The Last Master Cooper

April 23, 2015 7:28 AM

Master barrel maker Alastair Simms speaks with Clare Finney about the history, skill and significance of his craft at his Yorkshire-based cooperage
posted by the man of twists and turns (17 comments total)

That was a very interesting read! Barrels seem like incredibly difficult things to make.
posted by sleevener at 7:45 AM on April 23, 2015

Thank you. Interesting read about a great tradition. Let's hope he finds an apprentice or two who want to carry it on.
posted by alms at 7:49 AM on April 23, 2015

And if he can't get a job here, what chance have you got?
posted by Naberius at 7:52 AM on April 23, 2015 [4 favorites]

Gotta love watching/reading/learning about a master tradesman at work.
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:19 AM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Clare Finney is great.
posted by Segundus at 8:28 AM on April 23, 2015

Fascinating piece, I love the little corners of the world that preserve these trades. That said I can totally see Simms being a wonderful person to know and a difficult person to work for. I wonder if that might also have some bearing on the trouble he's had finding an apprentice.
posted by Wretch729 at 8:47 AM on April 23, 2015

I've made a couple of barrels, they're not that hard to make, but making them *fast* is difficult, and making them with traditional tools is even harder. Profile the staves so they form the right shape and size barrel, bevel them so they fit together tightly, peg (traditional) or biscuit join the heads, use a plane variant to create the groove the heads fit in (traditional) or use a router, make some rings to hold it all together (as a blacksmith, this was easy, others may not have such an easy time) and hammer it all together. Charring is more of an art than anything else, the rest is fairly simple carpentry.
posted by Blackanvil at 9:04 AM on April 23, 2015 [3 favorites]

The pain of seeing a Yorkshire man wearing a Budweiser shirt, though. My god.
posted by Wolfdog at 9:27 AM on April 23, 2015 [4 favorites]

My great-grandfather was a cooper, and I have one of the paper "safety seals" he used to put over the top of the barrel once it was filled. It's kind of a neat piece of advertising/history.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:34 AM on April 23, 2015

I loved his anecdote about the people filming Heart of the Sea: The set directors and historians came to my workshop, saw some old, dirty barrels and said ‘those are perfect.’ I said, ‘they’re not, they’d be newly made in those days.’” Like when someone has a piece of paper in movie that takes place in the 18th or 19th century and the paper is all yellow and wrinkled, I will shout at the screen.
posted by marxchivist at 9:35 AM on April 23, 2015

Oh god, Barrel making is so hard, I saw a traditional coopersmith demonstration in Ireland once and got sympathy pains.
posted by The Whelk at 9:46 AM on April 23, 2015

Wolfdog: "The pain of seeing a Yorkshire man wearing a Budweiser shirt, though. My god."

Aye, in my day, you'd be lucky to be wearing a shirt made of leaves and mud. And you try and tell the young people of today that...they won't believe you.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:01 AM on April 23, 2015 [7 favorites]

Leaves and mud? Luxury!
posted by sobarel at 10:20 AM on April 23, 2015 [4 favorites]

Barrels seem like incredibly difficult things to make.

The real frustration is dealing with wandering adventurers looking for gold coins and potions.
posted by FatherDagon at 11:00 AM on April 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

dude probably has a hell of a bucket list
posted by thelonius at 11:15 AM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

The real frustration is dealing with wandering adventurers looking for gold coins and potions.

And who do you think told them there'd be gold and potions in there?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:20 AM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

as a big fan of Scotch Whiskey, all I can say is "God bless the coopers"
posted by ghostiger at 11:26 AM on April 23, 2015