Do-it-yourself oak barrel at home. No such page exists

Barrels and tubs are in great demand in the household. They keep lard, hams in brine, ferment cabbage, wet apples. What can be compared, for example, a cucumber or a tomato pickled in an oak tub. And in a linden barrel honey, apple juice are perfectly stored, you can make kvass in it.

Finally, an oak tub with a lemon or laurel tree will not spoil the interior of even a city apartment even today. Just don't find these simple products either in the store or on the market. But you can do it yourself, and although this task is not an easy one, the amateur master is quite capable of handling it. We will tell you more about the manufacture of these containers necessary in the household.

First of all, you need to choose wood. For storing honey, oak and pine are unsuitable - in an oak barrel, honey darkens, and in a pine barrel it smells of resin. Here you need linden, aspen, plane trees. Poplar, willow, alder will also come down. But for salting, pickling or soaking, there is nothing better than oak - such a barrel will serve for more than one decade. For other needs, you can use black poplar, beech, spruce, fir, pine, cedar, larch and even birch.

The following table will help you determine the size.

Note that here are the dimensions of the barrels in order to choose the size for the tub, the height and diameter of the head remains the same. The diameter in the bunch of the barrel (diameter in the center) for the tub goes into the diameter of the bottom.

When the size is chosen, you need to start blanking the riveting, the main component of the barrel.

I will give the dimensions of the rivets

There is another way to determine the size. The ratio of the diameter to the height of the tub or barrel should be in the proportion, for example, 350: 490 mm (Fig. 1-6). By increasing or decreasing the height, the diameter of the container is changed. The number of rivets for a barrel or tub is calculated using the formula 2 * Pi * R / W, where R is the radius of the tub in the lower section (for the barrel - in the middle); "Pi" is a constant equal to 3.14; W - riveting width along the bottom of the tub (for a barrel - in the middle).

Rivets

Usually, the lower part of the trunk of old trees goes for riveting, it is called that - "riveter". But a lover of tinkering and from ordinary firewood will choose blanks, and the thin trunk will adapt to the case. The best way to make rivets is from raw wood. First, the chock - it should be 5-6 cm longer than the future riveting - is split in half, gently tapping the butt of the ax with the log. Each half is then again split into two parts, and so on, depending on the thickness of the chock, in order to ultimately get blanks 5-10 cm wide (for a sweet clover - 15 cm) and 2.5-3 cm thick. You just need to try to split walked radially - this will save the riveting from cracking in the future.

Punched workpieces are dried in a room with natural ventilation for at least a month. A dryer can be used to speed up the process. The dried workpiece is processed with a plow or scherhebel and a plane.

Riveting marking.

Take a plank with a width of 30 to 100 mm, draw a line along the outside, dividing the riveting in half in width (for a barrel - and in length). For the taper of the tub (barrel), it is necessary to maintain the taper of the riveting. It should be around 8 °. This means that with a riveting width at the bottom of the tub (for a barrel - in the middle) 100 mm, at the top it should be 8 mm narrower, i.e. 92 mm. And for the barrel at the top and bottom - 92 mm. Fix the set riveting width with points and connect 4 points with lines - for the tub and 6 points - for the barrel. These are the riveting guidelines that determine the taper. The plane of the segment of the radius on the template, its direction to the center, together with the already defined slope of the future skeleton of the barrel or tub, is the main requirement for the riveting to adhere to one another when cutting. Therefore, it is necessary to more often apply the template to the riveting being processed, checking the correctness of the planing.

Rivet sharpness.

They plan the riveting with a plane, adjusting each in thickness, and immediately determine which side will be the outside. To do this, the left and right sides of the rivets are filled in length. A scherhebel with an oval base and a piece of iron is planed according to a template (Fig. 5), the inner side is clean and a line is drawn with a pencil dividing the rivet in half along its length. Then the rivets are cut along the length with a hacksaw and the dividing line is brought out to the ends. With a half-jointer (jointer), the outer and sides of the riveting are completely cleaned, the correctness of the planing is checked with a template. It is made along the radius of the assembly hoop for the tub, and for the barrel - along the radius of the umbilical hoop made in advance. For a barrel with two bottoms, two pairs of hoops are prepared - 2 persistent and 2 umbilical. The umbilical hoop should pass freely through the stop band.

