How
cork is made An
illustrated guide to the cork production process, part 2
A short film from the Amorim
factory
The planks are trimmed and sorted into piles. Anything dodgy looking
is removed.
This is a graded pile of cork planks.
Planks ready for further processing. These look like nice ones.
The best quality planks are used to make top-quality natural corks,
which are punched by hand. That's what these guys are doing.
Hand punching requires rapid decision making by skilled workers: these
punchers know how to get the best out of any piece of cork. It's a
balance between making the most use of the cork and maintaining top
quality.
A footpedal operates the punch.
Planks with corks punched out of them. The puncher has avoided the
major imperfections.
The corks are gathered in nets.
These corks are now ready for washing (with peroxide), drying and then
sorting
The corks are optically sorted (above) and graded (below)
