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Edit: Wow my first Instructable was featured on the front page, thank you so much! I'm glad to be able to share our wee project with anyone that's interested. If you liked what you read and saw, please take a second to rate this Instructable.
Happy New Years everyone!
Malcolm Gill
Just before Christmas this year, I happened to be looking around an old junk yard and I noticed an old oak barrel that had been used for aging wine. I thought it would look great as a cabinet (and could act as my Christmas present this year from my parents), so I called Dad up and he agreed that it would be a good idea and a fun project over Christmas.
Before starting anything, I searched on the internet to see if I could find a basic guide to give us a few tips on how we should go about doing this. The closest thing I could find, however, were tutorials showing us how to go about turning a barrel into a rain catcher or an ice chest. As a result of this, I have decided to write this tutorial so as to give people an idea of what to expect if they wanted to do something similar.
Over the next few pages, I will outline what equipment and materials we used, what we did, and some of the problems we ran into and how we dealt with them.
Happy New Years everyone!
Malcolm Gill
Just before Christmas this year, I happened to be looking around an old junk yard and I noticed an old oak barrel that had been used for aging wine. I thought it would look great as a cabinet (and could act as my Christmas present this year from my parents), so I called Dad up and he agreed that it would be a good idea and a fun project over Christmas.
Before starting anything, I searched on the internet to see if I could find a basic guide to give us a few tips on how we should go about doing this. The closest thing I could find, however, were tutorials showing us how to go about turning a barrel into a rain catcher or an ice chest. As a result of this, I have decided to write this tutorial so as to give people an idea of what to expect if they wanted to do something similar.
Over the next few pages, I will outline what equipment and materials we used, what we did, and some of the problems we ran into and how we dealt with them.
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Signing UpStep 1What you will need
Here I will list all of the things we used to make our barrel, and I will give a brief outline of what some of them are used for.
Hand-held sanders
We used two different sanders, a circular one, which did most of the work, and then a smaller triangular shaped one to do the finer edges.
Sandpaper
Two grains of paper were used, a rougher one to get most of the muck off the wood, and a finer one to give the wood a smooth finish. Make sure you get sizes that fit the sander(s) you will be using.
Wire Wool
This gets wood incredibly silky and nice looking, but it's not necessary.
Glue
Any glue that will hold metal and wood together should be fine. We used "Gorilla Glue" which seemed to work fine, but foamed all of the place, leaving us with bits that had to be sliced or sanded off. The bits we glued were two of the metal hoops (the middle two) to the staves (the planks that make up the barrel), and the staves that would make up the doors.
Hammer and short piece of wood
These were used together to tap the hoops down as far as they would go so that they were tight and even, without damaging them or the staves.
Hacksaw
To start cutting the doors out.
Buzz-saw
To finish cutting the doors and to cut out the shelf.
Cardboard
To make a template for the shelf. This isn't absolutely necessary but it made it easier to get the shelf the right shape and size.
Plywood
Or anything else you want to make the shelf out of.
Scrap wood
To make supports to rest the shelf on.
Danish Oil
We used this to smarten up the shelf a litte bit, so that it looked a bit better in the barrel.
Gas mask & goggles
There was a large area to sand, so a lot of sawdust was flying around. I wore a mask and goggles so I wasn't breathing it in. However, if you have a good ventilation system you might not need these.
Wheel Barrow draped in blankets/sheets
We found that if we put the barrel on its side in a wheel barrow, it was at the perfect height for working on it, and it made it handy to move around. The blankets or sheets act as padding to stop the wheel barrow from marking the wood of the barrel.
Drill & drill bits
Measuring tape
Screws
Hinges
Damp cloth & warm water
Door Handles
Tape
Spirit level
Pencil
Sellotape
Gladwrap
Scraper
Vacuum Cleaner
Hand-held sanders
We used two different sanders, a circular one, which did most of the work, and then a smaller triangular shaped one to do the finer edges.
Sandpaper
Two grains of paper were used, a rougher one to get most of the muck off the wood, and a finer one to give the wood a smooth finish. Make sure you get sizes that fit the sander(s) you will be using.
Wire Wool
This gets wood incredibly silky and nice looking, but it's not necessary.
Glue
Any glue that will hold metal and wood together should be fine. We used "Gorilla Glue" which seemed to work fine, but foamed all of the place, leaving us with bits that had to be sliced or sanded off. The bits we glued were two of the metal hoops (the middle two) to the staves (the planks that make up the barrel), and the staves that would make up the doors.
Hammer and short piece of wood
These were used together to tap the hoops down as far as they would go so that they were tight and even, without damaging them or the staves.
Hacksaw
To start cutting the doors out.
Buzz-saw
To finish cutting the doors and to cut out the shelf.
Cardboard
To make a template for the shelf. This isn't absolutely necessary but it made it easier to get the shelf the right shape and size.
Plywood
Or anything else you want to make the shelf out of.
Scrap wood
To make supports to rest the shelf on.
Danish Oil
We used this to smarten up the shelf a litte bit, so that it looked a bit better in the barrel.
Gas mask & goggles
There was a large area to sand, so a lot of sawdust was flying around. I wore a mask and goggles so I wasn't breathing it in. However, if you have a good ventilation system you might not need these.
Wheel Barrow draped in blankets/sheets
We found that if we put the barrel on its side in a wheel barrow, it was at the perfect height for working on it, and it made it handy to move around. The blankets or sheets act as padding to stop the wheel barrow from marking the wood of the barrel.
Drill & drill bits
Measuring tape
Screws
Hinges
Damp cloth & warm water
Door Handles
Tape
Spirit level
Pencil
Sellotape
Gladwrap
Scraper
Vacuum Cleaner
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Appreciate it!
Cheers!
Dan