The craft of barrel maker or cooper has completely disappeared. Yet this trade was essential in a town where once dozens of breweries ensured many jobs.

The beer barrels come from the Bruges brewery “de drie Monniken” [the three Monks]. In addition to beer barrels, coopers also made buckets, window boxes, corn measures, butter churns or even washing machines. Whether it is a barrel, cask or vat, the basic shape remains the same.

The staves (bent pieces of wood) connect two heads. The staves were generally oak or chestnut. The staves were cut to the desired width and curvature with the cleaver. Shaping the stave was done with the drawknife and fi nally the stave acquired its defi nitive shape on the joiner’s bench. The bottom consisted of a number of planks joined by means of dowels (wooden pegs). The hoops around the staves, made of galvanised iron, completed the barrel.

You see the cooper working in the last stage of the production process. He pushes on the hoops using a driving hammer on the setter.

A cooper does not only make wooden barrels or barrels for storing and transporting wine and beer. He also makes churns for preparing butter and ice-cream making buckets.

The hand-cranked ice-cream maker was invented in Philadelphia in 1843. It made the preparing of ice-cream easier and delivered a more consistently smooth and creamy result. This small domestic ice-cream maker consists of a metal inner cannister attached to a crank handle, which sits inside a wooden bucket. The ingredients of the ice-cream were poured into the inner canister: milk, cream and eggs. The space between the canister and the wooden bucket was filled with water ice and salt.

After turning the crank for 45 minutes, the delicious treat emerged.