Especially carefully check the correctness of the sharpness of the sides of the riveting for the barrel. The template should fit snugly against the lateral and outer sides of the rivet, especially at the center line dividing the rivet in half along its length. When planing the sides, deviations from the line taken out to the end and dividing the rivet in half must not be allowed.

HOOPS

Barrel hoops are made of wood or steel. Wooden ones are not so strong, and the hassle is a hundred times more, so it is better to use steel ones. Hot-rolled steel strip with a thickness of 1.6-2.0 mm and a width of 30-50 mm is used for the hoops.

Having measured the barrel at the point where the hoop is stretched, add to this size double the width of the strip. With hammer blows, we bend the workpiece into a ring, punch or drill holes and put rivets from soft steel wire with a diameter of 4-5 mm. One inner edge of the hoop must be expanded by hitting the pointed end of a hammer on a solid steel stand.

Assembly of the skeleton

The assembly hoop is made midway between the top and bottom of the barrel and a slightly smaller diameter along the midline for the barrel. On a clean wooden base, place the assembly hoop vertically and put 5-6 rivets inside it with the outer side to the hoop. On the left, one of the rivets and the hoop are clamped with a clamp. Raise the hoop slightly and unfold the rest of the rivets. Clamp the hoop. The tight fit of the rivets along the entire length (for the tub) and up to the centerline (for the barrel) is the result of careful cutting and fitting. We assemble the skeleton for the barrel in the same way, but here we remove the assembly hoop after inserting the umbilical hoop, then we fill the persistent hoop. If it is packed tightly, it means that we planed correctly and correctly selected the last rivet in width.

The skeleton for a barrel from the middle or slightly above diverges fan-like to its bottom. Various methods and devices are used to tighten the loose end of the frame. The end of a steel stranded cable with a diameter of 6-8 mm is fixed to a fixed support. The second end is thrown onto a hot, steamed loose frame, put on the protrusion of a pillar from the ground, dug in for this purpose, or a raised part of the log and using the "noose" method, using a strong stake inserted into the loop at the end of the cable, "twist" the frame and put umbilical, and then persistent hoops.

After assembly, the skeleton is checked for horizontal and verticality and all the hoops are finally upset. From the inside of the frame (barrels or tubs) the sag is cleaned, and at the ends of the rivets they are cut by 1/3 of the thickness (Fig. 6) and by 2-3 mm from the outside. Finally, the outer and inner sides of the frame are cleaned, the upper and lower ends are filled.

Installation of bottoms in the frame

For this, several operations are performed.

1. Cutting the chime groove in the frame. We will cut the chime groove. The spreading width of the teeth of a steel nail file is 4-5 mm. Therefore, the width of the chime groove to be cut should be 4-5 mm. The file protrudes from the half-buried bar of the chime by 4-5 mm. Therefore, the depth of the chime groove cannot be different. The thickness of the chime block is the limiter of the chime cutting distance from the top of the frame to the bottom of the plank on which the block is fixed, i.e. 40-50 mm. Be sure to chamfer 2-3 mm or a little more on both sides of the chime groove in order to prevent the riveting of the skeleton from chipping when inserting the bottoms and compressing them with hoops.

2. Assembly of bottom shields... They are collected on wooden or metal (preferably stainless) studs-nails from 4-6 boards. The extreme ones are called shoals, the middle ones are called grasses. Planks that are wider are taken on the jambs. We don't yet know the chime diameter of the circle. We take a compass (Fig. 4) and spread its legs approximately by the radius of the supposed circle along the chime, insert the tip of the leg of the compass into the chime, divide the circle into 6 parts. Thus, we will determine the radius of the circle for the chimes for the bottom. We transfer the resulting radius to the bottom shield and draw a circle.

3. Cutting out the bottoms. With a bow saw or a circular hacksaw, we cut out the required bottom. In this case, the cut should be on the inner side of the line drawn by the circle when the saw teeth are set 2-2.5 mm. This will reduce the diameter of the circle by 0.14 constant "Pi".

4. Processing of the bottoms. Put the bottom circle on the workbench, sharpen it cleanly on both sides, draw a line 3-4 mm thick on the end with a pencil in the middle. With a radius 25-30 mm smaller than the bottom, draw circles on its two sides. These are the chamfering boundaries. We remove the chamfers with a chisel or a plane and make sure that the chime groove and the chamfered bottom fit well. Leave the line at the end of the bottom intact.

