Thread: How to Make a Pirate Rum / gunpower barrel

For Halloween this year I needed a couple of barrels for our pirate cove area. Since real barrels were too expensive and too heavy to move around my wife (Wicked Grandma) came up with his idea.
http://scarypapashauntedforest.webs....keabarrell.htm

An excellent "how to", Scary Papa! Thanks for posting that. We actually bought a full size wooden barrel several years ago (on sale, so it was only about $35), but the weight makes it difficult to move around. We ended up making a small wooden platform with wheels on it that it sits on year round so we can move it to where we need it. Our robot skeleton, Mr Bones, sits on it. Your idea, however, is brilliant. If you don't attach the top, you should be able to remove it and flip it over and store it inside the bottom, shouldn't you? Then it would take almost no space at all. And much lighter, too!

CreepyCreations, thanks for checking out the How-To. Yep, if you don't attach the top 1/2 of the barrell to the plastic strip it comes right off for storage inside the bottom and you can nest several inside one another. Thats what I do and the top portion fits on sort of like a tupperware lid secure becasue the top 1/2 of the plastic strip holds it in place. The exception is the barrel for the "Rum" fountain. On that one both halves are secured to the plastic strip with screws since the barrell is on its side. In my area full size wooden barrels are very hard to find and when you do find them they cost about $100. A little pricey for me for a static decoration. Surprising since there is a barrel manufacturer only 50 miles away that makes new whiskey barrels

I might look at making some smaller ones, for gunpowder. They would fit in nicely with our pirate theme! Just gotta come up with a decent graphic for the side...

Great idea! The plastic barrel would be alot lighter to move around than a wooden one.

I love this. I am needing a large and a couple small barrels this year. I will check and see if the planters are available yet. I don't remember seeing them last year in our WalMart, but I know they have had them in the past. Your tutorial is very well written, also. Thank you so much.

They had the 1/2 barrel planter pots at Big Lots last Spring.