Drum building progress part 1
Since going to Max Young’s “mini psychedelic retreat” I have been on the lookout for materials to make drums like his. He has 12 of these drums for his programs. They’re made from whiskey barrels.
The intended result: 
When i first saw the drums, I didn’t know what they were made of. I started looking into the costs to buy the wood, cut it to specification, etc and was daunted by the cost, especially if I used hardwoods. Even pine was prohibitively expensive.
When I asked Max about them, he told me they were made from used whiskey barrels, so i started looking into where I would find those. There are places that sell them, but they ranged from $200 up, not counting transporting them. Murdoch’s got some in the spring, some were cut down for planters, but there was a brand new one for $200. Asked Max if this was a good deal, he said he’d never paid more than $100 for his.
I contacted a local whiskey bar that made their own whiskey, but they never got back to me.
A couple months ago I was at a restaurant that had a whole bunch of them used as decor. I spoke to the owner/manager, who said she’d look into it. I traded a few emails with them about it, they were still considering things. Friday I was back there getting food and such, and Brittany said they had some which were available, right over there. I’d decided if i had to pay, I’d get one, but free? let’s take two!
We loaded them up and brought them home. They sat outside the garage for a couple days.
I took apart the first one at night. Funny thing about barrels, they are held together by nothing but the hoops holding everything in. Remove the hoops and you have a pile of lumber.
Taking apart the pieces and my first surprise was that the inside of the barrel was charred. I guess I’d never thought too much about what barrel aged, I guess i thought it was getting the flavor of the wood, maybe. Anyway, this was kind of messy to handle, got charcoal all over everything.
I removed the charcoal with a wire brush and cordless drill. Big cloud of charcoal ash. Definitely dust mask work. Glasses a good idea too.
I’d made marks on each piece showing whether it was top, middle or bottom with / + and O.
Hoops and wood from the top and bottom. I didn’t think I’d need these but later they become important
The pieces have had the charcoal brushed off, but a bunch still
remained, so I lined them up and hosed them down and let them dry. The
amount of dust on the driveway isn’t clear - it was a kind of a mess
that I washed down with a few buckets of water. 
Barrels are 36” tall, set the table saw at about 12” and went to
town. Don’t get distracted, a couple mistakes didn’t become clear until
later… 
Split the pieces into piles / + and O 
Cleaned and stacked bits from the second barrel.
I didn’t take any pics of the first step in gluing, but the results
can be seen here. Two pieces at a time, glued together. 
Once those dried, take the 2-up pieces, glue into 4 stave pieces.
Bits of duck tape hold the edges together nicely while I put lots of
glue edge to edge 
Drying in the sun… 
TO BE CONTINUED
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