Well, I bought 4 barrels a couple months ago and have been working with them along with a 10’ long 30” wide and 2” thick slab of white oak I bought from my neighbor that I want to make into an outdoor table top for our back stoop. That sucker consumed a lot of my time as well but we’ll worth the time. I bought 5 hickory bow tie inlays on line and made 2 bow ties myself out of a black oak I fell 3-4 years ago next to our outdoor water boiler. Anywho, 3 of the barrels I carefully removed the metal bands one at a time and used a angle grinder with a heavy duty wire brush to remove all the rust. I also hit the staves with a belt sander and detail sander before reapplying the bands. After lightly sanding off the end caps a touch without removing the stamped info I sprayed them down with a clear satin polyurethane. Two of the barrels went to becoming the bases of my slab tabletop on the back stoop and the 3rd barrel was turned into a trash can that we’ll slide a plastic insert inside of then use large heavy duty trash bags inside of it. I used its cut out end cap for the lid and added a handle Tammy bought at Hobby Lobby. The 4th barrel I didn’t sand and left in its patina state and converted into a liquor cabinet. I got some pointers from the guy I bought the barrels from which was a HUGE help. I used steel rivets to secure bands with staves around the cutout area. There was some expansion from the pressure release after I finally got the doors cut out with a portable oscillation tool. Added 4 hinges and painted the door edges a matte black primer/paint to match the black liquor coated on the inside of the barrel. I also had to cut up some wood pieces then painted them to attach them on the inside to hold up the 2 end caps I bought extra to use for shelving on the inside. The caps were loose so I used 3 oak strips on the black side and screwed them down to hold the caps together. I then spray painted them black to help blend it in. I just wiped clean the caps and barrel of any loose dirt then sprayed 3 coats of the same clear satin polyurethane which really darkened and beautified the barrels look. I asked a few TOOzers of their opinion if I should keep the patina look or sand it down like the other barrels and I’m glad I went with their suggestion. Tonight on my way home from work a bought some puck lighting with remote and added it.
Im so glad to finally get these projects done so I now can concentrate on other stuff I need to get done around the house. Lol This was fun to do but just required a lot of time.
I did buy another slab from my neighbor that is maple with a live edge as well that I will work on that will hopefully turn out to be one sweet bar for either outside or for the basement.
Here are some pics:
Im so glad to finally get these projects done so I now can concentrate on other stuff I need to get done around the house. Lol This was fun to do but just required a lot of time.
I did buy another slab from my neighbor that is maple with a live edge as well that I will work on that will hopefully turn out to be one sweet bar for either outside or for the basement.
Here are some pics:
