Preparation of moonshine and alcohol for personal use
absolutely legal!
After the demise of the USSR, the new government stopped the fight against moonshine. Criminal liability and fines were abolished, and an article prohibiting the production of alcohol-containing products at home was removed from the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. To this day, there is not a single law that prohibits you and me from engaging in our favorite hobby - making alcohol at home. This is evidenced by the Federal Law of July 8, 1999 No. 143-FZ "On the administrative responsibility of legal entities (organizations) and individual entrepreneurs for offenses in the field of production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products" (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1999, No. 28 , item 3476).
Excerpt from the Federal Law of the Russian Federation:
"The effect of this Federal Law does not apply to the activities of citizens (individuals) who do not produce products containing ethyl alcohol for the purpose of marketing."
Moonshine in other countries:
In Kazakhstan in accordance with the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Administrative Offenses dated January 30, 2001 N 155, the following liability is provided. Thus, according to article 335 “Manufacture and sale of home-made alcoholic beverages”, illegal production for the purpose of selling moonshine, chacha, mulberry vodka, mash and other alcoholic beverages, as well as the sale of these alcoholic beverages, entails a fine in the amount of thirty monthly calculation indices with confiscation of alcoholic beverages , apparatus, raw materials and equipment for their manufacture, as well as money and other valuables received from their sale. However, the law does not prohibit the preparation of alcohol for personal purposes.
In Ukraine and Belarus things are different. Articles No. 176 and No. 177 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Ukraine provide for the imposition of fines in the amount of three to ten tax-free minimum wages for the manufacture and storage of moonshine without the purpose of sale, for the storage without the purpose of sale of apparatus * for its production.
Article 12.43 repeats this information practically word for word. “Production or purchase of strong alcoholic beverages (moonshine), semi-finished products for their production (mash), storage of devices for their production” in the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses. Paragraph No. 1 states: “Manufacturing by individuals of strong alcoholic beverages (moonshine), semi-finished products for their manufacture (mash), as well as storage of devices * used for their manufacture - entails a warning or a fine of up to five basic units with confiscation of the indicated drinks, semi-finished products and devices.
* It is still possible to purchase moonshine stills for home use, since their second purpose is to distill water and obtain components for natural cosmetics and perfumes.
What can be compared, for example, with a cucumber or a tomato pickled in an oak tub. And in a linden barrel, honey, apple juice are perfectly stored, you can cook kvass in it. Finally, an oak tub with a lemon or laurel tree even today will not spoil the interior of even a city apartment. Just do not find these simple products either in the store or on the market. But you can make a barrel yourself with your own hands, and although this task is not an easy one, an amateur master is quite capable of coping with it.
Rivets
First of all, you need to choose wood. Oak and pine are unsuitable for storing honey - honey darkens in an oak barrel, and smells of resin in a pine barrel. Here we need linden, aspen, plane tree. Poplar, willow, alder will also come down. But for salting, pickling or urinating, there is nothing better than oak - such a barrel will serve for more than a decade. For other needs, you can use blackberry, beech, spruce, fir, pine, cedar, larch and even birch.
Usually, the lower part of the trunk of old trees goes to riveting, it is called “riveter”. But a lover of tinkering will choose blanks from ordinary firewood, and adapt a thin trunk to the job. It is best to make riveting from raw wood. First, the chock - it should be 5-6 cm longer than the future riveting - is split in half, gently tapping the log on the butt of the ax. Each half is then again pricked into two parts, and so on, depending on the thickness of the chock (Fig. 1), in order to ultimately obtain blanks 5-10 cm wide (15 cm for sweet clover) and 2.5-3 cm thick. just try to split it radially - this will save the riveting in the future from cracking.
The chopped blanks are dried in a room with natural ventilation for at least a month. You can use a dryer to speed up the process. The dried workpiece is processed with a plow or sherhebel and a planer. First, the outer surface of the riveting is planed. At the same time, to check the curvature of the surface, a template should be prepared in advance (Fig. 2), cutting it out of a thin plank according to the finished product. Next, the side surfaces are planed, also checking their curvature according to the template.
