Wine barrels

**Taiko Carl** · 6th June 2010, 01:40 PM

Hi everyone, I am new to the woodworking forum and registered to get some advice on timber preparing and glueing, seeing that I'm a metal worker.

As a member of a Japanese Taiko drumming club, we make our own drums using wine barrels. The wine barrel is taken apart and the slats are sanded, glued and then reassembled using a jig that clamps the slats in original form/order until the whole lot dries.
The problem is that when I sand each edge of the slats using a linisher and then put back together, it seems the slat edges do not have a nice flat edge butting up to each other. The ends of the slats do not get the same pressure as the middle section of the slat as it is dragged across the linisher so the original flat edge (which measures around 20 to 25mm on most barrels) ends up not flat but usually has a 'V' gap when the slats are put together.
It is desirable for strength purposes that the edges butt up nicely so I suppose the other option is just to sand the edges by hand which gives a better chance of 'not sanding too much in the wrong spot' if you know what I mean.

The other issue is that when we glue all the slats together this takes time and requires a few sets of hands so was looking for a slow setting wood glue. I did notice a 'Multihesive' that was spoken about which I have enquired about to the supplier in NSW just now.

My question is I suppose whether there might be an easier way to sand the slats to guarantee a nice butting edge with all slats when they are glued.
Would it be possible for anyone who is kind enough to reply to my situation email me direct at [email protected] as it would be easier for me at the moment than logging onto the forum and finding reply threads. Thanks

**martrix** · 6th June 2010, 02:30 PM

sounds like you need a thick epoxy. ATL Techniglue would be perfect. Gap filling, plus you have roughly 1hr to get you pieces together before it starts to go off.

Love to see some pics.

Techniglue Two-Pack Epoxy Gels : CARBA-TEC

Adhesives - ATL COMPOSITES

**Scally** · 7th June 2010, 09:29 AM

Welcome Carl.

I use epoxy on my African drums because it give me more assembly time and will fill smal gaps.

Could you run the slats over a jointer?
This should keep good flat edges and the best glueing surface.

I cut bevels on slats for may drum then run them over the jointer to clean up the edges.

Sanding often rounds the edges especially on narrow pieces.

How long is your linisher? If it is longer than the staves you might be able to use a long board on top of the stave to get even pressure along its length.

**peterbrown** · 7th June 2010, 02:16 PM

Hi Carl,

Welcome to the forum. I will firstly say I have never done this before, however if I was going to takle it, then this is how I would do it.

I think you should expect some springing out when disassembling regardless of what you do simply because the barrels are constructed by bending the staves from straight into place. I would suggest that you don't want to use a linisher to sand it as a linisher is straight, and the staves are curved. I would suggest running a really sharp block plane along the edges to be jointed, that way the angle is maintained, and the edge is not rounded over by sanding, as scally has previously posted. Try and keep the passes to a minimum. If the block plane is set up correctly, you should only require one pass along the edge with subsequent minor touching up.

If you do not want tension when regluing, you may have to apply additional heat bending to the staves untill you get the correct shape.

Cheers

Peter

**Taiko Carl** · 7th June 2010, 11:05 PM

Thanks to Matrix, Scally and peterbrown for their advice. All taken on board. As you can see, I did take the time to log into the forum and am very glad that I did. It wasn't to difficult or confusing and with great advice. Cheers

**Scally** · 22nd June 2010, 10:38 PM

Carl
This might interest you.

Last year I went to the Wooden Boat Show in Hobart. I met Les who was giving a demonstration on coopering.
I annoyed him for some time with questions and later he emailed me some further advice.

In one of the photos you can see Les planing the edge of a stave on a very long plane.

The stave is curved but they still get a true edge on the staves.

I agree with Peter that a plane would be a better option for you than sanding.

**kiwigeo** · 22nd June 2010, 11:33 PM

The same prcocess is used when building up the ribs on a lute body. It's a painstaking process of trial and error. I do the rough shaping with a jointer plane but fine tuning of the fit is done by running the rib over a sanding board.

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