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Handcrafted wooden buckets permit freedom, serenity for Indianola couple
Be forewarned: The story that follows may entice you to into giving up your corporate job and joining the ranks of entrepreneurs who live contented lives in rural Nebraska.
Jim and Marilyn Gaster work, manage their business and dwell in a hand-built, rambling log house nestled in a hidden paradise with spectacular views of the canyons south of Indianola.
As the proprietors of Beaver Buckets, makers of unique handcrafted buckets, basins, churns and other wooden vessels used in museums, movies and historical reenactments, the Gasters work is secondary to their pleasure in living in a place they want to be and at a pace that suits them.
Marilyn says, “I take great pleasure in knowing that Jim’s work is his heart’s desire, our two boys were home-schooled in a house we built together, and I look out my windows every day and see the prairie and the sky meeting the horizon and the beauty of southwest Nebraska in every season.”
It’s harder than it looks.
Jim Gaster discovered coopering in 1989 at a Rocky Mountain College Rendezvous.
“I saw a cooper making buckets, and I thought to myself, ‘I can do that,’” Gaster said. Among previous jobs, Gaster had worked as a carpenter, and he believed he could easily pick up the skill. “I always liked working with my hands, and I was a skilled carpenter yet I found out I couldn’t make a proper bucket,” he said.
There was more to coopering than Gaster first thought, so he went to antique stores and studied buckets, bought them and took them apart to see how they were made. Although he searched the literature, he couldn’t find a straight “how-to” book for coopering.
Gaster experimented with the craft for nearly eight years before he sold his first bucket. He said, “When I’m trying to learn something, I’m like a bulldog — I don’t give up. I knew that 100 years ago people knew how to do it, so I could learn how to make a bucket if I tried.”
Finding a market
When Jim finally made a bucket he was proud enough to sell, it was too expensive for craft shows, and the Gasters were uncertain where they would find an outlet for handcrafted wooden containers.
Jim said, “We finally found our audience when we went to the Nebraska City Civil War Reenactment, and although the audience was small, they were very interested in our product.” The Gasters realized that museums, historical reenactments and living history settings used handmade wooden containers, and the directors of historical institutions were potential buyers. Finding a method to reach this audience was their next challenge.
An online opportunity
As luck would have it, the Gaster’s son, Jeremy, was attending McCook Community College in computer programming and Website development. Jeremy and his mother worked together to design a website for the business, and soon after they began advertising them on the Internet, the buckets began to sell
“Our first order came from the Smithsonian Institute!” Jim said. “They asked me to make a washtub and wash board for a display house built in 1760 and reconstructed at the Smithsonian.”
Newspapers across the country reprinted an insert from American Profile, and Nebraska Life magazine (read the Nebraska Life article) and the McCook Gazette among other publications have featured their story.
“The business began growing and it still grows at a steady pace.” Marilyn said. “We sent 25 buckets to the White House visiting center, and you can see a Beaver Bucket in every state in the union, many places in Canada and many countries around the world.” Movie directors also call for authentic reproductions and Beaver Buckets provided props for Master and Commander, The Far Side of the World as well as several Walt Disney movies.
Common wisdom about business location is changing. “It used to be location, location, location, but that advice is no longer true,” Gaster said. “The Internet does my talking and UPS or Fed Ex does my walking.”
Audiences around the world showed so much interest in coopering that their son, Brian, wrote and illustrated a book on the subject, which is also available on the Website, along with a how-to-make-a-bucket kit.
“White” vs. “wet” coopering.
Jim Gaster’s work is considered fine or “white” coopering. “My products are ones that were used around the household, such as; milk buckets and flour containers,” he said. In contrast, “wet” coopering is the technique to make casks that hold liquid under pressure. Wet coopering products are still bought and used in wineries and distilleries.
Gaster uses mostly pine wood, although oak, cedar and maple, catalpa and native cottonwood are commonly used woods for specific products.
“Some woods I cut and dry myself. I purchase basswood in Minnesota, white oak and poplar from sawmills in Table Rock and Red Cloud.” Gaster said. “I carefully research the exact dimensions of the container from historical sources, and I make it to be authentic, strong and useable.”
Gaster has a forge, and he does his own iron work and blacksmithing. He finishes the product with wax, linseed oil and a black stain made out of finely ground and boiled black walnut hulls.
And if you were wondering about the name, a beaver’s work also contributes to a cooper’s job. When beavers fell a tree, straight shoots grow up from the tree roots that Gaster snips for use as wood hoops and handles for his containers.
Jim and Marilyn Gaster are content in their life. It gives them peace, serenity, freedom, lets them do what they like to do and live the way they like to live. And that’s not a bad goal for anybody.
Who To Contact...
Beaver Buckets
James D. Gaster, Cooper
71663 Road 397
Indianola, NE 69034
Phone: 308-364-2528
Email: beaverbuckets@beaverbuckets.com
Website: www.beaverbuckets.com
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