Leaky wooden cask

[Squiddy]

Okay, I think this is the right section for this..

I have recently bought an old 2 gallon cask on eBay, and have been soaking it for about 30 hours now. At first, I couldn't keep up with the water loss, so filled the bath and submerged it for a day. Now most of the leaks have stopped, apart from one.. At the bottom of one of the heads, there is a leak, between the head and the staves. I've given the metal ring a tap to try to tighten it up, but it still leaks. The cork stops most of it, due to it creating a vacuum, but that's not idea. At the moment it's losing 10ml per hour.

What do you think? Give it more time to soak, or does it need work?

 

[Richie_asg1]

Keep it soaking. I bought a large barrel as a water butt and it leaked for a bit but was watertight within a week.

If it's not right after a week of soaking it may need to come apart to reseal the ends.

 

[Cqr]

Sounds like my last boat lol, wood will sweel a lot more than u think keep at it

 

[Squiddy]

That's okay then, I shall keep soaking.

I have a clinker beach boat which also leaks like a sieve! Hopefully I won't cure that by submerging it in water..

 

[Squiddy]

It never did seal, on its own. So to try to keep things more natural, I used bee's wax. I have it a rub all over, and heated it in, then heated the leaky end some more and melted a load of wax onto the seam, and let it set overnight. So far, so good. It's currently holding a mix of whisky, wine, and cheap supermarket mead, just to try it out.

 

[Davemc]

I was an apprentice cooper 20 years ago.The groove in which the head sits is normally filled with rushes before the head goes in on a beer cask and these swell up and create the seal. Beer casks would then be painted on the end of the staves and over the stave/head joint (chime) with a very thick paint which completes the seal. Glad you managed to cure the leak. Breweries tended to have their own colour paints althoug red seemed fairly popular.