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**Got wood? Wine Barrels**

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swamprb

somebody shut me the fark up.
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Picked up some de-commisioned Oak Wine Barrels today.

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This one contained Cabernet Sauvignon according to the brass tag. Two appear to be made in France and the other says Missouri

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I got the bands off with a hammer and chisel before the snow and rain started coming down!

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Just an idea of how much wine penetration is in the Oak staves and a shot of the bung hole for you farkers!

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I never see Oak around here and decided to try these. Curious to see how much I get out of a barrell?
 
Thats cool Brian. Should give you some great smoke. I bet you the Cab would be really good with beef. Got some Dino bones in the freezer if you send some over, i'll let you know how it tastes:wink:

Paul
 
UH--can ya do some of that up as pellets????? :lol:

Looks like great stuff and will make super chunks for flavoring.

Congrats!

TIM
 
Looks great. Did you get those from a winery? And did you have to pay or were they free for the taking?
 
Well they were not free. The guy advertised them last week on CL for $30 and got a ton of E-mails and jacked the price up to $40! I was hoping he would go $25 each if I bought 4 of them-but he wouldn't budge, but honored the $30 price that he initially quoted. Claims he bought 1000 of them and sold them to a Tequila Distillery in Mexico and got stuck with 200, he went into panic mode and is trying to get some money back!

Here is what about a third of the barrell looks like chunked up. I cut the staves with a Radial Arm saw and didn't weigh the bin but stuck it on the bath scale and its over 60lbs!

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The garage sure smells good!
 
Thanks again for the "Wine Barrel" staves and chunks bro...I'll fire some up tonight with our steaks! :p
 
I am in the middle of making a side table for my UDS and UDG out of the lids of wine barrels. So Swamprb think about the lids and bottoms before cutting them up. Great solid pieces of oak. Yeah the garage always smells good after sawing up the staves. I am glad we can put the used barrels to good use. ENJOY!!!!
 
No need for the chisel, just take the hammer and screwdriver and tap the bands towards the ends. They are not attached to the barrel, the expansion of the oak sets them in place. The first time I broke a barrel down I thought they were attached but they are not, a couple taps and they fall off.
 
Barbarian said:
I am in the middle of making a side table for my UDS and UDG out of the lids of wine barrels. So Swamprb think about the lids and bottoms before cutting them up. Great solid pieces of oak. Yeah the garage always smells good after sawing up the staves. I am glad we can put the used barrels to good use. ENJOY!!!!
Click to expand...

I did cut up one end up, I thought it might make a good cutting board. It's got double point nails holding the oak together.

I'd love to see the side table you're making, post a pic and give me an idea!

Barbarian said:
No need for the chisel, just take the hammer and screwdriver and tap the bands towards the ends. They are not attached to the barrel, the expansion of the oak sets them in place. The first time I broke a barrel down I thought they were attached but they are not, a couple taps and they fall off.
Click to expand...

Screwdrivers are for driving and removing screws! I don't have any Vermont American or All-Trade screwdrivers to use on the dummy end of a hammer so that's were the chisel comes into play!

These bands are secured to the wood with flush mount T-nails, so needless to say it was a bit more work than just tapping them towards the ends.
 
Hmmmmm, those are different type barrels then I have run into here in Napa. Come to think of it a winery friend told me about the hammer and screwdriver, but after giving that a try I figured out that just taking a rock bar and sliding it down the side of the barrel knocked the staves off. Worked like a charm.

On the side table, here are some pics. The lids and bottoms of the barrels I have gotten have three dowels holding each piece together, nothing else. They seem to be flexible to be able to expand and contract with the liquid. I took one apart and then glued it together. It is not done yet, just two coats of polyurethane so far. I plan on making it removable also, more pics of that when finished. I will be using different brackets then those in the pics, just have not made them yet. Love the red wine color that the inside of the barrel gives me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The polyurethane really brings that grape color out! Looks nice Jerry!

I've been contemplating doing a removable table top similar to what I did with my WSM before I put them in the cart.

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All-thread bolted into a flush T-nut in the top and they slide into Universal garage door handles mounted on the WSM center section grate holder bolts.
 
Man, when I lived in San Jose I could pick up used french oak barrels for 30 bucks. To think the winery paid about 700 for the same barrel new. :shock:

I tried to make a storage unit by cutting a door into the barrel and that did nto work well. It basically However, cutting it up worked great for smoking wood. I only need a little chuck or two in the Kamado at a time.
 
Years ago I bought half Whiskey barrells and built a waterfall fountain out of them, after a couple years in the elements the staves started coming loose and the bands fell off, I had to drill holes in the bands and bolt them through the wood.
 
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