John Sonett and Garett Lovett were the two coopers in Lixnaw and they made the barrels, churns and firkins for the inhabitants of the village. At first they bought huge logs of wood and split them, then they dressed these with dressing hooks and made them into barrels or churns. When the barrel was made a fire was lit within it so as to burn the sides until they were fairly even. When the fire was taken out the barrel was dressed with a draw-knife. In the centre there was a large hoop about two inches wide and much thicker than the other hoops, these hoops were usually made of tin but very often they were made of timber also.
For the churns there was a