Straightening of reclaimed oak barrel staves

I am could be wrong here but I don’t think you can get them flat enough for a floor.

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

They were steam bent to get that shape. Maybe you could steam bend them straight again?

-- Julian, Park Forest, IL

Hi Ian:

I live in Kentucky, USA where we make about 800,000 barrels a year, mostly from white oak.

I use reclaimed barrel wood in my rustic arts studio. Within some limitations, you can steam bend the staves to straigthen them. Then they can be resawn and planed for use. Our bourbon barrel staves are about one inch thick and are charred on the inside. After processing, they will be about 5/8 Inch thick or less.

I steam them for about 90 minutes. Even after straightening, they can be a little wavy. The planing can help with the flattening. The barrel heads are made of flatter wood and might work better for your purposes.

Bourbon barrel staves are about 36” long, so the curve may be more pronounced then on a larger wine barrel where the staves will be longer.

It can be a lot of work.

Good luck.

-- Randy, Rustic Artisan, a family tradition. (No PM's - auto-deleted.) - "I am a seeker, not a follower."

Steam bending back in shape. Google furniture companies that use barrel staves, you should find the answer there.

-- Elaine, Conover, NC

Interesting I didn’t think they could be straightened enough to be usable

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Even if they can be somewhat straightened, by the time the wood fibers have been stretched/compressed to make the stave, and then restretched/compressed in the opposite direction for flatness, I would not trust the wood to stay flat on a floor over time. Too much messing with the actual structure of the wood. JMHO

-- http://www.efcabineture.com/ You can be tired, or you can be broke, but you should never be tired and broke.

You might just have to bite the dust and settle for some of that old native wood like Padauk or Babinga…. By the way, do you know of anyone in your part of the world that has done what you are wanting to do?

-- Gary, DeKalb Texas

www.fontenay.us
They cannot be straightened. They must be resawn then pressed to a backing material, otherwise, when they gain moisture, they will curl again and lift from the floor.

There is also an issue with the taper of the staves. Even if you get them flat, you can’t just lay them side by side because the sides are not straight. You would have to cut every stave.

Provenance Winery near Rutherford, CA in the Napa Valley has a floor made from wine barrels but I think they used the barrel heads. I have seen other wineries with wood ceilings and floors made from large wine casks that have straight sides instead of the tapered staves.

Here is a link to a company that has figured it out. http://www.fontenaywood.com/products.cfm

Good Luck

Todd

-- Todd @ winecountrywhimsy Sonoma County, CA

We loved Provenance, especially the Morris chairs made out of wine staves. We’re members at Rosenblum in Alameda, part of the corporate family. I’m currently wrestling with wine staves with my barrel stave wine rack project.

-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails