Barrel Hoop

1489 Views 14 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Stick486, Apr 3, 2020

rcaig

Discussion Starter · Apr 2, 2020 (Edited)

I am making a barrel and am now at the point of making the hoops. The hoops at the end of the barrel have a gap. The hoops closer to the center have no gap due to the reduced arc of the staves. I made a jig to bend the 0.020 metal strap to the circumference I need but I can't get the 15-20 degree conical shape to eliminate the gap. I tried cutting a circle with a 15 degree inner ring and tried to bend the hoop. but it is too stiff. Any suggestions? A cooper does this by hammering the hoop, but at 72 years old I'm looking for an easier method.

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Nickp

· #2 · Apr 2, 2020

rcaig said:
I am making a barrel and am now at the point of making the hoops. The hoops at the end of the barrel have a gap. The hoops closer to the center have no gap due to the reduced arc of the staves. I made a jig to bend the 0.020 metal strap to the circumference I need but I can't get the 15-20 degree conical shape to eliminate the gap. I tried cutting a circle with a 15 degree inner ring and tried to bend the hoop. but it is too stiff. Any suggestions?

You could lightly hammer the inside of the hoop on the edge where you want it to expand...place it on something flat so you don't dimple the outside face. Keep hammering until you get the right shape. Make sure you hammer evenly...from middle of hoop to its outer edge...lighter in the middle, heavier on the edge. And don't try to do it in one step...keep going around the hoop until it expands accordingly...

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Stick486

· #3 · Apr 2, 2020 (Edited)

lay the strap on your narrow anvil, dimple/pein the bottom (perpendicular to the edge) of the strap w/ the pointed end of an engineer's hammer...
do this to the inside of the hoop...
a cross pein style is easier to use...
a piece of railroad rail would make for a good anvil...

hit the face of the strap 1/2~2/3 of the way up from the bottom edge
the spacing, length and the depth of the dimples/peins gives you angle you want..
close spacing = more angle..
length of pein is relative to the diameter of the hoop...
short peins - large hoops...
long frequent peins - small diameter hoops...

you will have to practice and experiment...

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DaninVan

· #4 · Apr 2, 2020

Sounds like pein in the a**...

Reactions: 4

Stick486

· #5 · Apr 2, 2020

make a ring hoop from round bar stock instead...
flatten the over laid ends somewhat to mate and rivet them... or weld them...

Reactions: 1

Biagio

· #6 · Apr 2, 2020

Try taking one to a panel shop. Unless they are an order-and-replace operation, they will probably have an English
Wheel or Jenny - may leave a slight convexity on the stretched edge, but beats hand-hammering.

We still have a small coopering industry in the winelands in the South of the country. They do two steps in one, by placing the oak staves over a fire (softens the wood), preheating the hoops one by one, starting with the smallest (which holds the barrel end in place), and then a couple of guys go round and round the semi-assembled barrel, hammering each hoop down all around with mallets and blunt chisels. This forces the staves tightly together, while also forcing the hoops to assume the correct shape for the curvature. Once they reach the middle, they flip the barrel and repeat from the other end.

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Stick486

· #7 · Apr 2, 2020

see if this helps...

.

Reactions: 3

DesertRatTom

· #8 · Apr 2, 2020

I've never seen a barrel with a shaped hoop, and every film I've ever seen, they simply hammered the hoop down until it would go no further. If the wood was wet the hoop could easily act as a "chisel" and bit snug both on top and bottom edge, but wet wood would shrink when dried and leak (or at least ooze) out contents. If you flared the hoop, you'd have to get close to the angle of the staves, so I don't see doing that.

Hammering straight down on the hoops is going to compress the wood (wet or dry) slightly more toward the center of the barrel than the edge. With a one inch hoop, the ending diameter of the compressed staves isn't going to be very much at all. You're talking about maybe a mm or two over the one inch hoop's height.

Nickp

· #9 · Apr 2, 2020

Tom...the traditional method of hooping a barrel is just the way the video shows...that's what I tried to explain in my post but the video does a better job. If one were to not want to show the hammer marks, it is hammered on the inside with the flat side of the head.

I'm surprised you've never seen a shaped hoop...:smile:

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JOAT

· #10 · Apr 2, 2020

If I were making a barrel I'd likely make wooden hoops.

What's going in the barrel?

DaninVan

· #11 · Apr 2, 2020

Aren't you supposed to heat the hoop before you drop it over the staves, or is that wooden wagon wheels i'm thinking of?

Reactions: 1

rcaig

Discussion Starter · #12 · Apr 2, 2020

Thanks for your interest. You are thinking of wagon wheels.

Reactions: 1

Stick486

· #13 · Apr 3, 2020

DaninVan said:
Aren't you supposed to heat the hoop before you drop it over the staves, or is that wooden wagon wheels i'm thinking of?

wagon wheels...

.

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Stick486

· #14 · Apr 3, 2020

Nickp said:
that's what I tried to explain in my post but the video does a better job.
I'm surprised you've never seen a shaped hoop...

me too...

Reactions: 1

Stick486

· #15 · Apr 3, 2020

JOAT said:
If I were making a barrel I'd likely make wooden hoops.

this I gotta see...
how would you even make them.. and out of what to get the strength ya'd need...
at best they'd be keepers and not hoops
wood would be so dysfunctional... and basically ornamental not to mention take lots of material...

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