Cooper

What is a Cooper?

A Cooper is someone who makes barrels ^[1]. These barrels are used in the breweries and distilleries within the city of Birdencaster. The barrels can be filled with sand or water for the purposes of firefighting. These types of barrels are distributed around the city.

Tools used

The Tools a cooper uses are Plane, Shave Horse, Draw Knife, Hand Axe and Saws.

The Building

The Building has normal facilities that would be expected in a woodworking workshop. Typically in the coopers, the later end of the process that requires fire to shrink the wood will be done on the lower floors as these are made of stone to allow for the fires. The further up the workshop you go the further back in the process you go ^[3][3a].

Career Progression

As with other Extra Employment Roles, there are levels. As the levels increase so does the intensity of the role. To progress Levels, the Cooper needs to show the ability to work with the Wood. With Level 1, they progress to Level 2 by showing the ability to bend wood using steam doing this regularly enough to be skilled.
At five months there is a review to determine if the person with the Extra Employment position position is good at their job. This is like a probationary period in the Old World but in this case, your employer says whether or not they are keeping you. As long as the person with the role has passed the 5 months review, they can progress with their role. For example, a Level 1 Cooper that is good at cutting wood and shows promise, can progress to Level 2 if they show they can bend wood with the steaming process.
Below is the level progression at the coopers. Each job gets more complicated as the level goes up.

Level 1

A level 1 Cooper will cut the planks that come from the Warehouse to the right length. Since there needs to a lot of planks a jig is used to make the job easier.

Level 2

A Level 2 Cooper will steam the boards to make the planks curved to make the classic barrel shape, again a tool is used to ensure that the curve is put into the wood consistently.

Level 3

At Level 3 a cooper will make the barrel without the ends. At this point, the Barrel looks like one but has no ends as a level 3 cooper doesn’t have the experience or the skills to make a barrel that doesn’t leak from either the top or the bottom. The metal loops are not originally made at the cooper’s workshop but rather at the Blacksmith. Where you see a blacksmith, the cooper won’t be that far away.

Level 4

At level 4 this is the point where they stop having cooper as an Extra Employment ^[2] and would at this point be a Core Job ^[2]. At this level, they make the barrel ends by chiselling the wood and installing them.

by James Woodwright

Attributes

Type Of Job
Artisan
Type Of Employment
Extra Employment (levels 1 - 3). Core Job (level 4).
Levelled
Yes.
Payment
Changes With Level.
Contract Type
Permanent.
Working Hours
Part Time (levels 1 - 4).
Location
Zone 3.

Article Contents

References

[1] A Wikipedia Article on Coopers
[2] For More information on Employment Placements within the city.
[3] How a cooper makes barrels
[3a] Another video on how barrels are made

Hero Forge for the use of their software to make my character picture.

Acknowledgements

SableAradia
Sable's World Anvil Author Page
Twitch