Gas cylinder welding fire - GIF

[wizard69]

Not sure what we have here. I wonder if this is a fuel theft gone wrong.

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To clarify (and someone please correct me if I've got this wrong) - to cut open a vessel that may have once held fuel, you first fill it with water. Then you can grind or saw away as much as you want, correct?

I wouldn’t want to ever answer this positively! The problem is unless you know 100% what was in the tank and if any of that stuff remains you just can’t be positive you are safe. These days you can buy new steel barrels pretty cheap and even brand new propane tanks so I really can’t understand trying to recycle these barrels with the unknown histories.

Some people like to make barbeque pits out of 55 gallon drums. While they work perfectly fine I can’t for the life of me understand why somebody would use a mystery drum. Not only do you have the fire risk you have no idea what you are putting into your food.