Cutting oil drums warning

[Grahame Collins]

I can't see why caustic would not work.Its' the basis of the old time degreasers.

I would not trust my safety to detergent and wash out on lapped seams.Thats what oil /fuel drums have.

Many years ago against my better judgement I silver soldered a honda bike fuel tank that had lap seams .

It was degreased and double steam cleaned. I had it full of water and tied astraddle a fence. It went kerboom when I put the flame to it.

Remember the tanks had little hollows for the knees.When I finished with it,this one did'nt. No damage done to me except for half drowned and ears ringing.

Grahame

[Big Shed]

G'day.
I cut 2 Hydraulic oil drums in half long ways last weekend.
1mm grinder wheel, no worries. When The 2 halves parted, there was about 2 litres of oil left in each drum.

No kaboom.

Welded reo bar legs on them for outdoor fire warmers for party this weekend.

Most hydraulic oils are glycol based, that's why they make such good paint strippers (ever dropped brake fluid on you new car?) They are not very flammable at all.

[Chipman]

Grahame, years ago I read an article that basically recommended your method, but talked about using caustic soda in the water. Not sure why, perhaps as a degreaser?

Don't play with caustic soda... if it gets in the eyes (eg while cutting) chances are you will lose your eyesight. It is also very corrosive on the skin.

Play it safe!

Chipman

[Grahame Collins]

Tell me about it,
I worked with millions of litres of the stuff at the refinery. We had eyewash stations every 20 metres. Had new boot issue every couple of months.

I can't say why but the stuff in drums does not always blow up.Mark had cut three drums with oil and no poof.No 4 and BANG. Just keep rolling the dice if your game..

Grahame

[Chipman]

You are right....Caustic soda in the eyes is one of the worst accidents to deal with. Dilute caustic is more dangerous than dilute acid.

As a student, I had a job in a lab, had to pipette (by mouth) 40% NaOH for food testing and one night it ended up in my mouth.... Didn't swallow it but the top layer of skin on my toungue disappeared really quickly.

I am glad they do it differently now! Never pipette by mouth.

Chipman

[Harry72]

We use pearl caustic(99.98%) to remove antimony arsenic and a few other compounds from the lead... yes caustic is one of the worst things to get on you, I've seen it 1st hand it "bubbles" your skin like molten plastic(nasty).

Any of you's ever seen a drum cutter chisel? A friend showed me one years ago, it had a curved cutting edge with the striking surface on the top which formed a T shape.

Or you could use the proper tool... one of these