What to do with 55 Gallon drums?

[Journaler]

So I bought some of these to use as trash cans for an "event" at the ranch this past weekend.

I'll keep one as a trash can, but not sure what to do with the other 2.
Don't want to turn it into a smoker/grill... maybe use them as a base for an outdoor workbench? Put them in the shed to hold fishing poles, garden tools, or other long-ish items?

 

[ilovevocs]

I was going to suggest water storage in the event if a zombie apocalypse, but I see they are steel so that option is out. Don't know what kind if waste oil turn over you have but it's nice having an old one around to fill up and haul away when it's full. Your bench idea seems like a good one if your in need. Maybe you could fill with water for ballast to keep them in place. Leveling the bench may be frustrating unless the sub straight (ground) is level. Good luck with repurposing them. Post a pic if you do something creative.

 

[ihatelaramie]

Crushed aluminum can storage. We have the same Castrol drums, got one right next to the crusher in the garage.

 

[Fleetwood]

If i has a lid i use one for old used oil containment.

 

[my58]

Get a metal lid, weld on a hinge to hold the top on nicely and add some form of small table top.

Now you can mount your grinders or chop saw or anything else nicely and easily tip the top open to safely store dirty rags or pieces of scrap metal for welding or wood scraps or ?????

It makes moving around your garage easy, it holds tools well and is excellent storage.

I have done this in the past with smaller 20 gallon steel drums and have always loved the ease of use and storage. They also look pretty cool with stickers on them. If I can find a fair priced 20 gallon drum it will be a future project for me.

 

[socket_wrench]

pedal car
http://daddytypes.com/2008/12/17/fi..._solvent_diy_pedal_car_from_a_55-gal_drum.php

rocking chair
http://www.curbly.com/users/chrisjob/posts/6802-the-oil-drum-rocker

raft
http://www.raftplan.com/55gallondrumraft.aspx

fire pit
http://www.ajfisherdesign.com/mdesign.html

deer feeder
http://www.lexingtoncontainercompany.com/Barrel-Project-Photos.html

chicken coup

 

[Stuart in MN]

Sell them? They take up a lot of space for something that may not get used much.

 

[flht1997]

implode it!

 

[scab]

You could make a hell of a steel drum set and start that calypso band you're always talking about wanting to put together.

 

[Journaler]

You could make a hell of a steel drum set and start that calypso band you're always talking about wanting to put together.

Hmmmmm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bJd_ym6c0ks

 

[NUTTSGT]

Hold the recyclables.

Fill with dirt/sand and use as for target practice.

"Free" at the curb.

Burn barrel.

Rocket ?

 

[bullnerd]

Duh...mailbox! One upright, one 90 degrees.

I grew up fishing off a barrel raft,very cool.

 

[iammarvin]

Not 55, but 15's make a good seat with the right parts.

 

[IHfreak]

You can make a work bench out of them.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

I'm thinking media blasting cabinet. Cut a viewing window on the side, frame it up with angle iron. Cut a door in one end. Add a drain at the bottom for the media to drain into. The shape itself will funnel material to the centerline. Good size for nearly everything.

 

[James E]

Burn barrel.

Put it up on cinder blocks, cut some holes in the side near the bottom or replace the bottom with a grate.

 

[Milton Shaw]

One of my uncles welded four together times 4 and filled them with concrete and rebar and made them into bridge supports. It would have helped if he had gotten them straight but they were plenty strong a little off level. Held a bridge up for over 30 years that I know about.

 

[65Stang]

Sand blaster (look up barrel blaster) or cut one vertically and put hang on wall.

 

[NUTTSGT]

One of my uncles welded four together times 4 and filled them with concrete and rebar and made them into bridge supports. It would have helped if he had gotten them straight but they were plenty strong a little off level. Held a bridge up for over 30 years that I know about.

I know somebody that used them like that for a dock.

 

[blk00ss]

implode it!

Step it up a notch, slacker

 

[KermitFrog]

Go figure. I was searching on CL for one to use as a burn barrel. Sell it - CL.

 

[donnykooy]

a grill anyone?...in the military we use to cut these in half vertically and put hinges on the back..built a little stand and there u have a charcoal grill..a pretty big one at that

 

[brianpgriset]

This

 

[bullnerd]

We used to have a couple to hold kegs at parties.Cut it in half and fill it with ice.Maybe you could do this for your next "event"and you would get points for having matching g-cans and keg chillers?

