That’s cool. Where did you get this?

I’d be surprised if it doesn’t leak. Usually with an antique stave bucket like this one, you have to keep it filled so the wood stays swollen.

When it dries out the wood shrinks and the seams leak.

A new one can dry out and stay tight for a dozen years or more depending on the skill of the cooper.

I always wondered how they got wooden buckets to work, that's really cool

Farmers would soak the buckets before use to swell them .

You can find them in antique shops all over syrup country. Farms used to have literally thousands of these.

This one looks like it once had a middle hoop.

Found in an old Vt barn. I bought a stack of them, we use them as trash bins all over our house.

Same concept with old wooden boats. Throw a soaker hose in it and run the water to swell the wood.

Wether it’s buckets or barrels or ships, watertight carpentry is based on 1. Straight grained wood that has no knots which generally means old growth trees and 2. Splitting the wood along the grain so as to preserve its integrity.

When done this way the wood swells and contracts in highly predictable ways. Can’t do that with most of the wood that’s available today because there’s very little old growth forest remaining.

I'd like that stove in my kitchen.

Ditto!

That's cool.

I come from an old Virginia mercantile family, and have many nail barrels I use around the house as trash bins - a great way to repurpose these old beauties.