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I've got a problem finding metal buckets


Chris C

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Couldn't figure out where to put this request, so I am here..........where I am!!!!! :D  Just hope it's the right place so I don't face the wrath of a moderator.

 

I melted the side out of my plastic Lowe's bucket filled with Vermiculite today.  Guess I got my hammer head too close to the side. :angry:  So I've got to find a couple of metal 5 gallon buckets/cans.  But I'm pulling up a blank and can't think where I might find used ones.  Do auto lubrication centers still buy grease in those cans?  Paint used to come in them but the manufacturers have switched over to plastic paint cans.  Been racking my brain for the last couple of hours and can't think of any place that might have them.  Of course I can get them new through Amazon, but they are $20 each plus shipping. :o  I'd rather wash the remaining contents out of a couple of free ones!  :D  Any thoughts?

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Try a place that specializes in farm and ranch supplies such at Tractor Supply, Murdochs, Big R, etc..  Also try feed and grain places.  These will be new products but you will never wear them out unless you use them as a water filled slack tub and let it freeze solid (don't ask me how I know).

"by hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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Hmmmmm.  I'm in Tractor Supply, Atwoods and my local feed store almost weekly and have never seen those metal "paint" cans.  I'll have to ask next time I'm at those places.  Thanks for the heads up, George.

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Another possibility- I used to work for an hvac shop, the metal cans/bottles of r22, and 410a refrigerant came in metal containers. When empty- we usually had a hard time getting rid of them.

I'd take them home and use them for shooting targets.

Now, I no longer work there... I'm looking for a couple myself to make a smaller gas forge body from.

But, thinking to cut the top off and fill... it's prolly less than 5 gal bucket volume,  but still might be useful?

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That would likely work.   I thought about cutting the top off a propane bottle, but I'd have to cover the edge.  I used to be in the plastic industry and we had a U-shaped edge capping strip that would be perfect............only I'd probably have to purchase a minimum amount that would likely be 3 or 4 lifetimes supply.

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Do not build a box and then try to think outside the box. 

I got my hammer head too close and melted the side out of my plastic Lowe's bucket filled with Vermiculite today. 

Simple build a cage to keep the hammer head away from the side of the plastic bucket.  If you use a larger bucket such as 55 gallon plastic drum.   They ship grease in 25 gallon metal drums, so check the places that use a lot of grease as lubricant.  Vermiculite is not a liquid so the container does not have to be liquid tight.  Large pipe will work, or the interior shell in a hot water tank.  Percast concrete pipe or junctions.  A spiral or round HVAC duct or, since round is not a priority, why not a square or rectangular HVAC duct?   Since the container does not have to be structural, why not roll up a piece of sheet metal into a circle?   Cut a 55 gallon steel drum apart and you get two ends 24 inches in diameter, and a 3 foot by 6 foot piece of metal.  Reassemble as needed to get the size container you want.  The gas tank on an old car is about 20 gallons.  Wash it out and cut a hole, and fill the tank with Vermiculite.  Weld two pieces of H beam or I beam together.  Use angle iron as the corners and sheet metal as the sides. Bolts or pop rivets will work.  You could always use the oxygen tanks from the B-17 or B-24 bombers. 

Do not tell us what you can not do, because you will always be right.  Tell us what you have to work with and then use it to solve your problem.

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True enough.  You could use a cardboard box or a paper bag to hold vermiculite for annealing as long as you kept the hot metal away from the container.  However, sometimes making a field expedient is wasteful of time and energy even if it is cheaper monetarily.  If time is money it may be cheaper to buy a manufactured container than to spend the time and resources fabricating something with whatever is at hand.  It depends on available monetary resources and how available a person's time may be and how they value their time. There is no inherent value in making do, just how the cost/benefit analysis comes out for fabricating something versus buying something.

Also, one of the major values of this forum is to get input on something which you may not have thought of.  There are no dumb questions but I know that I have asked questions with answers so obvious that I have slapped my hand to my forehead and exclaimed, "Why didn't I think of that?!"  With the cumulative experience and knowledge here adding up to centuries someone is bound to have dealt with any particular issue, simple or complex, before.  Sometimes it may be "don't do it the way I did" but that is information too.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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Good Morning, Chris

I own and operate a VW Specialist, Service, Parts and Machine Shop. We get Parts cleaning Solvent/Varsol in metal pails, Windshield Washer Fluid concentrate comes in metal pails, Synthetic Engine Oil comes in small metal barrels (about 15 gal.). I have a glut of them, they make good garbage cans for the shop after cutting out the top. Find an Automotive Shop near you that works on import cars, they probably have too many as well. All our grease and gear oil used to come in metal drums (about 15 gal.). Army surplus has metal containers for projectiles, with a lid that fastens (makes a good Tool Box for Blacksmith Tools).

Sometimes vermiculite is not as easy to get as it used to, Asbestos. An old time Blacksmith taught us to use 'Garden Lime' for annealling. He used it for Welding Flux as well, sprinkled the Lime onto the piece being welded, right in the Coal fire. Lime never spoils your fire. Lime is used as a flux to make Steel.

If there was no box to work in, 'You' could never think outside the Box. Allow your thinking cap some breathing room, from Thyme to Thyme!!

Neil

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Thanks, Neil.  We've got a couple of Import Auto repair shops in town.  I'll check them out. 

I've got a rather small ammo can for my heat treating oil that was just 10 bucks.  But when you get one as large as a 5 gallon container, they are far more expensive than a metal bucket.  Last night I got to thinking and remembered a friend down the road is a "collector" like many farmers.  He has stacks of everything you can think of.  His place is kind of like a thrift shop..........except for farmers. :D  My little wife calls him a hoarder..........I just call him when I need something.  Think I remember seeing some of those cans in a shed at his place.  I'll check today and see if he has any.

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My "big" wife died in 2001, George.  She doesn't call my neighbor anything.  :D  She was 5' 8" tall.  My "little" wife is 4' 9" tall.........which is why I refer to her as "my little wife". :lol:

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  • 4 weeks later...

So it was raining "anvil stumps"?         We would appreciate some of that rain out here; however you can keep the humidity!  I remember forging at Norman before and feeling "drier" working near the forge as the added heat would dry the sweat more than induce it.

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  • 2 months later...

I know that you already found a few buckets but I just stumbled across this thread and wanted to add my suggestion. I use the metal can that some popcorn came in last Christmas. I doubt that they are water tight but they work great for hold vermiculite. I also empty the “cooled” coal and coke from my forge into one that way I can put the lid on it and leave it for the next time. 

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Welding rods come in a metal container.  You may want to check with folks that use a lot of solvents.  Just be careful that the solvents are removed and cleaned out before use, io any flame is near the bucker.  Boom is not a nice noise and neither is the flame the solvents can produce.

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ALWAYS CHECK what was previously held in a container you want to reuse; pesticide residue makes most solvents look positively healthy!

My favorite source for 55 gallon drums was a food processing plant that got their tomato paste in 55 gallon smooth walled drums.  For standard 55 gallon drums I used to go to a drum recycling place that would clean them, burn them out and clean them again.  Cost more but *SAFE*!

(If you have been paying attention to the news you may have read where some pesticides and nerve agents are fairly closely related!  Don't go full WWI in your shop!)

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