Wine barrel coffee table help

[Chris Daleo]

Ok I bought a wine barrel and its cut in half lengthwise. I have 2 cypress slabs that will be placed on the open end of the wine barrel as the top.

My issue is with the base, I'm not sure of the best way to go about this. Here's a link of what I'm trying to accomplish. https://www.google.com/search?q=wine+barrel+coffee+table&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari#miuv=0

I'm not sure how to cut the curve to match the wine barrel, so any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Bill ThompsonNM]

How I would probably do it: Although you might not have exactly one half, use the diameter at the leg position to lay out the curve on cardboard. Cut that out and test fit. If its too small you can just trim again so I would err on that side. Once you have a template in cardboard you can transfer it to something more durable like Masonite to create the edge after rough cutting with a jigsaw or bandsaw.

[Sam Murdoch]

How I would probably do it: Although you might not have exactly one half, use the diameter at the leg position to lay out the curve on cardboard. Cut that out and test fit. If its too small you can just trim again so I would err on that side. Once you have a template in cardboard you can transfer it to something more durable like Masonite to create the edge after rough cutting with a jigsaw or bandsaw.


YUP - what Bill says - only might add that you could use a router to follow along your template too.

[Jerry Miner]

Yes, the template idea is a good place to start, but there is an additional complexity in that a wine barrel tapers in diameter along its length, so your curved "saddle" is a compound curve, and the thickness of your leg matters, as does the location and any splay in your legs.

You can make a "compound" template by building up some material to the thickness of your legs, putting template material on either side, and scribing to fit the barrel. You may find that the barrel is not a perfectly circular curve, so scribing is probably the only practical way to get a good fit.