The riveting is kadushechnaya - in which one end is wider than the other, and barrel riveting - with an extension in the middle. The size of these extensions determines the taper of the tub and the convexity of the central part of the barrel. It is enough if the ratio between the widest and narrowest part of the riveting is 1.7-1.8 (Fig. 3).
The processing of the side surface is completed with a jointer. It is more convenient to do this by moving the workpiece along the jointer (Fig. 4). At the next stage, we process the inner (in relation to the finished barrel) surface of the riveting, cutting off excess wood with a planer or even an ax (Fig. 5). After that, the barrel riveting can be considered finished, while the barrel riveting still needs to be thinned in the middle to 12-15 mm (Fig. 6). Let it not bother you that rivets can have different widths - we take everything possible from each workpiece.
hoops
Barrel hoops are made of wood or steel. Wooden ones are not so strong, and a hundred times more hassle, so it is better to use steel ones. Hot-rolled steel tape with a thickness of 1.6-2.0 mm and a width of 30-50 mm goes to the hoops.
Having measured the barrel at the place where the hoop was stretched, we add to this size the double width of the strip. With hammer blows, we bend the workpiece into a ring, punch or drill holes and put rivets made of soft steel wire with a diameter of 4-5 mm (Fig. 7). One inner edge of the hoop must be flared with blows of the pointed end of the hammer on a massive steel stand (Fig. 8).
According to the location on the product, the hoops are divided into farts - the central hoop on the barrel, the morning - extreme and cervical - intermediate.
Assembly
To one jack-of-all-trades, the grandmother brought a crumbling tub with a request to collect it. Tom had never had to do this before, but he did not refuse the old woman. He came up with the following: he threw a rope on the floor and laid out one to the other rivets on it. Then he crushed them with pillows and pulled the ends of the rope together. Gradually removing the pillows, he brought the extreme rivets together and secured them with a hoop.
Coopers make it easier...
The product is assembled on any flat surface. First, two rivets are attached to the hoop opposite each other with special brackets bent from hooped iron (Fig. 9). Then, attaching rivets to one of them, we get to the other, which will tighten the assembled half of the barrel. Continue assembly until the rivets fill the entire perimeter of the hoop.
Lightly tapping the hoop with a hammer, we upset it and check whether the edges of the riveting are tightly aligned. To achieve contact of the rivets over the entire side surface, you need to add a rivet or pull out an extra one and after that put a permanent hoop. By the way, if changing the number of rivets does not give the desired effect, you just need to narrow one of the rivets or replace the narrow one with a wider one.
Having trimmed the ends of the skeleton with light blows of the hammer, we put on the middle hoop and push it all the way with the help of a hammer (Fig. 10).
Having exposed the skeleton on a flat surface, we describe with a pencil using a bar (Fig. 11) the cut line. Having planted the morning hoop, we cut the skeleton 2-3 mm from it and clean the ends of the rivets with a planer. We do the same with the other end of the skeleton.
In the manufacture of a barrel, after fitting an onion, neck and morning hoop on one side, the other side must first be pulled off. Coopers have a special device for this - a yoke. A home master can use a cable, rope, chain or wire for the same purpose. You can tie a loop and twist it with a gag or pull the ends of the cable with a lever (Fig. 12).
There is no need to do any steaming or boiling of the skeleton, as some experts recommend, before tightening. Occasionally, however, it happens that the riveting does not bend along the entire length, but in one place and therefore gives a crack. However, in such cases, the cooper will prefer to simply make a new riveting.
Dona
The assembled skeleton is cleaned from the inside with a plow or sherhebel, and the ends of the skeleton with a humpback planer (Fig. 13).
Now in the skeleton you need to make a groove (Fig. 14). The cutter of the tool can be made from hooped iron, and even better, from a saw blade. The depth and width of the groove must be 3 mm (Fig. 15).
