Many people who drink beer love collecting the bottles and caps as reminders of the places they've visited, people they were with, and certain times in their life.
Although there are a variety of nice ways to display the bottles and bottle caps, lots of people like making their own customized DIY projects out of the items they've collected.
Some people choose to decorate their countertops and tables with colorful beer bottle caps, while others come up with even funkier projects.
For one man, bottle caps weren't going to cut it. Instead, he went down to a local brewery and purchased an old barrel.
He posted his project on Imgur, a photo sharing site, where he explained that the barrel "began its life as a scotch barrel, which was then used to age a stout (which was quite delicious), and then sold."
After buying the barrel for only $60, he began transforming it into s piece of furniture for his home.
After purchasing a worn-out beer barrel from a local brewery, this man decided to turn it into something a little more special — a table for his entryway.
Once he had the barrel at home, he "used a pry bar, a hammer, and a bit of elbow grease to break it down."
According to his Imgur post, this particular barrel was only held together using friction, so he didn't have to pull any nails out of the barrel.
When he pulled apart the barrel, he realized that the wood was still a bit damp from the beer it had previously been storing, so he "laid out the staves for about a month to make sure it was dry."
Once the barrel staves were completely dry, he had to sand down the rough parts of the wood.
He explained, "I experimented with different methods to sand the wood to make sure I didn't lose the dark color from the beer and char. Turns out it was pretty hard to get rid of so I was able to hit it with an orbital sander pretty hard."
On the other side, the part that was on the outside of the barrel, was much smoother and easier to sand.
He had to use a much lighter touch in order to maintain the character of the wood.
The next step was to start framing the table. He wrote, "I wanted to have the entire face of the table be the drawer, so I used a scrap piece of wood to keep it square.
"The inside frame is red oak, with rabbets cut for the corners. I attached the barrel wood with glue and brass screws after cutting the correct profile with a handsaw."
Because all the slats of wood are curved, putting them together to make the tabletop was definitely one of the most challenging parts.
He began by trying to laminate the slats together, but when that didn't really work, he decided to come up with a different plan.
"After several broken glue joints… I finally had them planed and in the correct shape," he explained. "Used painters tape to completely cover one side so it didn't end up epoxied to the floor, and to contain excess. Stupid curved wood."
He chose to go with a 30-minute epoxy to make sure he had enough time to work it into all the cracks.
He also added some leftover copper powder that would give the wood more depth.
Next he attached the rectangular sides of the table, as well as the legs, which were also made from barrel slats.
Once the table was all connected, he did one final sanding to make it all smooth.
Although it looks gorgeous just like this, there were a few more steps he wanted to complete before he would consider the table fully finished.
For this step, he explained, "Slinging some finish on there. Used general finishes Arm-r-seal. It's a mix of oil and urethane. I really like it."
It's easy to see why he likes it — it brings out the colors and character of the wood without compromising the details.
When the table was finally complete, he set it up in his entryway, where it looked stunning.
It has both a vintage and polished feel, which makes it perfect for any home, but especially this one, where it sits perfectly on a floral carpet.
As you can see from this picture, the barrel table is the perfect size for an entryway — just big enough to hold keys and mail, but not so big that it overwhelms the space.
The entire front of the table is a drawer, which seamlessly slides into the table.
What do you think of this table? Would you make one for your house?
Isn't it cool that this table is made entirely out of an old beer barrel?
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