The cooperage was mainly concentrated around large merchant cities, such as Gdansk, Krakow, Lviv, Wroclaw, and the salt mines in Bochnia, Wieliczka, Bydgoszcz and Drohobych. Specialization of production can be seen here. Some produced barrels, others bales, and still others bulbs or hoops. In small towns and villages, coopers supplied the local community with needed equipment and utensils.
Since the late 19th century, however, the slow decline of this craft can be seen, mainly due to the influx of iron, stoneware and glassware into the rural market, as well as the lack of raw material, primarily oak and pine wood. Much of the competition for rural cooperage came from the production of urban and small-town workshops, which, with better equipment, were able to produce a larger quantity of cheaper wares.
Coop products replaced caddy vessels. Initially, they consisted of two, or at most several parts put together. Natural shapes that nature produced were used or damaged hollowware was repaired. Over time, containers made of staves, standardized elements, made by craftsmen at a convenient time and place, became popular, cheaper and less labor-intensive.
Depending on the purpose of the vessel, coopers used different types of wood to create it. Springy and hard wood (oak, pine, beech) was used to make barrels, while soft wood (aspen, alder, larch) was used to make butlers or buckets. The necessary raw material was gathered in winter. Most preferably, the tree was purchased "on the trunk" in the forest. Then they were divided into appropriate lengths and subjected to "sprucing", that is, leveling both surfaces and profiling the boards. Thus prepared, they were ready for lying. Then, sorted by length, they were stacked in well-ventilated areas. The stored hardwood planks dried (seasoned) for about three years, and softwood planks for about two years. The seasoning time was very important, as the durability of the manufactured vessels depended on it.
The dried raw material was returned to the cooper's workshop on the coblolly, where it underwent preliminary processing. At this stage, the most important thing was to carefully smooth and give a bevel to the sides of the stave, as the durability of the vessel depended on this. Wooden semicircular templates were used to control the accuracy of this process.
The technique of assembling vessels with straight staves was not complicated, but required extreme accuracy, especially for vessels used for storing liquids. To begin with, a structural skeleton was created, which consisted of an auxiliary rim, known as a joint, and staves set tightly inside the rim. Then the vessel was scooped onto one or more auxiliary rims, which guaranteed its stability, and fixed rims were prepared. They used to be made of wood, sawn rods of hazel, spruce, sawn strips of aspen or willow. They were tied, using various types of buckles and jams. After the proper hoops were put in place, the auxiliary ones were removed, and then they proceeded to level and clean the walls of the vessel. Subsequently, the bottom was assembled.
The staves in bentwood vessels, like those in barrels, were initially arranged like straight staves and put together in a joint. Due to their shape, they were joined only in the middle part, while they did not meet in the upper and lower parts. The process of pulling them together was carried out using special vices. To be effective, the wood was subjected to plasticization (roasting). For this purpose, the inside of the barrel was soaked, and then it was put on the hearth with a lit fire, until the staves became flexible and could be properly formed. The further stage of production was the same as for simple vessels.
Finished oak barrels were sometimes subjected to soaking to rid them of dye and unpleasant odor. This process usually took 3 to 5 days. Large oak vats had to be limed first and then soaked.
Among coopers' wares, the most numerous items on display were vessels with straight staves, such as bread bowls, cabbage pods, butter churns, onions, watering cans, buckets, fasks for storing loose products and meat, vats, tubs, washing tubs and measures for measuring grain. Among vessels made of bent staves, it is worth mentioning in particular barrels, barrels for transporting milk, and barrels for vodka or honey.
It was said that a well-made barrel, rolled on the ground without a rim, should not lose its staves. This was not an easy task. Having such skills meant that the profession of cooper was highly valued in the countryside. Proof of this can be found in all sorts of adages and proverbs, such as: the cooper will shell out a penny, then a hundred people will wake up.
Elaborated. Joanna Radziewicz
Photo: polona.pl - public domain
Photo: Folk Architecture Museum in Sanok
Based on the book by Zbigniew Adam Skuza "Ginące zawody w Polsce". Warsaw, 2006.
