Wine is a huge world-wide industry. People from all around the world enjoy it. Have you ever wondered what happens to the barrels they are allowed to age in? In fact, they actually need to be replaced every 3-5 years to help preserve the taste and flavor. What happens is the barrels become what is referred to as “oak neutral,” which means they no longer have the capacity to add to the flavor of the wine. So what happens to these barrels that are discarded? Well some are sent to distilleries to be reused to age whiskey. An Instructables user by the name of johnwhitmarsh was actually enjoying a glass of wine himself one day, when he struck by inspiration. He wanted to repurpose one of these barrels in a way that no one had done before. What he did is simply amazin as you can see in the photos below.
First he had to get his hands on a barrel. So he went and purchased one from a local reseller, and took it home. There he proceeded to remove the metal rings around the wood.
After they are removed, the barrel staves or slats are easily pulled apart.
As you could have guessed, the wood is soaked through with wine. So these staves will need to dry.
The staves are wider in the middle than at the ends. For this project they need to be completely straight, so they have to be cut that way.
He assembled a jig to help make the process go as smoothly as possible.
Urethane glue is applied to help seal the seal the gaps between the staves.
Johnwhitmarsh warns that this part can take a while, and recommends starting small. 5 staves glued together at a time is his recommended amount.
Clamps are used to hold the staves together, and to also prevent cupping or bowing in the middle.
The next step is to plane the wood until there is no glue showing.
A drum sander will allow you to make the edges 90 degrees, which is key to the next round of gluing.
Each group of staves has a unique shapes. So sanding them down to match each other is crucial.
It’s now time to glue the grouped staves together.
He recommends gluing two sets together at a time, to ensure that everything is perfectly level.
The crafter decided he wanted to cut the edges of the table straight instead of leaving the curve. Leaving the curve would look amazing as well though.
A simple belt sander is used to smooth out the top.
Wanting every detail of this table to be perfect, he used a pick to scrape out all the excess urethane glue.
An acetone based wood patch was used to coat the entire surface.
After the wood patch, apply two coats of satin-urethane varnish. Be sure to sand between coats.
Solid square steel was welded together to form the legs and the base for the table.
Then with a quick few pulls of the drill trigger, the table was attached to the base.
The finished product is absolutely stunning.
The whole table just seems to flow together beautifully.
That is definitely one of the cooler coffee tables I’ve ever seen.
h/t: instructables
The inspiration for this project is very cool. Who would have ever thought to use barrel staves to create a table? I love the way he left two of the ends uneven, it gives the table a lot of character. If I ever get my hands on a wine barrel, I think I know what project I’m going to undertake.