THE USES OF WOOD 



WOOD USED IN THE COOPERAGE INDUSTRY 



BY HU MAXWELL 



Editor's Note:— This is the thirteenth in a series of important and very valuable articles by Mr, Maxwell on wood and its 

 uses. The series will thoroughly cover the various phases of the subject, from the beginnings in the forest through the processes 

 of logging, lumbering, transportation and milling, considering in detail the whole field of the utilization and manufacture of wood. 



THE cooperage industry includes the manufacture of There are two kinds of cooperage, commonly dis- 



barrels, kegs, staves, heading, hoops, and mher tinguished as "tight" and "slack." Tight vessels are 



articles made of staves. intended for liquids ; slack for dry articles. Classes and 



The growth or decline of this industry from year to grades come between the two extremes. The barrel that 



year cannot be conveniently shown, because the govern- carries alcoholic liquors is considered the highest class of 



ment compiles statistics only every five or ten years, and tight cooperage, while the vegetable barrel is typical of 

 the cooperage 



a s s o c 1 ations 

 have never 

 brought figures 

 together except 

 in the most 

 superficial way. 

 It is known, 

 however, that 

 the cooperage 

 industry i > 

 fairly staljlr 

 and does not 

 V a r y m u c li 

 from year to 

 year. The 

 greatest infiu 

 e n c e recently 

 has been the 

 ]) r o h i b i tion 

 m o V e m e n t 

 which has 

 t h r eatened to 

 lessen the de- 

 mand for bar- 

 rels for spirit 

 u o u s liquors. 

 Such barrels 

 const itute a 

 rather small 

 part of the 

 cooperage in- 

 dustry as a 

 whole, and the 



A MODERN WINE CELL.\R 



This wine storage room is underground at tlu- Cresta Blanca Winery. Livermore, California. A peculiar 

 ami very high-class of cooperage is used, the heads of the casks being oval instead of circular. The 

 underground tunnel assures an even temperature and contributes to the perfection of the wine. Photo- 

 graph by courtesy of the California Grape Protective Association. San Francisco. 



slack contain- 

 ers. The slack 

 barrel end of 

 the business is 

 the larger, 

 judged by 

 quantity of 

 wood required 

 in manufactur- 

 ing the prod- 

 uct ; but tight 

 barrels demand 

 a much higher 

 grade of wood. 

 The value of 

 the slack stock 

 used in the 

 c o u n t r y i s 

 n c a r 1 y fifty 

 per cent more 

 than the value 

 of the tight 

 material. Near- 

 ly any wood is 

 s u i t a hie for 

 some kind of 

 slack cooper- 

 age, but only a 

 few are ser- 

 v i c e able for 

 tight. 



A 1 1 cooper- 

 age w h e t her 

 tight or slack 



diminution in the outjiut of whiskey barrels will not is made up of three parts, the staves, the heading, and 



greatly lessen the cooperage i)roduction in the country, the hoops. No barrel is constructed without all three of 



Similar changes have taken ])lace before in the cooper- these, though certain ])atterns of veneer drums combine 



age business, as in the substitution of bags for barrels the staves and the hoops in the wooden sheet that forms 



for cement, sugar, and flour ; and pipelines and tankcars the body of the vessel. No well defined line of demarka- 



in place of barrels in the transportation of oil. In spite tion separates the barrel from the hamper or stave basket, 



of such changes and fluctuations, the cooperage business and sometimes it is not easy to say which is which. The 



has moved steadily on. What has been lost in one direc- manufacturing of the three parts often constitutes three 



tion has been made up in another. separate industries, a mill or factory confining itself to 



1203 



