Scottish Elises

So I have a wood burning stove and recently I've been getting dismantled wooden whisky casks to chop and use as firewood. I was out in the Clyde Valley one day and saw some products made from whisky barrels and that gave me the inspiration to try a few things myself. Being a relatively noob DIYer, I wasn't hoping for much but I am pretty pleased with how my designs have turned out. I have made a huge clock from the cask lid and from the sides, about 12 candle holders and a wine rack.

I know there are a few whisky drinkers on here but is anyone else in to this kind of thing?

A huge clock - the bottle of HP whisky is full size to give you an idea.



Tealight Candle holders



Wine rack (holds 12 bottle) - half a cask lid and two staves.

Very good, I like the clock especially.

I have similar to the tealight holder, but it is only about a foot long. It's got 2 Glencairn glasses and a water jug in the middle.

These kind of things are not cheap.

They all look good. Nice to see something being created from these. Something quite sad about the craftsmanship in wooden barrels being broken up for firewood. Mind you, I guess they are all machined nowadays as opposed to the trade of a Cooper.

How much you getting the barrels for? Keen on this myself!

DJ wrote:
They all look good. Nice to see something being created from these. Something quite sad about the craftsmanship in wooden barrels being broken up for firewood. Mind you, I guess they are all machined nowadays as opposed to the trade of a Cooper.

Visit Speyside Cooperage if you're ever up this way. There's a viewing gallery over the workshop so you can see for yourself how manual it still is. Worth a visit, really! By the time they're broken up they're well beyond economic repair. You can't move up here for half-barrel planters, wine racks and tea-light holders.

(Speyside Cooperage also sell old casks if you wanted to hand-pick a few for projects. Too expensive for firewood though.)

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My dad was a cooper originally - Actually ended up president of the National Cooperage Federation prior to retirement four years ago

http://www.theguardian.com/business/200 ... fooddrinks

When he started out, I believe they were on piece work for each barrel produced (mostly by hand).

With higher demand, Diageo cooperage's automate a lot of the process these days, but they're still assembled & finished by hand.
</thread drift>

Hey Sanjoy - I have a contact who has been getting barrels that are being taken out of circulation and are being broken down. That's why I am making things from staves and lids only. I would love a full barrel to make a barrel bar.

The workshop sounds great Graeme- will definitely drop in if I am ever up that way. How much does a full cask of for our of interest?

Made another wine rack the other day. This one holds 13 bottles.

Looks really nice. I'm sure there's a SE market for these.


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Renny

Hey Renny. I have just started to make a few things casually to sell - the wine rack and a few large candle holders (approx 50") are up for grabs just now.

Great looking items, I'd stick a barrel lid on my wall without the clock