wood barrel rings

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

Is anybody knows how to easy/difficult to remove metal rings from wine barrel?
I have an old wine barrel I want to make a side table, but I want to remove a few rings, not all of them.
And another question - if I remove all rings barrel will felt a parts? Any kind of joints between woods?:confused:
Thank you,
Ed.

[Bob Rossi]

The rings are what holds the staves of the barrel together, if you remove the rings (hoops) the barrel falls apart. There are no joints holding the staves together.

[Jim Koepke]

Drill some holes and install screws in to the hoops you plan to leave on. That will help to hold it together.

jtk