Does anyone have experience buying barrels, barrel tops/ends? A family member is looking to do some furniture building with the staves and tops, so they don't need to be top of the line barrels or anything, I think those would be way more expensive. Any online leads? Or off for that matter?
Contact a brewery (or even a winery) near you that has a barrel program and ask if they sell their old ones. I've seen these things priced anywhere from $35 to $135 from breweries.
If you can travel to Maine, contact Allagash. They use their their Jim Beam barrels once then sell them out.