Scoil: Carraig Áluinn (uimhir rolla 16.474)

Ar an leathanach seo

1. Old Crafts (ar lean)

   

   Roinn Roinn Postáil

   (ar lean ón leathanach roimhe)

   A FIRKIN was a little barrel in which butter was collected after each churning and when full the firkin was sold in the nearest butter-market. The people around Carrigallen generally went to Belturbet with their firkins. Sometimes they walked all the way with two firkins, one in each creel on a donkey's back. When carts and cars became common these were used. The cooper was obliged to have his name stamped on the outside of the firkin and also the number 13. I think the number 13 means that the weight of the empty firkin was 13 lbs. This number 13 was branded on the outside of the firkin by means of a hot iron. This iron was shaped like a half circle, and first the cooper branded the figure 1 on the wood by running the sharp edge of the hot iron along the wood. Then he made a half circle, by resting the hot iron on the wood. He then made a second half circle, just underneath this other one. The figure 3 was thus made. The whole number looked just like 13. The cooper had his name cut out of a rectangular piece of tin. He placed the tin along the outside of the firkin and rubbed a brush containing black polish across the tin. When the tin was removed the cooper's name was plain to be seen. The best known coppers around Carrigallen were Tom Shannon who lived in Cloncorick just below the town and whose father was also a cooper, and Dan Kavanagh who lived in Kivvy where Pat Sweeney now lives.

   The buyer tested the butter by boring holes in the firkin with an auger. The auger drew out a small portion of the butter which was then tasted. Holes were bored at various places in the firkin to see if the butter was of uniform quality.

   (leanann ar an chéad leathanach eile)

   

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   Michael Mc Donald

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   Mullach na Darach, Co. Liatroma