5. Installation of the bottoms. This is the final operation to make a barrel or tub. We turn the frame of the tub with its wide part upwards and slightly knock down the lower hoop. We knock down the stubborn one at the keg, and displace the umbilical hoop so that the bottom goes into the chime groove. A nylon thread tying the bottom crosswise will help to keep the bottom in a horizontal position when installed in the chimes. When the bottom is installed in the chimes, the thread is pulled, the hoops are put in place. Before installing the second bottom into the barrel of the barrel, two tongue-and-groove holes are drilled in it opposite each other and 4-5 cm from the inner side of the frame with a diameter of 20-25 mm, into which the tongue is placed so that debris does not get into the barrel. After installing the second bottom, the hoops are finally stuffed and make sure that the ends are crimped with rivets in the chimes, and the rivets do not have gaps between them. If the rivets were planed correctly and withstood the slope according to the template, the bottoms were carefully cut out, the product will be of high quality.

Take note.

1. Before assembling the frame for a barrel or tub, the clean-cut riveting must be dried to 17-20% moisture.

2. Soak oak, spruce, pine, aspen barrels and tubs for at least 10 days, changing the water after 2-3 days. At the same time, the jambs and planks are soaked, with which the fermented products are pressed.

3. To reduce the formation of mold on the rivets, the tubs are wiped with a swab dipped in calcined vegetable oil during storage in the cellar. The doorposts, planks and the pressure stone are washed once a week with hot water.

HOW MUCH A BARREL TO SERVE

First of all, it depends on the operating conditions. But it is important to remember that you should not paint the filling containers with oil paint: it clogs the pores, which contributes to rotting wood. It is desirable to paint the hoops - they will not rust. For decorative purposes, the barrel, flower tub can be treated with mordants.

Slaked lime mixed with 25% ammonia solution gives oak brown color. A black solution of ferrous sulfate or an infusion of iron filings in vinegar for 5-6 days.

A decoction of fragrant woodruff rhizomes (Asperula odo-rata) stains linden and aspen red. Red-brown color gives a decoction of onion peel, brown - decoction of walnut fertilizers. These dyes are both brighter than chemical ones and more stable.

It must also be remembered that wood is better preserved under a constant humidity regime. Therefore, dry goods should always be kept dry, and bulk goods filled with liquid. Both must not be placed directly on the ground. It is better to put a brick or a plank under the barrel than to get rid of the rot later by cutting the chimes.

But no matter how much the hand-made barrel may serve, all this time it will be a pleasant reminder to the owner of the difficulties overcome in comprehending the secrets of the ancient craft of the cooper.

© ready-made barrels in the photo

Instructions

Choose wood first, depending on your purpose. Linden, aspen, poplar, willow, alder are suitable for storing honey. Oak is best suited for pickling, pickling, or soaking. For other needs, beech, spruce, fir, pine, cedar, larch or birch are used.

Blanks or rivets are made from raw wood, from the bottom of the trunk. Radially split the block, which is 5-6 cm longer than the future riveting, into blanks 5-10 cm wide (for a sweet clover 15 cm) and 2.5-3 cm thick.Then put the blanks for a month or more in a room with natural ventilation to dry. ...

Process the dried workpieces with a plow and a plane, first from the outside, checking the curvature using a template taken from the finished product. Then process the side surfaces with a jointer, also taking into account the curvature of the template, and the inner ones, to reduce the thickness in the middle, with an ax.
For the taper of the tub and the bulge of the barrel, the value of the riveting extensions has a ratio of 1.7-1.8 between the widest and narrowest part. For the tub, the lower end is wider, for the barrel - the middle of the rivet.

To make hoops, take a hot-rolled steel strip 1.6-2 mm thick and 30-50 mm wide. To calculate the length of the future hoop, add double the width of the strip to the dimensions of the barrel at the place of the tie. Bend the tape into a ring, punch or drill holes and rivet with 4-5mm soft steel wire.
Flare one edge of each hoop with a hammer on an anvil. According to their location on the barrel, the hoops are named as follows: central - "onion", extreme - "chime", intermediate - "neck".

