Thread: Almost Free Foam Barrels

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This is a tutorial on how I made barrels out of foam blocks. I can’t take credit for most of the techniques used. I learned almost everything from the other great tutorials and posts on the forum.



Styrofoam blocks are used to stack small flatbed trailers, like they sell at Lowe’s, on top each other for shipping. Because they take up a lot of space in the dumpster, most places are thrilled to give them away. Here’s a shot of what they look like in their native environment:


Using the lid from a 5-gallon bucket, I outlined the basic shape on each end of the block.


The corners were cut off with a hot wire cutter.


A 3’ long threaded rod is pushed through the center of the block and attached to a piece of wood glued to each end.


One end of the rod is hooked into a hole in the cabinet beside my workbench and the other into a drill.


Using a drywall rasp, I cut the barrel down to the basic shape.


Sanding with an 80-grit sanding sponge.

Using a Dremel with a router attachment, the top is cut down. I only routed out the top, but you could do both ends.




The top is sanded down and the edges are tapered.


Using a soldering iron, I cut the individual pieces of wood on both the top and the sides of the barrel.


Using quick and light strokes, I added wood grain with the soldering iron.


Paper mache strips are made from newspaper (about 6-8 layers) and hot glued to the barrel.



To hide the seam, I covered it with another piece of newspaper.


A small piece of foam is added for the plug. I used blue foam because it is easier to shape small pieces with it.

Because the girl at the Lowe’s paint counter couldn’t run the color matcher, I matched an old piece of weathered wood to an off-the-shelf Olympic flat color (Bronco Brown). Total price: $10.87 a gallon.


The barrel is painted with the base color (Back barrel. I forgot to take a picture for this step...). The top is covered with a black wash. As it dries, I touch my fingers all over the flat areas to make the color more uneven.






The metal straps are painted black with some red mixed in for rust.


Everything is lightly dry brushed with white mixed with a little bit of the base color to tone it down. The bottom two are dry brushed a little heavier than the top two.


That’s it. I’m still playing around with different paint colors. I haven’t found the perfect color yet…

These look fantastic!

Great idea!

Great tutorial & love the barrels.

Terrific technique on how to build these. Simple yet the result is outstanding!

Also love your lathe

Thanks for the tutorial! Did you also build the cannon out of foam? Can't wait to see the entire project put together.

Excellent!!

The cannon is made out of foam and paper mache. I scored two 10' long 5" tubes from a roofing company last weekend, so I will be making a couple of larger cannons soon. I will do a tutorial on them also.