Oak barrel - persistent leak

I've got a oak barrel that I've been soaking for months. It has a small persistent leak that just won't go. It seems to be a fissure within a slat, rather than between two slats.

I'm thinking there might be some kind of food-grade oil or something that I might apply externally... but I dunno. Any ideas what I could do to fix this?

I had an old whiskey barrel that also leaked after soaking. I used a ball-peen hammer, and tapped/hammered on the leaking area. If tapping slows the leak, wait a day and tap some more. It should eventually stop leaking. It is one of those "art" things. If you tap too hard, it might leak somewhere else.

What about brewer's pitch?
http://www.jastown.com/bulk/bp-293.htm

I've used it in oak water barrels to fix the same problem.

I'll try the hammering trick, but I'd imagine to works for leaks between slats: mine is due to a fractured slat I think.

bikegeek said:

What about brewer's pitch?

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As I understand, brewer's pitch is used to line the whole inside of the barrel. I could do that... but am keen to keep the oak raw, for flavor etc. Unless I can apply it locally to the area that's leaking. Don't know if that is possible though..?

mickeypower said:

Unless I can apply it locally to the area that's leaking. Don't know if that is possible though..?

Click to expand...

I don't see why that wouldn't work...

OK I'll give pitch a try. I assume I heat it, pour through the bung hole, and swill around..?

P.S. I'm based in the UK - just found an interesting site here that sells it and a load of very interesting "traditional materials". See http://traditionalmaterials.co.uk/

Found this thread cause I'm encountering a problem with my small barrel. The story goes like this:

I got a free 3 gallon oak barrel. Un-charred and really clean, never had anything in it. The only hoops it had were the ends, the two in the middle were missing and I suspected this would be an issue. I didn't worry too much about it and filled it with water to seal it up and just a few days later it was almost completely sealed except a tiny leak at the bottom where one of the staves was popping out pretty good.

I went to the store and picked up some galvanized hanging bands and bolts to make my own adjustable hoops. This worked too well as I squeezed the barrel too tight and one of the end bands popped off entirely! I have now frankensteined this thing back together and the only leak is the head where the band came off. I am still unable to get that end band on all the way and I suspect it will have to stay like that. I will have to post pictures later.

Anyway, I'm just trying to open up this thread again to see what anyone might recommend other than barrel pitch. I think I'm going to order some but how well is it at sealing bigger leaks? Can I apply it to the outside as well? I feel like if I just used the pitch both inside and out on the one end I will be good to go.

PS, I don't care how this thing looks, I got it for free and plan on putting in the basement for a while with beer in it so I have very little interest in buying another barrel at the moment. Eventually I want some 10 gallon barrels.