Looking for Steel 55 Gallon Drums

[yukonjasper]

Many thanks to you Tim for helping me out this Saturday. I'll try to get the measurements for the lids tonight. Thanks for taking the time, I really appreciate it.

[photogpat]

Been watching the back and forth, and I'm going to interject the environmental side of this for a second. One moment while I put on my flame suit.

http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/li ... rbage.html

Its a horrible way to dispose of refuse/garbage. The pollutants are really ridiculous in burning plastic! Wood scrap and brush don't bug me as much as garbage. If you're truly out in the middle of nowhere, and don't have room for a bag of garbage in the vehicle with you -- then maybe...but after composting/burying organics, and recycling metals/glass/plastics....

Last time we went to the Boundary Waters for a week we ended up packing out 3 REALLY small ziplock baggies of garbage. Making good choices about packaging on the front end, and relying on paper-based packaging makes it easier to choose sound disposal options for the rest.

My two cents.

[gyrfalcon]

..Its a horrible way to dispose of refuse/garbage. The pollutants are really ridiculous in burning plastic! Wood scrap and brush don't bug me as much as garbage...My two cents.

Incinerating garbage is the quickest, and probably best way to break it down. Plastic can release toxic gases, but so do the vehicles that haul it to a dump and the dump itself. Not saying burn barrels are good, just that they're not entirely evil.

[photogpat]

I don't debate that "Incineration" is one of the best forms of destruction. But open-burning it in a barrel isn't "incinerating it".

HERC in Minneapolis is a garbage incinerator. They have monitoring and scrubber systems to make their exhaust relatively pollutant free -- much like diesel trucks and heavy equipment that haul it to the facility. One load of garbage in a burn barrel produces pollutants equivalent to an entire day's worth (200 tons) of garbage burning at an incinerator.

http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/vi ... ?gid=11215

[yukonjasper]

Hopefully I can help here. The primary use of the barrels will be two fold.
- burning brush and scrap wood to clean up some downed out buildings on my rural property
- Incineration of duck, goose and pheasant carcasses on site

Although you are correct there will be some garbage burned, it will be mostly paper and cardboard in an effort to reduce the amount that needs to be hauled away from the property. We also are looking to eliminate the downed wood from several old out buildings that are on property. We will use the wood for the firepit on site but also as a fuel for the incineration of the wet garbage(coffee grounds, excess grease from cooking, bird carcasses after they have been cleanded). That dry old wood burns very intensely and makes a good base fuel for incineration.

We have been disposing of the carcasses on site (at least some of the group has) and it only encourages skunks and other varmints. So by incinerationm, we reduce the carryout garbage and eliminate free meals for the minor predators in the area.

The barrel also allows us to contain the fire and if we have a lid, we will be able to quench it if we need to. An open fire pit is not as controllable.

Understand the concerns and I am also not a person who believes that the planet is so fragile that a plastic milk jug burned in Morris MN is going to kill a seal in Antarctica. I'd love to be more sensitive, but its just not in me to worry that much about it. Al Gore is a fraud and so is Global Warming. There you go - pouring a little proverbial gas in the 55 Gal Drum - so to speak.

[photogpat]

I'll stick with this conversation since it's a good chance to inform, plus its what I do for a living. Global Warming was a term coined by Al Gore and Company - I completely agree that its a farce, and studies are all over the board as to the climate change occurring on the planet being man-made or a natural cycle. There's a difference between that and outright pollution.

I'm talking about open burning of plastic garbage releasing toxins into the environment - not warming it up. Thats why I don't care much about the wood (or carcasses I suppose). Wood fires happen in nature -- so it's not a concern.

You wouldn't pour used oil into a trout stream, right?

Don't burn plastic refuse.

P.S. The scrap wood from the out buildings is probably worth money if weathered and not rotted. People pay for that stuff!

[yukonjasper]

I'm happy to entertain offers on the barn wood. We looked into it years ago and couldn't get anyone to come out and see what we had.

The burning of Plastic is not a regular occurance and we separate what is burned.

I am also a little skepticle when I am presented with a scenario that likens a burned milk jug with pouring used oil into a trout stream. It is precisely the sort of Hyperbole that makes all the yadda yadda about global warming so hard to believe. Are they both pollution, yes, but they are as different as a pigeon and a 747 - both can fly and both can make a mess - big difference.

I respect your opinion and would only caution that credibility is challenged when you go to the extremes.

[JJ]

Reclaimed barn wood fetches a pretty good price. You just have to find the right place that is willing to pay for it.

http://minnesotabarnwood.com/demolitions.html

http://antiquewoodworks.com/

http://www.superiorwoods.com/

These are just a couple places, i'm sure if you cantact them they may be interested, or refer you to someone in your area.

[photogpat]

JJH, you're correct on the "extremes" argument! I'll put this one out there one last time; since you admitted that burning a milk jug is pollution. Its not the single milk jug that you burn. Its the one you burn, plus the one your neighbor burns, plus all the others in MN, plus ND/SD/WI China....its gotta start somewhere, make it start in Morris.

You oughta load up a trailer full next time you go out -- longer lengths, wider widths is the mantra in barn reclamation. Who knows, you might make enough to buy something fun ($1-5 per board foot depending on what you got).

Either way, take digital pictures and send them to the buyers that the guy above recommended! That wood may be too nice to burn.

[gyrfalcon]

I burned a whole stack of wrecked plastic plates this weekend. They were quite flammable and didn't create much gas when they burned off... Certainly no more than dumping some gas on the fire would have. I'm not going to loose any sleep over it.

[Heffay]

Why burn stuff when you can shoot it? Unless you're shooting it in the dark...

[gyrfalcon]

Why burn stuff when you can shoot it? Unless you're shooting it in the dark...

Heh, well the plates were all melted together... and speaking of shooting things, that can cause a bit of pollution too.

[timwarner]

Shoot it THEN burn it.