First, a bottom shield is assembled from a sweet clover with a planed outer side and jointed side surfaces (Fig. 16). The sweet clover is fastened with nails, as shown in the figure, for which nests are pre-drilled 15-20 mm deep. The radius of the future bottom is found as the side of a regular hexagon inscribed in the circle of the morning groove on the skeleton of the barrel. However, you need to cut the bottom with a margin, deviating from the intended circle by 1-1.5 mm. After cleaning with a sherhebel, chamfers are cut from the edge of the bottom (Fig. 17) so that the thickness of the wood is 3 mm three millimeters from the edge - this is necessary for the tight connection of the bottom with the frame in the morning groove (Fig. 18).
We make the first fitting - loosening the hoop, insert the bottom, inserting one side of it into the groove, and then with light blows of the hammer and the rest. If the bottom is tight, you still need to loosen the hoop, and if it's too loose, tighten it.
After stuffing the hoop, make sure there are no gaps. The perfect result the first time is rarely achieved. Even if the cracks are not visible to the eye, they can be found by pouring a little water into the barrel. If it flows between the rivets, then the bottom is too big and it needs to be slightly pared. Worse, if water flows through the bottom or through the morning groove. Then you have to disassemble the skeleton and narrow one of the rivets.
Before installing the second bottom, a filling hole with a diameter of 30-32 mm should be drilled in it. The cork is made as shown in Fig. 19, its height should not be less than the thickness of the bottom, however, the cork should not protrude beyond the cut plane of the core.
How many barrels to serve
First of all, it depends on the operating conditions. But it is important to remember that you should not paint jellied containers with oil paint: it clogs the pores, which contributes to the decay of wood. It is desirable to paint the hoops - they will not rust. For decorative purposes, a barrel, a flower tub can be treated with mordants.
The brown color of the oak is given by slaked lime mixed with a 25% ammonia solution. Black - a solution of iron sulfate or an infusion for 5-6 days of iron filings in vinegar.
A decoction of the rhizomes of the fragrant woodruff (Asperula odo-rata) turns linden and aspen red. Red-brown color gives a decoction of onion peel, brown - a decoction of walnut nibs. These dyes are brighter than chemical ones and more stable.
It must be remembered that wood is better preserved with a constant humidity regime. Therefore, dry products must always be kept dry, and bulk products filled with liquid. Both cannot be placed directly on the ground. It is better to substitute a brick or plank under the barrel than to subsequently get rid of the rot by cutting the chimes.
The best brands of cognac, wine, liquor, rum, whiskey are aged in wooden containers. In the household, barrels, tubs are also rightfully considered the best storage place for pickles. In terms of sanitary and hygienic characteristics, they are not much inferior to stainless steel containers, but surpass the latter in a number of quality indicators. Natural material creates a favorable environment for the aging of products, while giving them original aromatic and taste properties. An oak barrel can be made with your own hands, if you carefully read the step-by-step guide for making this necessary product.
There are only a few high-level professionals, but this does not mean that the work cannot be done. Requirements for the manufacture of the desired container at home are different. It is enough to make a design that can withstand moderate loads during operation. The cooperator must have skills and knowledge in the following areas of activity:
- Joinery. The main operations are performed by the techniques, tools used in this business;
- Basic metalworking skills. They are needed for the manufacture of high-quality, geometrically and technologically correct hoops;
- Basic knowledge of geometry. The shape of the barrel is complex, you need to accurately calculate the dimensions of each part: riveting, bottom, hoop;
- General concepts of wood heat treatment. In cooperage, it is important to choose the correct hot working mode during assembly (if the riveting has a significant bend), and then fire the finished product.
In the classical production of wooden containers, glues and metal fasteners are not used, with the exception of external hoops. All connections are made by precise fitting of parts. Slots, gaps that make the product unsuitable for solving the tasks are not allowed. A well-made barrel, tub after assembly without soaking should have the necessary tightness. In some cases, small leaks are allowed if the wood dries out, which are easily eliminated by moistening and swelling of the natural fiber.
