You want to make a wood barrel you say? First, find yourself a tree. Know that it must be a special tree. That birch in your front lawn will just not suffice. It must be an oak tree. But it can not be from anywhere. No, it must have grown slowly, from a forest in a cool area. For these oaks that grow slowly have a grain that is very tight. But there is more than being from a cool place, the forest must have trees which are very near to one another.

Now the tree you find must fit even more criteria. It must contain an untarnished trunk that is a minimum of 5 feet around, it must also be at least one hundred years of age. Seeing as how you will only be using the part from the first branches on down, the height of the tree does not play a role. Having done a proper job, you will be able to make at least two to four large wood barrels from your tree.

Next you need to cut your tree down, and remove the top. From here you should section off the remaining trunk into lengths long enough for your staves (the strips of wood making up your barrel). Now you will split this tree by hand, and finally into the perfect size for your staves.

Now comes your first break, as the staves you have sectioned off need to air-dry for 3-5 years. This is needed to reduce the likelihood of liquids leaking out. Throughout your break you are going to need to monitor their humidity level. You are aiming at fifteen percent; this will be achieved by moving your staves around from time to time, and applying small amounts of water.

You now hopefully have some quality rough planks. It is time to turn these into finely finished staves. You need to make sure they are cut to the precise length you are trying to achieve, and taper off the ends. With this complete you can rest assured that they will snugly shape together as the wood barrel is given its curved shape. Next the inner flat part of the stave is hollowed out. The staves are fit into a frame, and then assembled around a hoop. Now, to apply the barrel shape to your wood, the staves must be bent down and attached to the bottom iron hoop. This is most often done with fire. After the fire is made, you get a sponge and some water. NOTE: If this is a wine barrel, you should be making an open fire out of oak chips (versus, any other type of fire or heat) These chips will give the wood its toasty flavor that the wine will take in as it ages. With your sponge you will be wetting down your wood barrel for roughly thirty minutes (without any type of a lid on the barrel).

After this process, you need to custom make the flat ends for the top of your wood barrel (so that they fit into the grooves within your staves). Now take off the short term hoops and apply the ones that will remain for the lifetime of this new wood barrel. Next smooth the outside of your barrel by removing any sand that you see. Almost done! Finally we dump cold water into the wood barrel, as well as air pressure to verify that there are not any leaks. You now have a completed wood barrel!

Not to difficult or time consuming, right? And for those that have the patience and time to do all of this good luck to you! If not, know that a wood barrel from ArtsandCraftsofMexico will only be of the highest quality.