# Straightening of reclaimed oak barrel staves



## IanBalt

I desperately require assistance - cannot find a specific topic on the internet how to straighten reclaimed oak red wine barrel staves. I have a dream of a spectacular wine barrel hardwood floor for our dining room. Your valued advice would be appreciated.

Fraternaly yours,

Ian Balt
Saldanha
West Coast - South Africa


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## Kindlingmaker

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


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## Julian

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


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## hObOmOnk

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.


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## Elaine

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


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## a1Jim

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


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## rhett

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


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## GaryC

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?


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## samcobb

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.


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## winecountrywhimsy

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


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## CaptainSkully

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.


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## winewood

Here is a better link to a company that flattens them with out having to resaw them they maintain the shape of the stave. The manufacturing process is patented so this is the place to get it
I put this in my wine seller and I love it
http://www.winewoodproducts.com/Flooring/


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## CaptainSkully

Don't forget that staves are tapered on the ends, so you'll lose a lot of meat by either sticking in the thick middle, or having to go thinner to reach the ends.


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## stevepeterson

You can cut them into long skinny hexagons and lay them like bricks. This avoids having to cut out most the thick middle.

If you flipped every other row over, you could avoid cutting the taper on the sides. This would have a different look as one row would be from the outside of the barrel and the next row is from the charred inside. I guess the look depends on how much thickness you want to plane through.


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## sams28

here is a company that is already using reclaimed barrels to build floors, http://3rings.designerpages.com/2010/07/21/vintage-wine-barrel-flooring-by-fontenay-wood/ so this proves it acn be done


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## winewood

They can be flattened and still maintain the tapper. They do not have to be cut straight. Your flooring will look just like a flattened wine barrel. Also makes great counter and table tops
http://winewoodproducts.com/Products/Barrel%20Floors/slides/IMG_1673.html


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## xylophile

Hello Ian!

Did you ever settle on a "best way" to make your barrel flooring? I'm thinking of doing the same thing, and would appreciate your input!

Thanks!

Joe


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## Bluepine38

A few of the sites make it sound like they to resaw the staves, so they can offer the choice of inside and 
outside layers of the stave. Using the wood as thick veneer would eliminate the warping problem, but you
are still looking at a lot of work.


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## 2002sheds

This is super old by now… but there seem to be a number of companies that offer this. I am uncertain of the viability of ripping this (on a bandsaw?) and then attaching it to a substrate. There are a lot of curves, including the fact that the stave gets fatter in the middle…and you will have a crown from side to side as well as long-ways… all signs point to steaming, at least some of it.


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