The principle of manufacture and details of cooperage products
The technology for the production of wooden containers requires precise, step-by-step operations, from the selection of raw materials to the decorative finish of the outer side of the product. To make an oak barrel with your own hands, you need to know what it consists of:
- Frame. It is assembled from prepared wooden blanks - rivets:
- Hoops. Made from metal strip. The exact diameter is determined in each case according to the planned dimensions of the barrel body. Wooden hoops are used less often. They are less reliable and more difficult to manufacture:
- Bottoms. Depending on the intended purpose, the container is equipped with one or two bottoms. The detail is made by a set of wooden blanks assembled in a single plane, then a circle cut out according to a template with the necessary tolerance for a snug fit to the barrel body.
It is important to follow the exact recommendations of professionals at each stage of work. A cooperage product of satisfactory quality cannot be made by violating even one point of technology. The step-by-step production process is as follows:
- The choice of wood for riveting, bottom;
- Drying, testing for suitability, rejection of low-quality blanks;
- Making staves, bottom, hoops;
- barrel assembly;
- Burning;
- Finishing grinding, decorative finishing of the front part (if necessary).
The geometric dimensions of the riveting in each case are original, depending on the height of the barrel, the degree of bending of the workpiece, its width, the bevel angle of the end part for a tight fit with the adjacent element. You should exactly repeat the dimensions indicated in the existing drawings, or, having knowledge of the spatial construction of complex figures, independently determine the necessary values.
How to choose wood
Cooperage products can be made from various types of wood. However, oak barrels are considered the best. The choice is not accidental, because in addition to strength, durability, the material has unique biochemical characteristics to create optimal conditions for storing drinks and food products. Natural substances in oak wood fiber have an antiseptic effect, give pickles, alcoholic beverages unique taste and aromatic features.
Experienced coopers choose raw materials when the tree is still in the vine. It is specially cut down and subsequently cut into the necessary blanks. The lower part of the trunk comes into play, on which there should be no branches, visible bumps and bends. Usually it is 4-5 meters from the root, with a plant age of at least 100 years. It is difficult to fulfill these conditions at home if the master is not a native forest dweller. Therefore, the visible qualities of the fiber become the criterion for choosing wood for riveting. The requirements are:
- No knots:
- The inadmissibility of the oblique layer;
- Cracks, natural defects, voids;
- Variety.
A wooden barrel is the best container for storing wine and various pickles, because wood is an environmentally friendly material that preserves the taste and usefulness of products. This indispensable item in the household can be purchased ready-made, but if you have free time and desire, then using our tips, making a barrel with your own hands will not be difficult.
Masters involved in the manufacture of barrels are called coopers, and the process of creating containers is called cooperage. This is a kind of art that originated in ancient Greece, but, oddly enough, the technology has changed little since then, and wooden packaging is still popular, especially among winemakers. Today we invite you to get acquainted with the basics and some of the subtleties of this craft.
Choice of wood
The first responsible task is to choose the right type of wood for the manufacture of containers. Consider the main varieties used, as well as their pros and cons.
First on our list is oak. It is rightfully considered the most suitable, so to speak, classical material used in cooperage. Its wood is strong, flexible and saturated with special tannins that act as an antiseptic. It is noteworthy that under the influence of moisture, oak barrels only become stronger over the years, so their service life is quite long. Another feature of oak is a pleasant aroma with hints of vanilla, which it gives to the substances stored in the barrel.
Oak is the best material for barrels
Spruce and pine can also be used to make barrels. These are soft woods that are easy to cut and process, but their strength indicators are average. The main disadvantage of such wood is the characteristic resinous smell, due to which it is not often used to create food containers.
Of the conifers, cedar is also popular in cooperage, although it is more widely used in those parts where its plantations are extensive. According to its characteristics, it is similar to pine and spruce, but there is practically no foreign smell from cedar barrels. Containers made of this material are suitable for storing food; it is believed that it is especially good to store dairy products in them.
Another material from which you can make a barrel is linden wood. It belongs to the fibrous varieties of wood and, due to its structure, lends itself well to cutting, chiselling and processing. The material is durable, practically does not dry out and has no smell, so barrels made from it have won recognition as one of the best for transporting and storing honey, caviar, pickles and other delicacies.
