COOPER
All pictures from Colonial Williamsburg
(www.history.org) |
Tools
The tools the cooper needs are rivet hammers, wood, axes, planes, and drawknives. They use the tools to make barrels and buckets. A lot of people need barrels and buckets because they need buckets to carry water and food. Skills If you want to be a Cooper you have to be strong, accurate, and be able to cut, shape, and measure wood. The skills are meant for lifting heavy things like big barrels, buckets, and tubs. You must have experience lifting heavy pieces of wood. What the shop looked like The Cooper’s shop was called a cooperage. It had wood chips on the floor. There was lots and lots and lots of wood. It had a lot of barrels, buckets, and tubs. How the trade helped the community The Cooper helped people get their stuff to another place by making the people barrels, buckets, and tubs. People needed to ship tobacco and other products in barrels to England so they could sell it to make money. |