A merrandier ?
The stave mill is a stave mill!
It's clear, isn't it?
To go further, we can say that this activity consists in producing staves.
Is that clearer? No ?
So let's take a few steps back... imagine an oak tree, a beautiful French oak tree (not one of these white, or red, oaks that North America is trying to export!). This oak, after having cut it, you cut the trunk into sections. The section, after having split it several times according to very precise techniques that use the wood grain, you will transform it into several "staves", a kind of thick wooden board that will be used to make barrels.
The word « merrandier » ("stavewood") is not new, since it first appeared in a text in 1624!
And its production is a French speciality because of the importance of its oak forests on the one hand, and its wine production on the other. France alone provides about 75% of the world's demand!
The last mess....
After research, a video seems to attest that the last merrandier, who was 76 years old in 2012, is a certain Camille Gauthier, who has been working in this profession since the age of 13, following multiple generations practicing the same profession.
Be careful, it should be pointed out that he is the last one to practice the profession of merrandier as it has been practiced over the centuries, i. e. by hand.
Merrandier... from the small business to the stave mill company.
All the know-how thus accumulated over generations has clearly contributed to the creation, later, of perfectly adapted hydraulic machines.
And, like that, one thing leading to another, Merrain Camille Gauthier is now known the world over for the quality of these staves, and it exports more than a quarter of its production!
Merrain Camille Gauthier
31 rte Petites Bruyères
18380 18380 Méry ès Bois
Click on the image
