BARREL MAKING AND COOPER INITIATING (1949)
Various very good shots of the process of beer-barrel making and Coopering includes workmen planing pieces of oak, assembling the barrel with staves and softening timber over fire. M/Ss of apprentice Arthur Harding being lifted into newly made barrel by his work mates for his initiation as a journeyman cooper. Men his the side of the barrel with hammers, they smile and laugh. A man drops oak shavings inside the barrel followed a bucket of water. Several shots of the workmen rolling barrel round the workshop. M/Ss of Arthur being tossed in the air by his work mates.
1 – He is a cooper. One of the men who makes the barrels.
2 – The staves are trimmed and hollowed out on one side.
3 – Towards the making of one barrel go anything from 18 to 24 staves which are stood in a circle side by side inside an iron hoop.
4 – The sides of each are trimmed and narrowed in the middle.
5 – One stave at a time, the barrel takes shape under the experienced hands of the cooper who, working by eye alone can produce a barrel.
6 – More hoops are added to keep the staves in place.
7 – Finally the barrel is placed over a fire to soften so the remaining hoops can be added.
8 – His apprenticeship is off. He is ready for initiation of a journeyman cooper.
9 – Old shavings from the original staves are added followed up by a bucket of water. Next two free pints of beer.
10 – The barrel is rolled round the floor.