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In the 1800's, a barrel-maker, or “cooper” was an important man. Everything went into barrels: food like grains, salted meats or pickled goods, or booze. These goods were shipped in barrels or casks, making early mass, centralized production possible. A homesteader often owned a skill or two in addition to live a self-sufficient life, this is often included the Barrel-making. Where you may come in as a self-sufficient person or homesteader is wishing to connect with ancestral knowledge. Maybe you have a whole lot of something (like wine) and you need a container for it. Well, here we go. A step-by-step walkthrough on barrel-making, some equipment required. Here is what we can suggest for self-sufficient living once again! Cut down an oak tree. French oak is typically used in winemaking, as it keeps the barrel airtight, but any oak will do, especially if the barrel is intended to store grain or some other solid. If this is your first barrel, you may not be able to store liquids in it, as it may turn out as a loose barrel. The oak tree should be five feet and diameter and 100 years old. Coopers, as per their trade, needed to be able to tell a fine tree for barrel-making when they saw it. The tree must also be free from infectious disease, such as burrowing insects that would damage the wood. Now you will remove the branches from the trunk and, using the upper part of your log, you'll hand-split the log into quarters. Hand-splitting maintains the integrity of the wood, for an air-tight barrel. Now you'll cut the staves, which are planks, from the trunk at the desired length and width. You'll end up with anywhere from 24 to 36 staves. Next, you'll age the staves by air-drying them. For a wine barrel, this will take three years. This involves keeping the staves at a 15% humidity level over that time. Three Years Later... Hope it went well for you. Now, these staves have to be shaped. You're going to taper the ends and cut the edges to a bevel, the idea being that the staves have to fit tightly together in a hoop. A cooper used a variety of hand-tools that you'll have to find and make yourself familiar with, as modern coopers use factory mills. Fit the staves together inside a hoop. The trick here is keeping them leaning on one another in a bit of a tipi-shape. When all of them are fit together properly, apply another hoop and bang it into place, tightening the staves together. Now you'll bend the splayed-out bottoms of the staves with a winch until another hoop can be fitted over them and permanent hoops will be placed over your fitting hoops. Now comes the toasting. You'll start a fire inside the barrel's frame that will char the wood at about 350 degrees for a length of about 40 minutes. Coopers used pitch or glue to seal their barrels, but if you're going to be storing liquor in your barrels, you have to toast the inside to your intended level. Next comes fitting the head, using a tool called a croze. You'll need to fit heading planks together and cut them to the circumference of the barrels openings on both sides. Slide them into a groove (also called a croze), near the mouth of the barrel. Drill a bung (a small hole near the center of the side of your barrel), if your intention is making wine or liquor. If not, no bung.Sand your barrel and fill it with water and compressed air to check for leaks. If there are no leaks, you have a barrel fit for liquids. If there are leaks, you have a fine barrel for flour. Congratulations either way. To find out more about barrel-making and other survival skills, visit a modern cooperage, or find someone with the tools and the know-how to teach you the craft. Since old-fashioned coopers' hand-tools can't be found at your local hardware store, you may have to do some searching. And guidance from someone who is well-acquainted with the craft beats an article any day, so go find a teacher. Good luck, apprentice cooper. About Author:- Self sufficient blog is an online community who learn to bemore self- sufficient and less dependent on the economic system, the job market, the government.
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