from staves, whose shape determined whether the vessel would hold liquid. The museum's cooper's tools illustrate work from splitting the log to fitting the bottom. A wooden mallet and splitting iron helped divide the timber; the staves were then cut and planed so that their edges could meet.

A long plane smoothed the mating surfaces. Templates checked the curvature and angle of the sides before the pieces were assembled in metal hoops. The hoops shaped the first part of the barrel and held the staves together. The next stage involved wetting the timber and drawing it together over a fire. Heat and moisture thus formed part of manufacture, not merely the vessel's later use.

The bottom fitted into a groove cut inside the vessel near its edge. Its radius was measured with a large wooden compass. A film supplements the tools, showing the sequence from preparing the staves through planing and bending to work on the bottom. This sequence helps distinguish tools for cutting, measuring and tightening.