From forest to stave park

Time is something you can’t control. We have to deal with it. For cooperage, it’s the same thing. There are crucial steps to follow. A virtuous cycle that will lead to selection of the best stave oaks to supply cooperages.

The oaks harvested from the forest are at least 150 to 180 years old. The oaks purchased by timber buyers, either standing or roadside, are then received in the logyard, selected by origin and marked every 1m, 1m20. On average, seven logs are marked per log. The logs then go to the stave mill, where they are split into quarters.

The crucial slot

In the oak barrel process, the splitting stage is essential. The logs are split into several quarters in the grain direction, to ensure the future staves are watertight. The quarters obtained are sawn lengthwise, always along the grain, according to the desired thickness of the future staves (22, 27, 32 or 42mm). The planks are then stripped of their bark, sapwood and heartwood to retain only the highest-quality part of the stavewood – this is called edging. The straight planks are between 4 and 12.5 cm wide for barrel pieces, and over 5 cm wide for bottom pieces.

Control, shortening and stacking

Each piece of stavewood is checked one by one. Those with pimples, knots, cut threads, etc. are marked with red chalk and then “shortened”. This specific process eliminates defects by cutting staves, which are then sorted by length (barrel body: 110, 105, 95 or 90 cm – bottom: 40 to 80 cm -) before being stacked on 0.5m3 pallets, lined to facilitate ventilation. Once assembled, stavewood pallets are placed in staveyards for a minimum period of 20 to 24 months of maturation in the open air.
At every step of production, from oak selection to quality control, the experts at Tonnelleries Merranderies Réunies, part of Doreau cooperage, have only one goal: to express their art, to give their best, to achieve perfection.
More than ever, stave mills and cooperages are united in the pursuit of excellence!