Corks

[TheJohnnyReb1861]

Hello, I was wondering about historical methods for keeping corks from drying up? Were they waxed, oil, or something else. Any help is wonderful, thank you and God bless

 

[major bill]

Cork oaks are not native to the Americans. All these Civil War canteens and wine bottles required imported cork. So was cork part of blockade runners cargo? If not, where did the Confederacy get it's cork from?

 

[RedRover]

Cork oaks are not native to the Americans. All these Civil War canteens and wine bottles required imported cork. So was cork part of blockade runners cargo? If not, where did the Confederacy get it's cork from?

Confederate canteens had wooden stoppers.

Canteen | American Civil War Museum

Canteen | American Civil War Museum

Wood stopper used on a captured US canteen by T.V. Brooke of the Richmond Howitzers...

Canteen | American Civil War Museum

 

[rebelatsea]

The Cork Oak from the bark of which the material is derived is a native of Spain, Portugal and North Africa. The primary sources in the 19th Century right through to today are Spain and Portugal where it is grown commercially.

Both South and North would have to import it, but I suspect they simply used bungs made from native timbers. It wasn't until the growth of the wine industry and the first cork life preserves that there would have been any real requirement to do so.

 

[lupaglupa]

The first corkscrew patented in the USA was in 1860, so I'm assuming they had corks. As long as cork isn't kept completely dry for extended periods of time it doesn't significantly dry up.