A bucket is generally used for a work vessel because of its wide mouth, while a pail is generally used for liquid hauling and containment because of its narrow mouth. Our buckets and pails are made from quartered, air-dried white pine, single piece bottom, hemp rope bail secured with a Matthew Walker knot, steel, rope, withe or lathe hoops as you prefer, approx. 2 Imp. gallon capacity.
We use 16 gauge mild steel for our ferrous metal hooping. There's no steel strapping on our cooperage. This is the most durable of hooping, and the type we recommend for any sort of high-use vessel.
In our research we have found very scant evidence of rope hooping having been used. In one of the Norse graves a coopered vessel was found with remnants of rope at its base, but not enough to conclusively say the vessel had been hooped with rope. We offer rope hooping as a courtesy to our clients, for those who are looking for a more rustic appearance.
We offer two styles of wooden hooping, documentable from circa 500A.D. to late 19th century, and appropriate for most any type of historical interpretation. Historically it would appear wooden hooping was used either in remote regions where more durable and permanent hooping was unavailable and a cooper to repair the work was, or as protection at the chime and bulge steel hoops, on barrels which were to be rolled when moving for transport. We must caution our clients this type of hooping, although beautiful and as durable and highly crafted as we can make it, is fragile. Hoops will burst for no apparent reason, whether kept wet or dry, and so we cannot guarantee the integrity of the hooping.
