Reminds me of a chat decades ago with a Dutch natural gas engineer. Apparently the coal dust remaining in coal gas (a.k.a. “town gas”) had plugged many a leak in Dutch gas lines. When they switched over to North Sea methane in the 60’s the system sprang thousands of leaks as the dust-free gas purged the system.
Hey, I mentioned this to someone today who lives in Valparaiso, Indiana, and he said he remembers when they finally dug up the cobbled streets in part of the town to replace the water main there, and they also had wooden pipes. He said they’re flanged out at the ends as part of the joining process.