Assemble on a flat surface, pressing two rivets against each other with staples against the chime hoop. Then, in turn, insert the following rivets, collecting the first half of the barrel, and also the second half. Tapping with a hammer, we upset the hoop until the rivets are tightly joined by the edges.
If there is a gap in which the last rivet does not fit, do not be afraid to trim it to the desired width, or take out another narrow rivet and insert a wide one.

Trim the ends of the frame with a hammer, put on the onion hoop and push it all the way with the knob. With the base straight, pull the other end of the frame with a rope loop with a lever. Having planted the second chime hoop, align the ends of the rivets with a humpback plane, 2-3 mm from the hoops.
From one edge of the frame, make a groove with a depth and width of 3 mm from the inside with a chime, into which you subsequently insert the bottom.

Assemble the bottom from the boards fitted along the edges, knitting them together with staples, and then cut along the previously drawn circle. Insert the bottom after slightly loosen the chime hoop, adjusting the penetration density and pressing in with light hammer blows. The second bottom is also inserted from the other side, with the only difference that a filling hole with a diameter of 30-32 mm is first drilled in it, to which the cork is adjusted.

If you are engaged in making your own wine, pickles, then you know that there is no better container than a wooden barrel. After all, made of wood, it becomes one of the main points in the recipe, it is an environmentally friendly raw material that preserves the taste and useful properties of products. In addition, alcohol contained in wines or moonshine, when interacting with containers made of synthetic materials: plastic, nylon, can dissolve them and the interaction products are mixed with the drink.

It is not difficult to buy a barrel for your winemaking or salting, but if you want to save money or like to do everything yourself, then you should study the technique of making an oak barrel with your own hands. This process takes a lot of time and effort, but with our advice you will see that making a barrel with your own hands is not so difficult, even for those who have never done it.

Making barrels from wood is called "cooper business", and the master who deals with this business is a cooper. This is a whole art that originated in Ancient Greece and is still popular today. The technology has not changed for thousands of years, is time-tested and is not as difficult to implement as it seems at first glance. But how to make a barrel yourself in modern conditions?

Choosing wood

The first step, of course, is to select the material from which you are going to make your future barrel. We will offer you the main types of wood that coopers prefer, tell you what their positive and negative sides are, and also help you choose the most suitable option for you.

Oak

Of course, first of all, you should talk about making oak barrels. This wood deserves the title of a classic material used by the cooper craftsmen. Possessing high strength, flexibility, this tree contains "tannins" that act as an antiseptic. Moisture acting on the walls of such a barrel makes them stronger. Therefore, the service life of oak barrels is measured not even in tens, but in hundreds of years. With drinks stored in such a barrel, oxidation and interaction with wood take place and they acquire a pleasant aroma with a hint of vanilla.

Fur tree, pine tree

These types of wood are also used as material for the manufacture of barrels. They are soft, easier to handle and cut, but inferior in strength to oak and many other species. Their disadvantage is the smell of resin, which is why this type of wood is rarely used as a material for barrels.

Cedar

Of the representatives of coniferous varieties, coopers prefer it, especially in those places where its natural habitat is located. In terms of properties, it is similar to pine or spruce, but such barrels have no smell. They are well suited for storing food, especially dairy products.

Linden

This type of wood is fibrous, excellently cut and processed. Strong material, does not dry out, does not smell. Linden barrels are recognized as the best for storing and transporting honey, caviar, pickles.

Aspen

It is a cheap, but long-lasting material, it is strong, resistant to moisture, has antiseptic properties. Aspen was recognized as ideal for salting and storing vegetables. The peculiarity of this variety is that it swells a lot, but for the cooper it is rather a plus, because thanks to this the rivets are tightly closed.

We make rivets

So, you have decided on the type of wood, for example, it will be oak. Now we make the parts of the barrel, starting with the rivets. These are tapering at the edges, or rectangular boards (sawn or chipped). The latter gain in strength due to the structure of the fibers, which does not undergo destruction when cleaved.

Riveting shape depending on the type of barrel

To determine the exact number of such rivets, do the following:

• Determine the required parameters of the barrel
• Make drawings of your design
• Create sketches of rivets and bottoms in natural sizes

After these procedures, perform simple calculations so as not to miscalculate how many rivets are needed. It is calculated by the formula: 2 * Pi * R / W, where:

• Pi - constant 3.14
• P is the radius of the bottom (if the sides are equal) or the middle (if the sides are convex)
• W - the size of the riveting width

Barrel sizes depending on volume

It will take a lot of time and work to make split rivets; certain skills are needed here. The main thing that needs to be done is to split the workpiece so that fragments with a flat surface are obtained.

