How to Assemble Wine Stave Platters

1.  Select skinny staves in groups of five to six from the skinny stave pallet that are from the same barrel.  Selecting staves from the same barrel ensures that the tips of the staves are the same profile and the curvature of the staves should be relatively consistent.  Cut them roughly in half on the miter saw in the same groups you selected them.  When you put them in your crate, try to keep them together with the other staves to make assembly easier.

2.  Using the assembly jig, align the staves with the inside down.  When they are together:

• The tips should be pretty tight together, if they spread apart at the top a little that is fine

• Ideally use wider staves on the outside.  This picture is not a great example.

• They should be relatively level, no staves that are significantly higher or lower.

• At the top they should be between 8-9" wide (cover the 4" marks on both right and left, do not extend beyond red.

3.  Place Spacer 1 against the bottom of the jig (align triangles) and run a bead of glue across.

4.  Nail a pre-stained stick (which can be found on the  To Be Assembled shelves) across the staves using 1-1/4" nails in the 16 gauge nail gun.  

5.  There should be two nails spaced vertically in each stave.

6.  Place Spacer 2 against the stick you just nailed down and repeat the process in steps 3 & 4.  

7.  Once both feet have been nailed to the staves, set it aside with the feet down to let the glue dry.  Wait a minimum of three hours for the glue to dry.