A budget but durable option is aspen. This tree is durable, resistant to moisture and has antiseptic properties. Aspen barrels are ideal for storing various pickles. A feature of aspen is a tendency to strong swelling, but in cooperage this is rather an advantage, since it allows you to achieve a very tight closure of the rivets.
Making staves
The next thing to do after you have decided on the type of wood is the manufacture of barrel parts. You should start with rivets. They are tapered at the edges or rectangular boards that can be chipped or sawn. The former are more durable, since the structure of the fibers is not destroyed when splitting a solid wood.
Barrel parameters according to their volume In order not to be mistaken with the number of staves, you must immediately determine the size of the barrel. After that, you will need to make a life-size pattern for the riveting and the bottom. Then a simple calculation should be carried out. The required amount can be determined using the formula: 2 * Pi * R / W, in which "Pi" is a constant value; R is the radius of the bottom of a barrel with smooth sides or the middle of a container with convex sides; W - riveting width.
Making a barrel with your own hands from chipped staves is a laborious process and requires certain skills. The main task is to split the workpiece into even fragments and at the same time get as little waste as possible.
The split can be carried out in the radial and tangential directions. In the first case, the split plane passes through the core of the deck (this method requires less effort), and in the second it does not touch it. When working with hardwood, the second method is not recommended, as it complicates and slows down the process.
The scheme of splitting the deck into rivets Raw material is most easily processed, it is optimal if the tree for making the barrel is freshly cut. However, not everyone has the opportunity to purchase such wood, and as an alternative, you can look for suitable blanks among the firewood that is on sale for furnaces. In urban conditions, sawn poplars can become a material. These trees often lie in the yards for a long time after they have been cut down, waiting for their removal to the landfill. In the absence of other options, you can use the boards. When choosing them, pay attention to the fact that the annual rings go along the plane of the board and are not sawn.
The shape of the rivets depending on the type of barrel Having pricked a sufficient number of rivets, they are left to dry. In the summer, you can lay out the material under a canopy and leave to ventilate, this process will take about 3 months. If there is no possibility or desire to wait, use another method. For artificial drying, paper is glued to the ends of the blanks with carpentry glue and the riveting is placed for a day in the oven of a well-heated Russian stove. After this procedure, the material will be suitable for further processing.
Making a hoop
Another important component of the barrel, which allows you to collect all the rivets into a single whole - hoops. According to the material of manufacture, they can be metal and wood. Iron has more strength, but it also has a drawback - a tendency to rust, which over time significantly worsens the appearance of the product. Therefore, metal hoops are used only if increased strength is needed.
Usually a modern wooden barrel, purchased or made with your own hands, has 4 hoops. Those that are closer to the center are called farts, and the extreme ones are called mornings, if the barrel has a significant volume, there can also be additional cervical ones between them.
Hoops with tie-lock The thickness and width of the hoops are directly related to the volume of the container. If its displacement does not exceed 25 liters, then they have a thickness of 1.6 mm and a width of about 3 cm, for a 50-liter width it increases to 3.6 cm, and for a 100-liter to 4-4.5 cm. If the barrel holds 120 liters or more, then the hoops for it should have a thickness of 1.8 mm and a width of 5 cm.
Even if you use wooden rims for the barrel, you will also need the ability to make them out of metal, since the assembly cannot do without the so-called working metal hoops. To assemble a barrel of these hoops, you will need four. In terms of structure and characteristics, they are identical to permanent ones, and are made as follows:
- Strips of the desired size are cut from sheet steel. As a cutting tool, you can use locksmith or chair scissors.
- Holes are made at both ends of each strip with a punch and fastened with rivets.
- To make the hoop easier to put on, one of its edges is forged.
In working hoops, instead of rivets, the use of bolts is allowed, and if the capacity of the barrel is small, then steel rims can be replaced with wire ones. The diameter of the wire in this case should be 4-5 mm. For those who do not want to mess around for a long time, making hoops on their own, ready-made designs with a tie-lock are on sale.
