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maintainjngTii^h volume, but mostly quality standards.
Ritvo likes to remind customers that coopering is an old art.
In the old days the staves were bent with heat and pressure, frequently a hazardous undertaking. Modern manufacturers, however, no longer bend the staves.
Making the tubs atUJtue Ridge Cooperage is strictly a milling operation. Ritvo and Cliffton work from charts and graphs to make the milling precise. Precision is required to handle the machinery, to select wood grade and to produce the tub bands which are steel-coated zinc dichromate bent to precision with a three-pulley system.
They use clear heart, vertical redwood shipped from California with no caulking of any kind. The tubs are sealed by a special cutting technique to achieve a purely vertical grain in the wood which promotes swelling and water-tightness. The redwood tubs range from four feet high to nine feet in diameter.
Experiment With Woods
Since redwood is a diminishing resource and somewhat dear, Ritvo and Cliffton are experimenting with various South American cedars with similar properties which could lower the cost of the tubs for consumers.
Much has been said in recent months about the “hot-tubbing" experience. Hot tubs have swept from California and the “less crazed” states of Oregon and Washington through America faster than skateboards.
But it was Californians who started making the tubs out of redwood, teak and other precious woods and manning them with Jacuzzilike jet streams. They are now advertized in all sorts of magazines and marketed all over the United States.
Hot tubs, however, are not for everyone, Ritvo cautions. As a hydro-therapy spa with temperatures ranging grom 103 degrees to 105 degrees, they must be used in moderation, and preferably not by those with a heart condition or high blood pressure.
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