Wooden Barrels

These are my first attempts at making barrels - sorry if the picture quality is a bit ordinary!



These are made with 19mm balsa dowel, sandpaper and paper (left) or card (right) for the barrel hoops. These stand about 15mm high. I scored lines in for the staves, and used a rotary tool with a grinding bit to indent the top (not visible in these pics). I think this may be a bit less fiddly than the card method. Note: it helps to stick a cocktail stick in one end to hold the barrel while working on it.

They look as good as some commercially made barrels. A little touch-up on the metalwork might be cool...other than that VERY NICELY DONE!

Looks great, man!

Theo

I'd be tempted to cast those puppies up - They look excellent.

I've often thought about trying to do similar by using my hobby drill as a mini-lathe, but apparantly She-Who-must-Be-Obeyed (Or more accurately: She-who-has-common-sense) is somewhat against me combining high speed wood and sharp impements...

Cant imagine why....

Thanks for the comments guys! Just one thing, the balsa is 12.5mm diameter, not 19mm. I will get some of that later to make bigger barrels.

ghostbear - thanks for the idea. Attached the balsa blank to the end of the rotary tool (dremel) and the barrels can be turned up in less than 30 seconds. I am pretty certain with a bit of practice that the hoops can be incorporated in the turning.

The_Ferret wrote:

ghostbear - thanks for the idea. Attached the balsa blank to the end of the rotary tool (dremel) and the barrels can be turned up in less than 30 seconds. I am pretty certain with a bit of practice that the hoops can be incorporated in the turning.

An idea of mine involving power tools worked Heh.. Hehe It's just possible my wife may never forgive you when I give it a whirl

Just a few further refinements to the barrel-making exercise. I'll post some photos later.

1. Using the rotary tool works really well: need to be aware that it creates a lot of dust so wear a mask!

2. I experimented with some other ways of applying the barrel hoops: - the best way I've found is to use paper strips, they sit better and are easier to work than card. I am using two to three layers of paper instead.

3. I'm now fixing the hoops on with a glue stick rather than PVA. It's easier to work with, and doesn't soak into the balsa and paper before you get it applied properly.

I've now developed a method that allows for quick and clean production of barrels: I hope this is useful to my fellow Mordheimers.

Wow looks great. Please keep us updated with your progress. The paper gives you nice definition? I would have thought you would need card for that.

will have to try this. thx for the great barrel making idea.

kidterminal said:

Quote :

The paper gives you nice definition?

The top band on the middle barrel is paper. As I said before I found that the card is harder to work with, whereas 2 to 3 times round the barrel with a strip of paper, using a glue stick, gives a much neater finish.

Great idea guys! I will definitely try it ASAP! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

So I see.