Minutes Feb 24, 2009

February 24, 2009

Attendance:

Murphy,Naqvi,Rick,Wilson,Joe,Chris,Myles,Irfan,Jim MacLean, Hiltz, Cohen

Discussion opened on the subject of the Cooper.

According to Leo (whose great grandfather and grand uncle were both coopers), a cooper is a cask maker, there are three types of cooperage:

Dry-eg a container for for foods like apples...presumably measured by weight

Wet-for wines, whiskeys etc.... volume measures

White-Makes straight containers like buckets, butterchurns. The staves are not bent in this type work.

The cask is the actual container. (Casket is derived from this term)
The barrel is actually a measure of volume..not the container itself.

Terms:

HOGSHEAD- A 54 imperial gallon cask (now virtually extinct).

BARREL- A 36 imperial gallon cask, uncommon.Puncheon-A cask with a capacity of from 72 to 120 gallons (273 to 454 liters).
FIRKIN, NINE- A 9 imperial gallon cask, the most common size.
MINIPIN- Smaller version of a polypin which holds about 17 imperial pints.
PIN- A 4.5 imperial gallon cask.
POLYPIN- A 4.5 imperial gallon disposable beer container with an inbuilt tap, similar to a large wine box.


Calculate Volume of a barrel

Discussion then proceeded on the project of making the URN,
Jim Hiltz and Rick had their top and bottom components almost completed. They had glued the wedges together to form two halves and are ready to glue the two halves together.
Leo assisted Paul in planing his ash pieces in preparation for the wedge cuts.
Leo then began to discuss the central component for the project (the body of the URN)
Several long strips have to be cut at an 11 1/2 degree angle on the table saw.
The width (widest face) was 1 1/4 inches for the one Leo is doing.
Then these wedges are planed in the thickness planer by using the sled jig that we made in the previous class. A thin strip is inserted under the strips and they are run through the planer and then reversed to plane the opposite face. They are then cut to required length (9 inches) and will be assembled and glued in one session. This is for next class.

We will be meeting in Riverside school on Hornes Road next Tuesday at 7 pm for a business meeting and to demonstrate the new Web Page which is under development.