"You must travel and you must advertise," he says. "I've been all over the East Coast and to international tool shows. There's David Stanley tool auctions on the internet. There's the Bud Brown international tool auction. Some of the tools in my collection have been bought in England."
Ken and his wife, Susan, have other interests besides cooper's tools. They regularly attend gas engine shows and antique auto shows. Susan also has an interest in textiles.
But the man who has spent his life working with tools and who gives cooperage demonstrations at shows, schools and museums, is obviously dedicated to preserving the skills of times past and sharing them with today's generations. The protection of American heritage is of profound importance to him.
For more information: Contact Ken March by email at susanm.march@worldnet.att.net
Jill Teunis is a freelance writer in Damascus, Md.
Ken March's workshop is a 19th century, one-room schoolhouse in rural southern Pennsylvania. This retired tool-and-die maker calls himself the Schoolhouse Cooper, and he's dedicated to the preservation of the tools and skills used in the construction of barrels, casks, and a variety of staved wooden vessels. Surrounded by cooperage tools of all description, Ken speaks almost another language as he shows off his collection. Words like "croze," "howel," "scorp," "froe," "basle" and "dingee" are hard to find in the dictionary, but they are part of Ken's daily life.