The scheme of the split into rivets

There are two main ways to split:

• Radially (the split goes through the core of the deck, which requires less effort)
• Tangetal (does not affect the core, not recommended for hardwood processing, this makes the process slower and more difficult)

Raw material is easiest to process and freshly cut material is best. If you use ready-made boards, see that the annual rings go along the course of their plane, without cutting.

After harvesting, you need to dry it, in the summer, in the air, under a canopy, this period will be from 3 months. For artificial drying, use the following method:

1. Glue paper to the ends of the rivets
2. Put in the oven
3. Leave there for a day

Ready-to-rivet for barrel

The blanks are now ready for further work.

We make a hoop

Another detail is the hoop. It helps to connect all the rivets, creating a single whole; stainless steel is used to make the hoop.

Modern barrels have three hoops:

• Pukovye (closer to the center)
• Mouths (closer to the edge)
• Neck (if the barrel has a large volume, it is additionally placed between the first two)

The size of the hoop depends on the volume of the container (thickness * width):

• Up to 25 l - 1.6mm * 3cm
• 25 - 50 L - 1.6mm * 3.6cm
• Up to 100 L - 1.6mm * 4-4.5cm
• 120 liters and more - 1.8 * 5cm

Stainless steel hoops for barrel

You will need temporary metal hoops, which are made according to the following algorithm:

1. Cut the strip to the required size from the sheet of steel
2. Make holes at the ends of the strips, which are fastened with rivets.

We collect the barrel

Now we have approached the main stage - the assembly of the barrel, consisting of rivets, which are connected first with temporary, and then with permanent hoops.

Process with a tool - grinding, cut off uneven ends, drill a filler hole.

Watch a video of how an oak barrel is made.

Repair of an oak barrel

You have an old barrel that you do not use because it is dry, leaking, or for some other reason it is not suitable, watch the video how the repair is done.

The second part of the video if the barrel leaks

The barrel nowadays not only has a practical function. Today, for the storage of liquids or something else, they are used in warehouses, in wine cellars and so on. For decorative purposes, they began to be made relatively recently. With skillful processing, they can be used to decorate the garden area, as well as in the form of furniture: chairs, tables, bar counters, etc.

Even a well-worn barrel can be restored and used for other purposes. This, of course, requires a fair amount of imagination. You also need to take into account its condition so that the material is not too dry from time to time, otherwise all efforts will come to naught at the very first time of its operation. In fact, there are quite a few ideas on how to turn such a container into something more functional or beautiful. For example, in the garden, you can set up a mini-flower bed on it, and on several levels. Or make an interesting table or bench. You can even organize a fountain in them, only it will not last long if the wood is not properly processed: under the influence of water, it can quickly lose both its aesthetics of its appearance and its strength. Some craftsmen adapt the barrel under the washbasin: for this, a sink is inserted into the upper part, and a pipe is installed inside the barrel.

How to make a wooden barrel with your own hands

Before you start making a barrel with your own hands, you need to decide on the material. Typically used for this purpose? do-it-yourself barrel

Before you can mount the barrel, you must first make the frets. These are wooden planks that are cut from the trunk of a tree. They can also be made by splitting wood blocks. Sawed ones are usually stronger than chipped ones because it is not always possible to split the log correctly, and because of this, some of the strength may be lost.

It has long been customary to fasten the frets into a single structure using metal hoops, which are made from durable sheet steel. To make the barrel even more durable, you can additionally nail them down. The number of hoops depends on the height of the barrel, but, as a rule, there are at least three of them.

The last step is to install the bottom. After it is installed on the owl, a hoop is put on to secure it, which is also additionally nailed for greater strength.

How to make a bar at home from an old wooden barrel

In fact, there are a lot of options for mini-bars from the barrel. It can be an option with a front door, and a top opening, or with an open interior space with shelves for storing drinks. Which one is considered the best is difficult to say. It all depends on your taste preferences.

