After the sanding and hooping steps, the barrels are marked using a laser which will allow to record, on the bottom of each barrel, some essential information: the type of heating, the year of manufacture and the serial number. All this information will guarantee the customer the traceability of the product and thus allow the same order to be reproduced at best from one year to the next, while keeping in mind that each barrel remains a unique product.
Laser marking also allows the barrels to be personalized with a logo or even a reference provided by the customer.
Before the advent of the laser, coopers used marking tools like the “rouanne“. This ancient instrument, composed of a wooden handle and a steel iron with a fixed central point and curved side edges, made it possible to trace all kinds of numbers or letters. Coopers also used fire marks bearing a hallmark specific to each craftsman. The hallmarks represented various symbols often coming from the tradition of the vine, wine and companionship. This mark affixed on the barrels allowed the coopers in a way to sign their creation.
Today the use of lasers results in incomparable reproduction quality and significant time savings.
