The previous homeowners had placed two wine barrels in the very back of the yard for some reason. We can’t guess what. Possibly pedestals to hold potted plants? In any case, they had been back there in the weather for years and – due to the way barrels are built and the fact that they were sitting upright – had been collecting water on top in a little pool, and thus were getting close to rotting away on the ends.
We rescued them when Pedro’s new shop was built, because the barrels were now behind the shop, and even more wasted. I say wasted, because wine barrels are expensive! And here were two for free, being neglected. Pedro had an idea to finish them and use them for tables on our large deck.
We dragged them out of the brush – well, we dragged one, and startled a hive of bees who swarmed and we ran. So a month later when the bees were definitely gone and we were brave enough to try again, we dragged them both out and set them out to dry all summer, then put them into his shop to continue drying all winter. Pedro had discovered that water had seeped into the insides, so he drilled holes in the ends to allow it to drain and air out.
In the meantime, he began getting ideas for table tops and hit on the idea to use resin in a pattern that looks like the sea. For Christmas, I bought him two rounds of wood to use. He studied YouTube videos and then finally, the end of January, the day came to try using resin for the first time.
While the resin was drying, he worked on the barrels. Once they dried out, all the metal rings had dropped off and the wooden slats began to disassemble. He permanently fixed all the metal bands. He sanded as much as he could to get the top layer of decomposed wood off, then stained several layers thick, to protect them from the weather.
Pretty cool, huh? Now that I see them, I think it would have been good to first stain the table tops the same colour as the barrels, but we didn’t think of that. The yellow of the unfinished wood opposite the blue doesn’t match the barrels. It still looks good though, and I love them.
Pedro had been growing increasingly sick of having the two wine barrels in the center of his shop all winter and it was his main motivation to finish the project. The shop is quite small and the barrels made any other work impossible. But now they are done, and he was able to clean the shop and begin project number three. (Project one was the squirrel house.) That one went quickly!
Wooden gates don’t last long in Portland because of the rain and humidity. Still, wood is the most common fencing material used, because the cost of using anything else is prohibitive. Our fence on all three sides of the property was rotten when we bought the place in the summer of 2023, and we intend to build a new one. Eventually. For right now, it remains upright (though propped with poles and patches all over the place), and our neighbors have all agreed to wait until it disintigrates.
As you can see in the photo above, the wood closest to the ground has absorbed so much moisture that it was crumbling apart at the bottom. On the other side of the gate, the holes were patched with plywood long ago. Even the plywood was rotting.
He again spent days studying YouTube videos. “They built the old gate wrong,” he informed me. The cross-beam is supposed to go the other way, to better distribute the weight away from the hinges. We made our plans to open the gate out across the lawn instead of in across the rocks, which bang against the bottom of the gate.
Our neighbors, in the beige-coloured house, are on the chicken side. I ask them periodically if they are bothered by our rather noisy chickens. So far, they say they can’t even hear the chickens, so I have to assume they all have hearing problems, ha ha! I also give them fresh eggs now and then, to make sure chicken relations remain smooth.
Anyhoo, there’s the new gate! Behind the tree finally identified by one of my readers and neighbors, Nancy at Rivers and Roads PDX, identified as a winter-blooming Camellia.
I do not know what project Pedro has in mind next, but I heartily approve of everything so far. The shop is already beginning to pay for itself. And it’s making my guy happy too.
Conscious Engagement 
Thanks for the mention. I began reading because of wine barrels and there I was later. 🙂 I am wondering how to salvage my half barrel planters that are losing their metal staves. I’m also glad to learn about gates and crossbeams, though I will never do any wood working, I may oversee some someday. 🙂 Nice barrel tables!
Thank you, Nancy. When it is not raining, we have already been using the tables for morning coffee, or a quick lunch. (But not in the last couple of days. Oof, this cold rain is no fun) It must have been fun to stumble across your name in the post, ha ha. I shall ask Pedro for details on how he fixed the metal hoops, and leave another comment for you, in case it helps. His plan was to sand and stain them, for weather protection. He found that it was too big a job without fixing the metal first. It made sanding less efficient, but the whole project more efficient. I’ll bet a similar treatment would give your half barrels more years.
Nancy, I have some info that might be useful. Pedro says to get self-driving screws, which will drive themselves right through the metal without having to drill holes first. He said to concentrate on getting one hoop attached and level first. Use a hammer and chisel or something similar to tap the hoop and get it level before you fix it in place. After the first hoop is screwed into place, it holds the wooden staves and all the rest should be easier.
Good to know, thanks! I have to check to see how much the wood has rotted. It’s been pretty wet around here! 🙂
If the government continues flakey, Pedro has a future as a fine craftsman. And the barrel project looks outstanding!
That is high praise from you, Lou. Thanks. I will let him know you said so. I am so glad he has things to occupy his mind that bring pleasure instead of the stress and worry inflicted on us from the government. Right now he’s building a very cool rover robot with a camera that we are going to send into the crawl space under the house. Both of us hate going down there, and this would be a much appreciated alternative if it works. 🙂
Wow, a rover for “under space”
Ha! I didn’t think of it that way. 🙂
Good, thoughtful, and well researched work; and, of course he would go for colour for the barrel tops.
Of course! At this home, the more colour the better!
Well done. Compliments.
Thank you, Brian. We are both pleased.
Brava! So impressive! I’m not handy at all and neither is Kelly so we live mostly in a world of possibility rather than one a bit more “finished”. Love the look of those tables! You might inspire me to do a little more in my backyard, but I’ll have to keep you posted on that! The weather is dismal much like the world right now. Thinking of you two and hoping all is well 🌟
Thank you for thinking of us. We are hanging in there, day by day, and things like back yard projects are very helpful.
Love those barrels.
Glad you like them, too, Andrew. They are a great size for sitting on the deck with a drink, too. We are eagerly awaiting better weather, so we can do just that.
Great job, Pedro. I’m envious of your talent. And I think the the tops of the finished barrels are quite beautiful. Also, the barrels look just like new! And from the sublime to the the practical, your new gate looks totally functional, and attractive as well! Keep up the good work.
Thanks Curt. I’ll make sure he sees your message. I agree with the beauty of a simple and functional gate. We were walking home from a park Monday and spotted the gate from across the street. It looks so pretty to me, when it’s just a gate. But maybe my appreciation is heightened because we can USE it, unlike the old one.
❤️
I love Pedro’s creativity. A man that is handy and able to do a variety of things, and who is prepared to learn and experiment is such a treasure!! I’m looking forward to see what will come out of his workshop next.
Thank you Jolandi! I like that you point out he is prepared to learn and experiment. It’s a great quality of a person. Lifelong learning keeps us young and engaged with life. Right now in the workshop he is helping me trim the windows in my office, and soon we will be building garden structures. I am eager to see what he comes up with next, too!
These are fantastic. I wondered why I missed this post. It was when I was on my road trip and didn’t WP except answer comments.
Pedro did a great job on the gate. It’s a wonder the old one held up so long, he was right, it was built wrong.
The resin is quite lovely but I agree about that the tops should have been wooden. The handy handles were a good idea too.
Let Pedro know I’m looking forward to his next project 😀
I will let him know! Yes, the handles idea came along pretty soon after we tried moving them around the deck. Those barrels are really heavy! Also, Pedro said he suspected we would be tempted to lift them by the table tops, which would eventually break them off.
Very clever man your Pedro.
I was thinking as I always do, why not remove the tops and sell them and replace with wood. They resin tops are so good I am sure they would be saleable 🤔