Barrel assembly
Considering how to make a barrel with our own hands, we came to the next stage - assembling the skeleton of the container. It consists of rivets tied with hoops (at first temporary).
The assembly of the barrel begins with a smaller hoop. Inside it is inserted at regular intervals and fixed with clamps 3 support rivets. Further, other rivets are added between the two supporting ones until the entire space is filled. Then the hoop is upset using a hammer and a wooden block with a flat end so that all the fragments close together more tightly. After that, a larger hoop is put on the rivets and also upset.
Assembly of the skeleton Before putting on the rims on the bottom of the barrel, it is recommended to immerse the material in boiling water for half an hour. To carry out further work, you will need 1-2 assistants. After steaming, the barrel is placed on a flat surface, the remaining free end of the rivets is wrapped with a rope, the ends of which are tied to some firmly fixed object.
Further, a crowbar is inserted between the stretched parts of the rope and scrolled so that they are intertwined with each other. At this time, your assistants should keep the barrel in place. When it is possible to achieve the desired bend and seal of the rivets, the remaining hoops are put on and fixed. The finished structure should be trimmed and hardened by treating with a burner or blowtorch.
Manufacturing and installation of bottoms
Bottom manufacturing As a bottom for a barrel, it is better to use a single piece of wood or wide and durable boards (it is desirable that the number of joints between them is minimal). Selected boards should be planed so that they can be overlapped and then stapled together. From the resulting workpiece, cut out 2 circles of the required diameter and sharpen their edges until small bevels form.
To fix the bottom, you will first need to loosen the tension of the hoops at the bottom of the barrel, slightly pulling them up. Then the bottom is placed inside and the hoops are upset in place. If the top of the barrel is not removable, then the procedure is repeated for the second side, not forgetting to pre-drill the filling hole. After making sure that the bottom is tightly connected to the frame, the working hoops are replaced with permanent ones, and the container is ready.
Soak
Now you know how to make a barrel yourself, but there is one more important nuance - putting your product into operation. Before use, the barrel needs to be processed, otherwise the products stored in it may acquire an unpleasant aftertaste or even deteriorate.
To begin with, the container must be thoroughly rinsed to get rid of sawdust, small debris and excess tannins. Rinsing is continued until foreign odors disappear and the water becomes clear.
Before use, the barrel must be prepared Next, the barrel is steamed to disinfect it and improve the sealing of the staves. To do this, the container is filled with boiling water by about a third and scrolled so that the water "walks" over the entire surface of the walls from the inside. Then the water is left inside until it cools, drained and the process is repeated again.
After steaming, the barrel should be soaked. Usually this procedure takes about a month, and every two days the water in the tank needs to be updated. In the first days of soaking, there may be leaks in the product, this is a variant of the norm, but the flowing water needs to be replenished.
Before laying the products, the container must be doused with boiling water from the inside. This will protect the wood from absorbing odors and allow it to be used for different foods without mixing its flavors.
A container treated with boiling water before laying food will last longer Summing up, we can say that a do-it-yourself barrel is an excellent solution for storing homemade pickles, as well as for wines and other alcoholic beverages. By making such a container yourself, you will not only save money, but you can also be completely sure of the quality of the product, and, consequently, of observing the proper conditions for storing your products.
There are not so many masters of cooperage today, but the tradition of pickling in tubs, or storing honey and wine in barrels, has remained in Russia to this day. It often happens that it is not possible, for one reason or another, to acquire a wooden container. Then you can make an oak barrel with your own hands. Although this is not the easiest task, however, if you set yourself a clear goal and follow all the features of the technology, you can make quite a decent wooden container for storing food and drinks. We will talk about how to make an oak barrel with our own hands below.
We make blanks
To make a container, you first need to select the material. If you want to store beekeeping products inside, pay attention to lime or aspen raw materials, plane trees. Not bad honey is stored in barrels made of poplar, alder wood, willow. An oak barrel is ideal for salting, fermenting or urinating.
