These little buckets have been found at numerous Anglo-Saxon grave sites. The exact purpose of them is unknown, but they seem to have been an important personal item as people were buried with them. Sibylla and I believe they may have been feast buckets. Since we have early Anglo-Saxon personas, we decided to make something like one with materials we had readily available. We decided that the buckets were not intended to be water-tight, so we didn’t go for that level of accuracy. This was a prototype, and intended to be more about learning than making it perfect. The cost to make it was less than $10 (excluding the book and tools).
The first time we came across these was while watching Time Team. We later found this book, Early Anglo-Saxon Buckets by Jean M. Cook ISBN 0-947816-64-X. It is a great source with all kinds of information. 
We started with an 8-inch diameter hemlock post. Oak would have been a better choice but we didn’t have any of that handy. 
The bucket is made from many pieces called staves (sides and bottom). An axe seemed to do the job fairly well. Using a froe would have been better. 
I should have radially split it (through the center) but this was the only log we had and splitting it this way had less waste. Each piece was then split again until we ended up with a pile of 1/4-inch thick staves. 
The pieces were then shaved down with a wood shave so they were all about the same size. 
We tried various methods for smoothing and shaping the staves. Thankfully these buckets have straight sides, and are not angled like modern water buckets. 
A steel ruler worked out well for making the staves the same width. 
A line was cut along the bottom of each stave to accommodate the bottom plate of the bucket. I cut two lines with the knife and then chiseled out the groove. 
A steel scraper was used to make the staves as smooth as possible. We tried to avoid using sandpaper. 
The bucket was starting to take shape. The base of the bucket didn’t need to have equally wide boards and the sides were not angled. They did have to be the same thickness though to match the slots in the staves. 
Marking the diameter of the base with a compass. 
Cutting out the base. 
Fitting each stave into the base was quite a bit more complicated than expected. It worked best by marking each stave and base location. 
It was better to try and keep it all together as we worked through the staves. Duct tape was the tool of choice. 
Getting the side angle right for each stave was tricky. 
We had previously picked up a brass planter at a yard sale, which we decided to use for the bands. The real buckets used bronze or iron, but this was close enough for this experiment. 
The bands were made by cutting the planter into 2-inch strips and folding the edges over a 1-inch board so they were even and straight.. 
A rawhide hammer was more gentle on the brass than a steel hammer when folding the brass flat. 
Trying to keep the bucket together while adding the bands proved to be difficult. I had to recruit the help of some band clamps and duct tape to keep it from falling apart. 
I used strips of brass folded in half as split pins. 
The inside of the bucket showing the split pins. I couldn’t get the brass bands as tight as I wanted. 
The finished bucket (I still needed a handle). If nothing else it proved that it could be done.
What we learned:
- The bucket took around 12 hours to make (probably more) .
- You can use an axe and hammer for splitting the log to a 1/4-inch thickness providing the log has no knots.
- Minimal tools are required (metal snips, hand saw, spokeshave, chisels, hand plane, axe, hammer, vice and sadly enough duct tape).
- Use thicker metal for the bands next time. Likely 1mm-2mm copper.
- Split-pin rivets hint that the buckets were likely not meant to be waterproof.
- Rim could be made by wrapping the sheet around 1/4-inch bar and bending into 6-inch diameter
- A 6-inch outer form would have been handy for the base so it would stay together.