Yes please!
OK, but here's the complete story. (It has been posted before):
For those who haven't read about my stay at the Burn Unit of Washington Hospital Center, (and the Medivac ride to get there) here is how
not to cut the top off an oil drum.
My mother was in need of a new burn barrel, so I had asked a local school bus fleet owner if he had any spares. With all the oil changes he does, he buys all of it by the drum. He was fresh out of empty barrels, but had another source. The next day, when he did drop off what looked like a brand new oil drum, I mentioned I'd have to get out the hammer and chisel. (someone once told me your first answer is normally the right one) He said he uses a cutting torch on his, and left shortly afterward.
Now I'm normally one of the stickler's for safety, but I guess when he mentioned cutting torch, it
clouded my better judgement just because I was trying to get done in a hurry. My next thought was to go ahead and use the plasma cutter and get it done
much quicker, what with all the work I have backlogged. I loaded up the barrel in my truck and drove down to a friends house to use my plasma cutter. (he had borrowed it to make a rock crawler out of a Suzuki Samauri) We got everything situated, I positioned the torch, and as soon as the arc penetrated the barrel, it was done. I have never seen motor oil act in this manner, and I
guarantee it's a lesson I will never forget. I had the two bungs removed, and the larger of the two was right in front of me. The arc from the torch caused the barrel residue to expand the ends of the barrel outward, which in addition to sending it skyward, also aimed the larger of the two bungs directly at me. The flash exiting the bung holes (can I say that?) burned through a t shirt, an undershirt, and various other body parts that happened to be there in the way as it propelled upwards. When the barrel landed, the fire in the barrel was out, but it was still emitting black smoke. My buddy was standing there in disbelief, looked at me and said, "That's gonna look goofy for awhile". This prompted me to look in the side view mirror of my truck to assess the damage. Meanwhile, he got me a clean shirt to put on to keep the burned area clean. Unsure of the extent of the burns (ie: still dazed and confused) I drove home (about 3 miles), and asked my wife to look at it (she and I both have had EMT training). After some stuttering and stammering on her part, I told her to call the ambulance. Here is the drum in it's expanded capacity form, and also the extent of how much cutting got done:
Regardless of a barrel's contents, especially one you receive second hand, don't trust anyone's word on it's residue (or supposed lack thereof), treat it as a worst case scenario and wash it out, purge the vapors, etc, and then fill with water before cutting. Best idea yet is to find a barrel with the ring-clamped removable top. Lest you wind up looking like this (or worse)
I know you guys are used to the progress updates on the cars I'm working on, and as much as I'd hate to see this happen to anyone, (and since I'm still here to talk about it), I may as well share this story if it will prevent others from making the same mistake. The least I could do after all I've been through was to make this post in hopes of saving someone else the same or a worse fate. One of my saving graces (including the Good Lord not being ready for me yet) was that I was wearing safety glasses and leather gloves, so no finger burns and only singed eyebrows. I spent four days in the burn unit and another three weeks to heal up enough to return to work in the shop. Please be careful out there and don't let a time constraint interfere with your better judgement.
