Skip to main content
Entoten
FacebookInstagramPinterestYouTube

Menu

Skip to content
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Artists
  • Places
  • Press
Sign In Search

Recent Posts

  • Pop Up Craft, Stationery, and Clothing Show at The Den on Laurel Street Apr. 15th & 16th March 15, 2023
  • Gohonte -A Natural Pop of Color: New Ceramics by Inoue Shigeru March 2, 2023
  • POP UP CRAFT SHOW at the Den on Laurel Street Dec. 3rd & 4th November 23, 2022
  • Harmony with Food: Ceramics by Kojima Yosuke in Iga October 18, 2022
  • Revitalizing Taketa with Craftsmanship: Glassblower Naru August 15, 2022
March 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Nov    

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Master in the Redwoods: Pond Farm Pottery and the Legacy of Marguerite Wildenhain
    The Master in the Redwoods: Pond Farm Pottery and the Legacy of Marguerite Wildenhain
  • Guide to Choosing Your Tea Whisk for Matcha
    Guide to Choosing Your Tea Whisk for Matcha
  • Pop Up Craft, Stationery, and Clothing Show at The Den on Laurel Street Apr. 15th & 16th
    Pop Up Craft, Stationery, and Clothing Show at The Den on Laurel Street Apr. 15th & 16th
  • The Flavor of the Earth: The Rustic Ceramics of Shigaraki
    The Flavor of the Earth: The Rustic Ceramics of Shigaraki
  • Rakugo Tenugui by Harada Fumiko: The Edo Storytelling Tradition in Your Pocket
    Rakugo Tenugui by Harada Fumiko: The Edo Storytelling Tradition in Your Pocket

Categories

  • Events, Workshops and Webinars
  • People
    • Naru (Inoue Naruhito)
    • Kojima Yosuke
    • Ayumi Horie
    • Bill Geisinger
    • Floresta Fabrica
    • Hanako Nakazato
    • Harada Fumiko
    • Hashizume Reiko
    • Hashizume Yasuo
    • Horihata Ran
    • Hoshino Gen
    • Ikushima Harumi
    • Inoue Shigeru
    • Ishida Tami
    • Jarrod Dahl
    • Kazu Oba
    • Kenneth Pincus
    • Kikuchi Yuka
    • Kitamura Tokusai
    • Kobayashi Katsuhisa
    • Kubota Kenji
    • Kuriya Masakatsu
    • Maeda Mitsuru
    • Marshall Scheetz
    • Mike Martino
    • Mitch Iburg
    • Muranaka Yasuhiko
    • Nakaya Yoshitaka
    • Nitta Yoshiko
    • Ontayaki
    • Sakai Mika
    • Samuel Johnson
    • Sarah Nishiura
    • Saratetsu
    • Sasaki Shoko
    • Shumpei Yamaki
    • Style Of Japan
    • Takahashi Nami
    • Takami Yasuhiro
    • Tanimura Tango
    • Watanabe Ai
    • Yamada Yutaro
    • Yamauchi Takeshi
    • Yokotsuka Yutaka
  • Baskets
  • Ceramics
  • Design
  • Glass
  • Kintsugi
  • Metal
  • Textiles
  • Urushi
  • Wood
  • Mingei
  • Research
  • Food and Craft
  • Topics
  • Tea (Chado)
  • Travels
    • Arita
    • Bizen
    • Hagi
    • Karatsu
    • Kuroe
    • Kyoto
    • Matsumoto
    • Mino / Tajimi
    • Onta
    • Shigaraki
    • Shizuoka
    • Sonoma County
    • Tokoname
    • Vietnam

Cooper’s Tools of the Trade

Read about master cooper Marshall Scheetz->

A Cooper’s side axe. This axe is used for chopping or “listing” barrel staves to a rough shape.  It makes for fast and efficient work. The handle is offset from the blade to prevent abrasion against the wielder’s hand.

 

A cooper’s hammer and hoop driver. A cooper’s hammer weighs about 3 lbs and is used with the driver to drive hoops tightly down onto the cone shape of the bucket or barrel. These are the primary tools of any cooper.

 

Two different types of draw knife. The rounded draw knife, which is known as a hollowing knife, is used for hollowing out the concave curvature on the interior of the staves. The flat draw knife, which is known as a backing knife, is used to cut the convex curvature on the exterior of the staves. Together these knives cut the circular shape into buckets and barrels.

 

A cooper’s hand adze. This is a type of chopping tool used on oak containers to rough out the end to the staves prior to using the sun plane to create a perfectly level surface. The adze is necessary on containers made from hard woods like oak, but not on containers made from soft woods like cedar or cypress.

 

A pair of cooper’s dividers. This is a measuring tool used to determine the size of the heads of the barrel.  A measurement is taken by walking the compass around the inside of the groove to create six equal movements. This sets the distance between the two points as the radius of the circle.
A sun plane or topping plane. After the bucket is assembled the bottom needs to be cut perfectly flat. This tool slides across the edge of the staves cutting a level surface for the croze to ride upon.

 

 

A cooper’s croze. The croze is used to cut a groove around the interior of a bucket or barrel to hold the heads (top/bottom) in place.

 

 

A chiv or howell is a type of plane used to scallop out and level a section of the interior of the barrel just before cutting a groove which will hold the top or bottom in place. Marshall prefers to use the term chiv.

 

<-Return to our blog

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy & Security
  • Contact Us
  • ✉️ Newsletter Archive
  • About
  • えんとてんJapan

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Our Mailing Address is

Entoten LLC
c/o The Den on Laurel St.
205 Laurel St. Suite 104
San Diego CA 92101

E-mail: hello@entoten.com

Copyright © 2022 ENTOTEN LLC

Studio Kotokoto is now closed. Thank you for your support over the years!
You have been redirected to Entoten, an online blog and shop that was created by one of Studio Kotokoto’s founders.