Traditionally, what does a cooper make?

A cooper is a person trained to make wooden casks, barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs and other staved containers, from timber that was usually heated or steamed to make it pliable. Journeymen coopers also traditionally made wooden implements, such as rakes and wooden bladed shovels. Other materials, such as iron, were used as well as wood, in the manufacturing process.

In the 21st century, coopers mostly operate barrel-making machinery and assemble casks for the wine and spirits industry.

Examples may be seen in the cooperage at Seguin Moreau, a cooperage which was incorporated into the House of Rémy in 1971 for the express purpose of providing casks of oak. Limousin oak is renowned for the rich vanilla-like flavor it imparts to cognac. Rémy Martin will then produce Rémy Martin Grand Cru in these barrels with a retail cost well in excess of USD $1500 per bottle, a single barrel being expected to hold nearly a quarter-million dollars' worth of cognac.

In the United Kingdom, the trade of master cooper is dwindling; it is thought that the last remaining cooper company in England is a beer barrel manufacturer in Wetherby, West Yorkshire.