2006/18

This round shave is one of a set of cooper’s tools used by the donor during his apprenticeship and career as a cooper at Reading Brewery from 1948. A cooper uses a round shave to reach down inside a cask to level the joints between the staves, and also to clean the inside of the cask.

1 shave: wood, metal

MERL Miscellaneous note from conversation with Alistair Simms (Master Cooper), 3 September 2014 – A cooper uses a round shave to level off the staves in places that can’t be reached with an inside shave. Single-handled round shaves are often used for smaller work such as buckets and piggins., Mr McCarthy started his coopering apprenticeship at Reading Brewery on 10 June 1948, aged 17, and finished in March 1952. No members of his family were coopers but he started because his friend’s father was a cooper. He worked 40 hours a week during his apprenticeship doing piecework with a trained cooper who was his master. Up to the age of 18 all earnings went to the master cooper; aged 18-20 half went to the apprentice, a quarter to the master and a quarter to the brewery; aged 20-21 two thirds to the apprentice, one sixth to the master and one sixth to the brewery.

Wood, Metal