 

[oldsfan442]

You can make a sand blaster out of it. This website offers them but I'm sure you can make something very similar.

http://www.barrelblaster.com/

Bryan

 

[Farmall450]

I made a pretty beast smoker, but used oil storage, one guy already posted a nice fire pit that might be my next project...

 

[Beytill]

Where are you located? I could use them for waste oil.

 

[BigDawgDavao]

A savonius turbine or waterpump.

http://www.instructables.com/id/55-Gallon-Drum-Turbine/

or like this one I plan to make for my farm

http://www.angelfire.com/ak5/energy21/savonius.htm

 

[NUTTSGT]

A savonius turbine or waterpump.

http://www.instructables.com/id/55-Gallon-Drum-Turbine/

or like this one I plan to make for my farm

http://www.angelfire.com/ak5/energy21/savonius.htm

Those are some awesome ideas.

 

[Fyrme]

I've been looking on CL for a 55 gal drum for weeks but have found nothing! Sell it on CL. Depending on where you live people use them for all kinds of things. Around here, it deer feeders. I need one to build a bead blaster out of. I need one with the removable lid and ring.

 

[e-tek]

I use a 55 gal (Plastic) drum for my oil catcher. It fits perfectly under the lift at working height and holds years worth of oil, ****** and coolant fluids. I have it on a dolly with a custom funnel on top.

 

[Fyrme]

e-tek,
Do you pay someone to come pump it out? I had thought of using a sotrage drum many times but don't want the cost of paying someone to empty it. Around here the auto parts shops take your oil for free. I use 2 5gal steel cans and a 6 gal recovery tank to hold mine and just go dump it as a can gets full. They frown on anything over a few gal so the 5ers are pushing it.

There are a few shops around here that use oil to heat but are Leary about taking oil from people due to contamination of antifreeze and gasoline

 

[Steevo]

Let's see . . . you said no smoker, so how about these projects:

Bucking bronc practice:

Composter:

Barrel chair:

Shop vac/dust collector:

Strawberry planter:

R2D2:

Pickle barrel:

Keep your balls in them:

Or your wife:

Space heater:

 

[artrem]

My dad used to make strawberry barrels out of them. He used a cutting torch to cut holes around the circumference at several levels. Then he put a section of drain tile on the bottom and filled the tile with sand, and filled the drum with soil to the top of the drain tile. Then he pulled the tile up until it was near the top of the soil line. Repeated the process until he had a drum filed with soil with a sand core, leaving the drain tile in place in the top layer. Planted strawberry plants in the 4-6 inch diameter holes, keeping the sand core watered. We used those barrels for years.

Sorry if this is TMI, but thought I'd pass this along. Used whiskey barrels wory, too.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

 

[1953mercury]

Being manly men, around these parts we use them for shot glasses. Mike

 

[dodge610]

Make a hooch still out of it and sell the hooch lol.

 

[diggerrick]

Turn one into a giant shop-vac.

Edit: somebody beat me to it!

 

[diggerrick]

Fill one with acetylene and...


...RUN!

...somebody probably beat me to this one, too.

 

[metalmagpie]

Well, I have a couple of ideas.

First one is to get yourself about a 30x30x3/8" piece of plate steel. You can lift it, but only just barely. Set your drum open end up and put the piece of plate on it. Now you have a decent welding table. I used one of those outside for many years. In between welding jobs I'd take the piece of plate and lean it against a wall so the rain wouldn't puddle on it, and I'd turn the bucket upside down so it didn't fill with rain. Worked great.

Second idea: turn it upside down over smallish things you have just painted. Tip up one side and slip under a lit trouble light, then set it back down. Now it will get just warm to the touch inside, great for drying paint.

metalmagpie

 

[Steevo]

When I was a (dumb) teenager, we'd take a 55 gal drum, remove one end so it is an open barrel, poke a hole in the center of the remaining end, slip a BIG *** firecracker (M80 / M160??) fuse through the hole from inside and duct tape the firecracker to the inside of the drumhead.
Then, we'd lower the drum, open end down, into the shallow end of a swimming pool (works good in above-ground pools too), until it was full of water up to just a few inches from the top. There needs to be a little bit of gap around the fuse for the air to escape, or this step takes FOREVER, because the air can't get out.
Then we'd light the fuse and run for cover.

One launched so high, it went all the way over the house and landed on my friends mom's Corolla parked in her driveway out front.

Sometimes, they'd blow the seam on the barrel, and come out of the pool cartwheeling in unpredictable directions.

It was always exciting, and almost always fun, if you don't count the weeks of yardwork we had to do to pay off the windshield replacement and body/paint work on my friends moms car.

Oh, and it can crack the pool, too, so be warned.