An oak barrel that has stood empty and dry will usually leak when it is first filled again. It is held together by nothing but its shape: curved staves pressed edge to edge under hoops, no glue, no nails, and dry wood shrinks just enough to open the joints. Coopers don’t take it apart. They fill it with water and wait, because oak drinks, and the staves swell into their own gaps until the barrel holds. Winemakers call this swelling a barrel. I like a thing whose cure for not being ready is to be used anyway.