# Wood barrel bar and table



## paul_F (Apr 23, 2015)

Hello guys,
Acquired some 50-60 year old Oak wine barrels that have been pretty weathered. I want to make the large barrel into a wine bar(2 stools around it) with a glass table top and as for the little Keg sized barrel, i want to just clean it for now.

The wood is weathered and greyed as you can see but still very solid and there are some splinters around some of the staves.

Here's my plan to tackle this project(First big project!!!):
1- Clean the barrels from inside and outside with Tricleanium or Napisan to remove dirt.
2- Sanding: Assess if i need to use a power sander to smooth out the splintered parts or just use a planer. Based on that, use 80 grit then 120 grit sandpaper to have a clean smooth surface.
3- Remove the rust from the steel hoops(Already sprayed with WD40 and might need to use power sander)
4- Deciding on shape of bar(Just cutting a window in it or maybe cutting the Barrel lengthways into 2 halves...) 

Any advice would be much appreciated. I want to keep the weathered look but still want to have a sort of clean finish if that makes any sense :icon_smile:


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## Mort (Jan 4, 2014)

In my opinion it would be a shame to clean those up, but that's just the way I like things.


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## paul_F (Apr 23, 2015)

Thanks for that Mort,
I want to keep the look but not too sure about how healthy it is to have them inside rusty and dirty.

I'll try to remove the rust surface and see how that goes. As for the wood, any ideas if the alkaline solutions above would change the colour? From reading around, it seems that it will only remove dirt/grim and some stains but won't alter the colour of the wood much 

Cheers


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## fullermatt (May 15, 2012)

I have repurposed a lot of old wood things like this before. What I would do is just coat everything with Sanding Sealer or satin poly, including the rusted bands. Sanding is going to remove all the age. What is the blue stuff on top of the barrel. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Since the barrels are being used as bases to tables they don't have to be all that clean. Little soap and water and a scrub brush is all I would have used. Anyway at this point the WD-40 presents a problem finishing the barrels. I would recommend a Danish oil finish rather than a film finish. The WD-40 in the wood will screw with a film finish. An oil finish would look more rustic anyway.


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## paul_F (Apr 23, 2015)

Thanks for that Fullermatt and Steve,

Satin Poly sounds good be but first i want to have a bit of a cleaner look and by that, i mean i just want to remove the darkest stains and brighten up the look of the barrels a little. I've been cleaning and scrubbing the barrels with bleach/water/soap combo and they are starting to look pretty good.

I opened up the small barrel and it had some white larva in it so i treated it with Mineral turps and that seems to have done the job. The bleu stuff on top is just paint.

As for the WD40, it was only sprayed on the hoops but not on the wood.
Would Danish oil darken the color of the wood?

Thanks again guys and will post some new photos soon.

Cheers


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## paul_F (Apr 23, 2015)

Hey guys,
i thought i'll put an update on how its going with the barrels. Ive been working mainly on the larger one and turned it into a wine cabinet as per photos.

Still have no idea how to finish it but it seems like i'll have to stain them. I cleaned both with deck cleaner(mild oxalic acid formula) and bleach but as you can see they still have black darkened wood s not happy with the look as is. I tried some gloss poly on a little piece and looks pretty good compared to BLO which turned a lot of the wood to black for some reason.

I have reused the staves that i cut and quiet happy with the design and learnt a few things while doing it too which was great. I definitely need better tools since all i had was multi function tool and a handsaw. Also, planning ahead payed off but still can do better especially when putting things together...

Plan now is to clean the inside a bit and then decide on finish...


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## paul_F (Apr 23, 2015)

Some more pics


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## Scinzon (Apr 29, 2015)

They look great!

Personally I am not a fan of rust either. :no:

WD40 probably found its way into the wood.

I vote for Danish Oil because if I had this project I would make them look as "barrely" as possible. I might even weather them a little after Oiling to make the details pop-out. Not sure if it is possible though.


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## paul_F (Apr 23, 2015)

Thanks for that Scinzon,
I did go with Scandinavian oil (Danish oil basically ...) and the result is starting to look pretty close to what i'm after. I wanted a darkish color with some satin/semi-gloss(Not furniture like finish but close to that ) to it but while keeping some roughness to the staves which have some feathering and thus why i thought the resin in the Scandinavian oil will help fill some of that to as smoother surface which seems to be working well with wet sanding. 

The darkening of the wood seems to be caused not by WD40 but by the oils reacting to acid in the wood from cleaning. I forgot to neutralise the wood after cleaning and bleaching with deck cleaner (mild oxalic acid)... but the end result is looking pretty close to what i expected.

Here's some pics, i applied the oil with a brush thinly and then rubbed it with a cloth, then after about 20 minutes or so i added a bit more oil and then wet sanded with 400 grit. Wiped the result with a cloth (not too much though) and let it dry for around 8 hours. After that, i sanded very lightly and then cleaned with a cloth and then applied a second coat which is still drying now. 
I will sand lightly again with 400 grit and then apply a final layer of oil.


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## paul_F (Apr 23, 2015)

More photos from second application of oil and you can sort of see the sheen starting to pop a bit more.
Also, any thoughts on what to do with the inside of the barrel would be great please! i haven't touched it yet other than cleaning a bit and was thinking maybe just put some oil based poly for some protection and thats about it.

PS: My 5 year old phone camera is not giving the photos any justice :thumbdown:


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## Scinzon (Apr 29, 2015)

Great results and work. It will look amazing when it's done! :thumbsup:


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## paul_F (Apr 23, 2015)

Here's the finished result.
PS: apologies about the inverted image. Its fine on my phone/computer so not sure why its being ineverted when upload.


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