Michael sez.. 
> and the bar man drills the head and installs the tap. 

Really?  I don’t claim to know, but Barrels being returnable for re-filling I
assumed that the tap hole was made by the Cooper, and the cellar man drove it
into the barrel as he whacked the tap into place.  Or is that a modern idea?  Or
do I just not know what I’m talking about?

I have (somewhere) a bung hole border, which does not have an auger nose.  Used
it to produce tapered holes in seats to match same taper legs made on a pole
lather or similar whirling workpiece device.

Richard Wilson
yorkshireman Galoot in Northumbria



> On 14 May 2024, at 17:07, Michael Blair  wrote:
> 
> In the coopering research I've done since 2014 this is the first time
> I've seen anything called a "bung or tap auger."  Either it's for boring
> a bung hole for filling a cask, bored into the strongest stave, or it's
> a tap auger for boring a tapered hole in the head of a cask for setting
> a tap.  These, classically, are two separate tools, and so regarded.  
> 
> So from my perspective (a solid mid 19th Century perspective) Swan is
> advertising a cooper-esque "multi tool."  It's kinda bizarre, since the
> cooper builds the cask and bores the bung hole, the vintner fills the
> cask with wine, and the bar man drills the head and installs the tap. 
> 
> When you get right down to it, the tap auger isn't really a cooper's
> tool. 
> 
> The Swan catalog here dates from 1904.  This style of taper auger is too
> recent for my use -- interpreting mid 19th Century coopering (and
> general wood work). 
> 
> Mike in Woodland
> 
> On 2024-05-14 07:19, Kirk Eppler via groups.io wrote:
> 



-- 
Yorkshireman Galoot
in the most northerly county, farther north even than Yorkshire
IT #300