Cut the through-hole
The four-inch bamboo required a large circle hole saw. The fit had to be wide enough to pass the pole cleanly through the barrel head, but tight enough for the top to look built around it.
Built for pool nights
Jim Beam Barrel-Top Pole Table.
A real bourbon-barrel head, a four-inch bamboo pole and one permanent place to set a beer.
One-of-one garage furniture
The useful spot that the room was missing.
I built this bar-height pole table around a real Jim Beam bourbon-barrel top and a four-inch outside-diameter bamboo pole. It sits beside the pool table with two bar stools—perfect for a beer, a phone or the cue chalk between shots.
It is not freestanding furniture pretending to be permanent. The pole is tied into a painted wood beam in the rafters and a painted wood base anchored into the concrete floor.
The starting point
The barrel stamp had to stay visible.
The top is an actual bourbon-barrel head, complete with the Jim Beam distillery markings. I stained it without burying the age, grain or original stamp, then clear-coated the surface so it could survive glasses, chalk dust and regular garage use.
- Table height
- Standard bar-stool height
- Center pole
- 4-inch O.D. bamboo
- Seating
- Two bar stools
Making it structural
One large hole. Two solid anchors.
Fit and finish the bamboo
I stained the bamboo and the tabletop so the two materials felt like one piece. The pole passes directly through the barrel head instead of simply stopping underneath it.
Lock it into the garage
Up top, the pole bolts into a wood beam that I painted and installed in the rafters. At the floor, it lands in another painted wood base secured with concrete anchors.
Hidden utility
The Christmas lights do more than glow.
I ran Christmas lights down the pole, giving it the right garage atmosphere while also bringing power to the table. That means there is a convenient plug for a phone charger without stretching a cord across the pool area.
A neon sign hangs from the table assembly, so the finished piece reads as part of the room rather than a random bar table dropped beside the game.
Ready for the next rack