If you figured out the raw materials, you should choose an old tree. Its lower part is best suited for rivets. During harvesting, be sure to make sure that the churak is a couple of centimeters larger than the size of the future barrel. This stock is needed for grinding the edges.
The wood must be raw. Initially, the churak splits into 2 parts. For this, an ax and a small log are used, which are gently tapped on the butt. Each half splits in two again. It is necessary to ensure that the separation takes place radially. With each subsequent half, they do the same - the number of blanks depends on the diameter of the oak barrel. It is easy to prepare raw materials with your own hands, the main thing is accuracy. Please note that blanks may have different widths, but this is not scary.
Rivets are dried indoors, where good natural ventilation is established. The term is at least 1 month, and ideally even about 1 year. After drying, it is processed with special tools. It could be:
- plow;
- sherhebel;
- plane.
First, the outer side of the riveting is processed, be sure to check the degree of curvature according to a pre-prepared template. It can be cut from a thin board, attaching it to the finished product. After all the outer surfaces are processed, you can proceed to the side ones. They are also aligned according to the template, and after processing they are jointed. The inner surface of the riveting is processed with a planer.
Rings
To make hoops, you can use both steel and wood. The latter option is less durable, so it is better to immediately give preference to metal. For hoops, hot-rolled steel in the form of a strip is used. Its width is about 3-5 cm, and its thickness: 0.16-0.2 cm.
It is necessary to make a measurement at the place where the hoop will be stretched. After that, the width of the strip, doubled, is added to a certain value. With the help of a hammer, the workpiece is bent, acquiring the shape of a ring, and then holes are punched or drilled in it and rivets are placed. The material for them is mild steel wire, the diameter of which is 0.4-0.5 cm. One of the inner edges of the hoop must be flared with the pointed end of the hammer.
Assembly subtleties
Making oak barrels with your own hands requires patience. However, the result is worth the time and effort. So, to assemble a barrel for salting, you need a flat surface. To get a finished barrel you need:
The skeleton does not need to be boiled or steamed before tightening, although there are those who insist on this. There are times when the workpiece can crack. Then experienced coopers replace it with a new one.
Bottom
To make the bottom, first you need to cut a groove from the bottom at a distance of 4-5 cm from the edge of the end, its dimensions can be 0.4-0.5 mm. To do this, a special tool is used - the morning. On both sides of the groove with a chisel, you need to make a chamfer from 0.1 to 0.2 cm.
The bottom is made of a special shield. It is assembled using metal studs or nails. Having drawn a circle, you need to step back from it by 1-1.5 cm and cut out the future bottom. After that, it is cleaned with a sherhebel, and chamfers are cut along the edges. As a result, the thickness of the rivets there will be no more than 0.3 cm. This ensures complete tightness of the structure.
To make a fitting, loosen the bottom hoop and insert the bottom. It is inserted into the groove from one side, and from the second it is adjusted with a hammer to the desired level with light taps. With a tight move, you can loosen the hoop a little more, if it goes too freely, it is better to tighten the hoop.
Next, the hoop is stuffed again, and the barrel is checked for leaks. To do this, pour some water into it. If there is a leak between the rivets, you need to slightly reduce the bottom. If water seeps through the bottom or groove, you will have to disassemble the frame and narrow one of the blanks.
Before installing the second bottom, make a hole in it, the diameter of which is not more than 3 cm and make a cork under it. The correct dimensions suggest that it will be slightly more than the thickness of the bottom and will not protrude beyond the skeleton. That's the whole sequence that you need to follow in order to make an oak barrel with your own hands.
Repair
Can an old barrel be repaired? Of course. If an alcoholic drink was stored in it for a long time, it is worth disassembling the structure and removing a layer about 2 mm thick from the tree. Further, the drink does not penetrate into the wood. After that, the rivets are processed and assembled again.
You can repair an oak barrel with your own hands, even if it leaks. To do this, you need to repeat the same manipulations as in the manufacture of containers - adjust the hoops.
This is what it is, cooperage business. You can make wooden products yourself, but this requires a lot of time and effort. But is it worth spending them, if today you can order via the Internet, on the website of the Russian Bondar company?