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Does anyone know anything about the art of coopering?

5K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  Special_Ed 
#1 ·
Does anyone know anything about the art of coopering?

I am in the process making a couple large teardrop shaped supports for a table, but know absolutely nothing about coopering and the two supports are rather large. Is there an expert among the Lumberjocks that could give me some pointers or ideas where to hunt for information that would be of help to a begginer. That's the reason I'm asking here rather than a blind search on line. I could search for days and get no where. I have a basic understanding of what coopering is and understand I won't learn it over night, but I have to start somewhere. For those that don't know coopering is almost a lost art of making round wood by stacking it and either holding it together using round bands of steel or rope, think of old buckets and barrels. Anyway any direction would be helpful.
 
#4 ·
Mike, you should look into a Bird's Mouth bit



This picture is from the Lee Valley website. These bits are designed to cut into the edge of the lumber, and because the angles of the cuts nest into one another, arduous geometry and tricky glue ups are done away with.

Eagle America also has these bits.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the idea about the bits, that c. bit might do the trick. I'll have to check it out. Thanks also Gary for the Link I looked it over and it will be helpful, and thanks tresselk, that link will be helpful also. Doug, you alway come through, with pics and everything. I've seen those bits before, it just never dawned on me. Thanks fellas.
 
#7 ·
Mike,

The bird's mouth bits will work if they fit your desired curves, but a customized curve like a tear drop, will probably require a different and more traditional approach.

Coopering is really not all that hard, but it can require some careful layout, angle measurement, and fixture and jig building. I've never used the cable clamp method that drills holes through each stave, but simple forms are not hard either.

I built a bathroom vanity with a coopered door and you can see the construction details by going to my website gallery. Here is the link and I think it might be helpful if you want try to do it the old fashion, one stave at a time, method.

Coopered Door

HTH, Have fun, and let me know if you have any questions.
 
#9 ·
I've picked up knowledge of it because I built conga drums
when I was younger.

If you are actually going to make barrels, with bent staves
and steel rings rammed down over them you are in for some
tough work.

Most Conga guys used a template to rip the bevels on the
tablesaw. It's also possible to pre-bend the staves and
build a fancy jig with linear bearings to cut the bevels.

What you need, I think, is "pinch dogs" and a way to
accurately set jointer bevels. I never used a birds mouth
bit or hollow-round bits. I bought a bit once for cutting
16-sided figures but I don't remember ever using it. I
generally built larger drums with at least 24 staves. Smaller
ones I built without the bend sides so using templates
wasn't necessary - just a tablesaw and a taper jig.

If you are making full round drums or barrels it's best to
get some cold-rolled steel and hammer out some hoops.
If you don't weld a heavy pair of rivets is fine. Be prepared
to use a lot of muscle and glue.

If you are just making coopered doors it's more of an exercise
in finesse. The pinch dogs make it easier to glue the bevels
together but you still have to be very attentive to make sure your
joints are tight both inside and outside the door.

When I researched this stuff it was very hard to find usable
information. I had to re-invent it myself. Later I would come across
information here and there and read it attentively.

If you are bending wood and joining it along bevels be prepared
for a lot of fussing to get it right. Old style coopers used
a 4 ft. long inverted plane to shoot the bevels by hand and
eye. These days barrels are made on automated machines that
cut the beveled staves flat and they are bent afterwards.

If you just want to get it done you might try the template
method… then bending, then refining the bevels on a large,
flat sanding board.
 
#10 ·
What I need are two teardrop shaped coopered pieces about four ft wide and 36 inches high, with the point at the top as an apex to hold a long beam about 7ft with three cross beams about 3ft long. I know it sounds like a goat f_. but I'm hoping for something quite out of the ordinary and beautiful as I saw on FWW in their gallery. Not exact but close. I'll try and find the pick and get it up here.
 
#14 ·
The table is made by a guy named Guarino, out of ash and bubinga, built in six weeks, for a Thanksgiving deadline.
By the holy heeby jeebies I finally got a post on here. The first ever, after oh, about 2 yrs. What a putz. I tell you what, give a monkey a typewriter and eventually, you know. Thanks for all the help guys. I would have wrote this in the last message but I did'nt want to mess up the pic. LOL
 
#15 ·
Glue Up Curved Slabs in One Shot by David Marks was in the Issue 198 (a coupla issues back). He drills two holes through (across the face width) at each end of the staves, and threads aircraft cable through poly tubing and then through the assembly. There is a engineered clamping frame that let's him tighten the assembly with a drill motor during glue-up. Then he withdraws the wires (which are protected from inadvertent glue by the poly tubing.

You can download the article as a pdf if you have a FWW.com subscription. And they have a free 14 day trial currently. Soooo recommended. I already have downloaded and saved 121.5 MB of stuff going back to some B&W articles from the old FWW. Included are a ton of Classic John Arno articles (the lamentably deceased wood expert) on wood identification and use. There was a man of deep knowledge and abiding excitement about his subject.
 
#16 ·
You know what Mike?

I don't think those teardrop shaped bases are coopered. Those just looks like sculpted "stack laminations" to me. If you look real close the glue lines are horizontal between the individual boards and the inner and outer surfaces are "sculpted" to smooth out the lines.

There is no real need to figure any angles at all, or worry about learning how to "cooper".
 
#17 ·
I'm just going by what the artist wrote in the notes beside the pic. He said it was coopered. Thanks a pant load Doug, you're a Pal. Thanks John too. I'll need all the help I can get. By the way I'm finally getting my motor and control module out of hock today for my lathe. Hallalooya. Thank the Lord. From him, all good things come.
 
#18 ·
you might check out the tillers International's website as they teach coopering as well as many other lost crafts such as rope making, blacksmithing, draft horse work, basket making, broom making, chair caning, soap and cheese making,wheel wrighting, windsor chair making, saw sharpening, timber framing, stone masonry, and many many more things. their web site is http://www.tillersinternational.org they are based just outside Kalamazoo, Michigan. they also have a location outside Spring Valley Minnesota, as well as helping out all over the world. check it out they even had St. Roy there last year for a vidio shoot.

Craig Phillips
Chair caning, woodworking, retail merchant, historic interpeter

B & C Emporium
Original and reproduction Hardware for furniture and home and supplies
http://www.b-c-e.biz

Woodland Trading company
rustic log & oak furniture and accessories
http://www.woodlandtradingcompany.com
 
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