Before you start making a bar from a barrel, you need to clean out the old wood. This must be done both inside and outside. Before that, you need to remove all the hoops, except for the one that holds the bottom. Then they dress up quite simply, and you can move them down to the desired level with a hammer. Then the edges are aligned on the side of the bottom, on the other side. We leave one part open for now. Further, the hoops are processed with a special compound so that later the metal does not become rusty. If a front hole is needed, mark the location and saw out.

Cooper craft is one of the most difficult, so the answer to the question, how to make a barrel with your own hands, will not be easy either. This is a very time-consuming process that requires a decent professional level from the performer and a large number of tools for woodworking.

Types of barrels by purpose and wood for their manufacture

Before you wonder how to make a barrel, you should decide what you need it for. The choice of material and manufacturing method depends on this. This type of container is made for the following purposes:

1. For fermentation, aging and storage of spirits, wine and beer;
2. For the preparation and storage of pickles;
3. For storage of dry products;
4. For storing honey, etc.

Barrels for drinks have two bottoms and a hole for inserting taps. The same type of container, but without holes, was previously used for long-term storage of some products (for example, corned beef).

For other purposes, barrels with one bottom are sufficient - they are also called tubs. From above, they are covered with a lid or circle for oppression. These parts are much easier to make than the bottom. Make a wooden barrelit is possible from such types of wood as:

1. Oak;
2. Ash;
3. Cherry;
4. linden;
5. alder and others.

The wood of the first three types is the most versatile. It is equally suitable for containers of any purpose. However, the “champion” should be recognized as an oak barrel, which, being strong, reliable and durable, provides ideal conditions for storing food.

Oak products have antiseptic properties, release tannins into alcoholic beverages, improving their taste, and also easily withstand the effects of brines when preparing pickles. Ash and cherry are the first substitutes for oak wood. They have similar, but weaker properties. Therefore, we will consider,. The manufacture of containers from other types of wood, such as linden, has no fundamental differences with the exception of the nuances of the finish.

Rules for the preparation of material for barrels

Before you start doing a wooden barrel with your own hands, you should prepare and prepare quality material. The wood must be mature, healthy, free of defects (knots, stubble)

The best time for harvesting material is late autumn or winter, when the natural moisture content of the wood is at a minimum.

You are unlikely to be able to meet all the requirements. For example, for the manufacture of staves for wine and cognac barrels of the highest quality category, the process of drying and aging of wood takes 6-8 years, but if you are only concerned about how to make a barrel for yourself, adhere to the following rules:

1. Before drying, the logs are split into blanks of the required thickness;
2. Drying is performed in a place closed from direct sunlight - under a canopy, in a shed, etc.;
3. The drying time depends on many factors and can take 1-3 months;
4. residual moisture content of wood before processing should be about 25%.

Speeding up the drying process using hot air and other methods usually leads to a deterioration in the quality of the wood and its properties in the finished product. The tips also take into account the need to cure the finished rivets before assembling the product. As a result, the residual moisture content of the wood should be 17–20%.

Riveting and tools for this

For those who wish make an oak barrel yourself the most difficult will be the manufacture of rivets. The process of marking and splitting logs is clearly shown in the following figure

As a result, you will receive blanks with a tapered cross-section, from which rivets are made after drying. This part has a complex shape, so its production places high demands on the performer's skill. The main dimensions of the barrel and its elements, depending on the volume, are as follows:

This table will help you figure out how to make a barrel, and the drawing - to understand how to give the rivets the desired shape

and what tools you need for this. The curvature of the sides should provide the barrel with a taper of about 8 °, due to which the product receives resistance to external and internal loads. For processing the surfaces of rivets, a plane, jointer, scherhebel, plow and other tools of this group are used. In this case, the outer surface of the part should be slightly convex, and the inner surface should be concave.

The accuracy and quality of the planing are regularly checked against the template. To calculate the number of rivets, the greatest circumference (in the center of the barrel) should be divided by the width of the blanks. This will also determine the exact and uniform size of the part. You can watch the riveting process in the video.

After that, the answer to the question of whether how to make an oak barrel with your own handswill become clearer as you tackle the toughest challenge.

