Wine barrels are not very common house hold item. They are expensive and winemakers prefer reusing them optimally until the oak gets fully soaked in wine. So, it may not be easy to get hold of a used oak barrel in very good condition. However, if you have one such barrel in your disposal you can covert that into a cabinet.
How that could be done? Just go through next few paragraphs and you would be able to build one on your own.
Difficulty level: Very easy.
Time required: Over a week.
The project requires a lot of gluing to keep the wooden stave together. Maximum time would be spent on settling glues only.
Resources required:
– Sander
– Sandpaper, prefer both of coarser and finer variety
– Wire wools
– Glue which joins metal and wood together
– Hacksaw and buzz saw
– Hammer and wood pieces
– Cardboard and plywood
– Wood-finishing oil
– Drill and drilling bits
– Hinges
– Measuring tape
– Sellotape
– Scrapping tool
– Spirit level
– Door handles
– Cleaning cloth
– Protective gear against saw dust
Estimated cost: Discarded oak barrel shouldn’t cost you any money. Cost of the project would be restricted to tune the prices of consumables like glue, sellotape, hinges and knobs.
Instructions:
- First, you have to clean inside and outside of the barrel with warm water and cloth. After the basic cleaning, you should start sanding it to smooth the roughness of the wood. But hold on.
- Before starting the sander, first you have to take off the metal bands or hoops from the barrel. Use hammer and wooden piece to tap them out. Now you can start sanding with coarser variety.
- After the coarser sanding start working with finer one. This would make the surface smoother. After sandpaper you can use wire wool too, however, it is purely optional and depends on your preference. You need to sand both the sides of the barrel too.
- Now, it is time to fix hoops and the barrel together with glue. For that, you have to first put the hoops on the barrel. Use hammer and wood piece and tap the hoops in through both sides of the barrel. Then cover the entire wooden surface with sellotape except two metal hoops. Make it sure to cover every inch possible to stop glue flowing everywhere. After that, again tap those hoops out.
- Now, clean inner side of the hoops minutely with sandpaper to wipe out rust and dirt. Cleaner surface would work better with glues. Then you have to apply glue on inner side of the hoops and on the wooden surface on which hoops would sit on. This is basically the area which was not covered by tape.
- Push the hoops down with hammer so that they sit tightly on the barrel. Now let the glue settle.
- Though in this project both the hoops have been joined simultaneously with the barrel body, you could do them separately; one after another. This would make the job easier. Once the glue is dry, tear open the tapes and work with sandpaper to clear out any remaining of adhesive.
- You have now done with basic bodywork. It is now time to cut the doors out from the barrel body.
- For this purpose, you need to first decide on the position of the doors. The perfect location would be just opposite the bunghole. If you like to store any electronic or electrical item in the barrel cabinet, you could use the bunghole for wiring purpose.
- You can opt for a single door, however, this project talks about double door system. For cutting the doors, you have to first label the area. Use adhesive tape for this. In the project we have worked on a 4 stave per door pattern. So, for 2 doors you need cut down 8 stave.
- Staves are not joined with each other. So, you just need to cut top and bottom of each stave along the area demarcated by tapes. For cutting purpose you have to use both hacksaw and buzz saw. With hacksaw you have to first make a passage for buzz saw through the wood. Then use the powered saw to cut the rest of the parts. Always remember to cut in a straight line else it will become difficult in future to fix the doors.
- Now, join 4 stave together side by side with glue. Don’t apply glue at both end sides. Repeat the process for the remaining set of 4 stave. Now, hold both the set side by side and cover them tightly with adhesive tape. Now let it rest with concave side up. You can wrap it around with paper or blanket to stop glue from dripping on the floor.
- Now put the door set on the barrel opening, where from it was cut, and tie tightly with a rope. This would keep the doors in shape and save you from fitting related hassles.
- After the time, specified by the glue-maker, untie the rope and take the doors out. Remove tapes and use fine scalping tool to clear dry adhesives out from the doors’ surface.
- Cabinets should have a shelf. To have a shelf within your barrel cabinet, you need to decide first on the height of the shelf. Once decided, you have to now measure diameter of the barrel body at that point. With that measurement cut out a template on cardboard. And with that cardboard template cut down a shelf on plywood.
- To hold this shelf inside the barrel, you have to use wooden bracket. First, cut three brackets from wood piece and screw then onto the inner wall of the barrel. To maintain a proper level use spirit level. Now before putting the shelf inside you need to hinge the doors with the barrel body.
- To attach the hinge you have cut indenture on the door and on the barrel. Drill holes for screwing the hinges. When attaching the hinge make it sure to maintain the level and check whether door are closing properly. If you find the doors saggy then you have to adjust the hinges properly.
- After the doors have been fitted, you can attach handles to the doors. Now you keep the barrel standing on its bottom. Your cabinet is almost ready. Fill it with whatever you think like.
Frequently asked question:
Q1: Can I use old barrel, which has been extensively reused?
Ans: Yes, you can do that. But, make sure the rigidity of the wood. If it can sustain the weight then you can use it for this project.
Q2: I don’t have a sander, can I still make it?
Ans: Sure you can do. However, sanding is a rigorous job and manually you won’t be able to reach the finish you could expect from a machine.
Q3: What would happen if I paint the barrel?
Ans: Nothing, simply the natural wood texture won’t be there.
Q4: How I should decide on the shelf height?
Ans: Shelf height would depend on what type of stuff you would like to store in the cabinet and which items would go in the bottom compartment. Maximum possible height requirement of those stuffs would be determining factor behind the shelf height.
Quick tips:
In this project double door system has been used. You want to be more innovative, you can think on top-hinged lift-gate type single door. Design would be definitely more delicate but if you could make it that would be really interesting.
Things to watch out for:
Sanding the barrel would create loads of saw dust. Make sure to guard your face properly with a mask. Without a mask, saw dust can enter into your respiratory system. And that won’t be soothing experience.
Besides, always take proper safety precaution while using saw instrument and powered sanders. Careless use could hurt you.
