Coopers,carpenters and planemakers

[REEDY]

Could someone tell me if a Cooper could change his occupation to a carpenter and what is a planemaker.
What exactly did a Cooper do
Also could anyone explain what a Teazle grower is
Thanks

[olias]

Coopers made barrells (Am I the only one to remember being taught singing at primary school "There was a wee cooper who lived in Fife, nicerty nakerty noo noo noo")
Isuppose as a cooper worked with wood its not a great leap to a carpenter when the barrels are all made
I would think a plane maker made planes for shaping wood. Old time carpenters would have had a full set of planes for making skirtings and architraves etc by hand
Could I hazard a guess that a teazle grower grew teazles

[RJ_Paton]

teazle grower

      a small farmer who cultivates teazles, the prickly flower heads of which are used to raise the nap on cloth; sows seads in sprint, transplanting seedlings when large enough; when flower heads are of two year old matured plants are ready, cuts off the stalks bearing teazles to a length of 9 inches; ties them roughly into bundles, i.e., rough gleanings, and puts them on polls to dry in the fields or in open sheds, until seeds fall readily from flower heads; supervises bundling of gleanings by teazle maker-up (039).


from http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~matthew/occupations/011_dta.htm

[RJ_Paton]

a planemaker would appear to be one who made planes (as in woodworking tools) see http://www.sgriff.com/articles/gon/article.html for some information about planemakers in Norwich

Coopers were skilled tradesmen in their own right and a good cooper was highly skilled in both woodworking and metalworking

[Pippakit]

Would a Cooper have to serve an apprenticeship?

[minime]

I believe anyone with a definate title such as "cooper" or "carpenter" would have to be an apprentice first, as it was considered a trade skill. I could be wrong, but I know in my family tree most of the men were "plasterers," so I figure the younger men learned from the older ones.

Minime

[RJ_Paton]

Yes, even today there are apprentice coopers , the apprenticeship lasts four years  see http://www.aberlour.com/casksizes/super_cooper.asp for some information