Making bottom shields and tools for this

For the manufacture of bottom shields, 4–6 planks are used, connected with wood or stainless steel hairpins. Drawings, or, more precisely, instructions, of this process are given here

But at first we will restrict ourselves only to connecting the planks, since the rest of the operations are carried out taking into account the dimensions of the assembled barrel body. We will need to do the following:

1. draw a circle on the shield: its diameter should correspond to the size of the bottom of the barrel, to which the doubled depth of the chime groove is added (this is 6 mm);
2. perform filing along the contour using a bow saw or circular hacksaw;
3. chamfer around the entire circumference so that the bottom fits into the chime groove.

In a similar way (corrected for a larger or smaller diameter), a lid and a circle for oppression are made. If you intend do it yourself a barrel for drinks that have two bottoms, remember that such products are made according to individual measurements for the top and bottom. You will see the result of your efforts only after you collect all the details into a single whole. Building a barrel is the most enjoyable part of making it. We will describe below how this process is carried out.

Barrel assembly procedure

The following information about how to make a barrel, there will be recommendations for its assembly. For this, in addition to wooden parts, you will need metal hoops - assembly and permanent. The first of them serves to set and fix a complete skeleton. Permanent hoops are subdivided into chorus and neck (umbilical) hoops. They provide the fastening of the rivets. To make a wooden barrelfrom the existing kit of parts, you will need to perform the following operations:

1. with the help of clamps on the assembly hoop, fix two, or preferably three rivets;
2. Fill the space between them with the remaining details;
3. put on a neck hoop from the fixed side;
4. Steam the loosened side of the frame and pull off the rivets with a collar (noose), then put on the chime and neck hoop on this side of the frame;
5. from the side of the assembly hoop, cut the chime groove to install the bottom;
6. Cut and process the first bottom, then put it in place;
7. On the same side, install the chime hoop, which finally fixes the bottom;
8. To finish the inner and outer surfaces of the barrel body;
9. Hardening (firing) from the inside;
10. Repeat the operation of installing the bottom from the opposite side.

The initial stage of the assembly can be seen in the video

.

Another video

will give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe subsequent operations. However, in this case, an amendment should be made to the fact that professionals work here who have their own techniques and perform many actions automatically. Perhaps not everything will work out the first time, but the one how to make an oak barrel yourselfyou will definitely learn.

For barrels with a capacity of up to 50 liters, four hoops are used; for larger containers, their number is increased to six. They are made from steel strip 30-50 mm wide and 1.5-2 mm thick. The diameter of the hoop is determined by measuring the place of its installation on the product body. Double the bandwidth is added to this value. This is necessary for joining the strip into a ring using rivets made of forged steel wire with a cross section of 4–5 mm.

Answering the question, how to make a barrel, be sure to mention that one edge inside the hoop needs flaring. This gives it the necessary taper for a snug fit to the rivets of the frame during putting on and off. Cutting the chime groove is performed using a special tool, which is called chime in professional slang. The procedure is somewhat similar to opening a round tin can.

In an article about how to make a barrel, it is impossible not to mention the hardening of the product. This is most often achieved by firing. Thus, the increased resistance of wood to moisture, organic acids and other influences is provided. The most convenient way to perform the firing of the body without a bottom is with a portable hearth burner.

Finishing surfaces, drilling holes for taps (chopiks) are done before firing.

Barrel inspection and preparation for use

Our advice on how how to make a wooden barrel with your own hands, completes the information on how to check its tightness and prepare the product for use. To search for leaks, the barrel is filled with water. If it still leaks within an hour after filling, you will have to take measures to seal it. For this there is a proven "old-fashioned" method using cattail, which is also called barrel grass. Leaks are caulked with them. Another sealing method is waxing with natural wax.

Each master has his own answers to the question, how to make a barrel, and many professional secrets, for the disclosure of which one would have to write an entire monograph. Therefore, you will have to seek help from experts on a variety of nuances of the barrel making process more than once. By the way, the literary hero Robinson Crusoe was never able to cope with this task. When you achieve the tightness of the product, all that remains is to prepare the barrel for use.

Answering the question, how to make an oak barrel, you should also give recommendations for soaking. Most often this is done with plain water. The procedure takes up to 10 days with a fluid change every two to three days. However, for barrels intended for spirits, steeping lasts from one month to six months using alcohol-containing liquids with a strength of 18–55%. In this article, we have tried to answer the basic questions regarding how to make a barrel... We hope you find this information useful.