Would You cut this tank?

I have this vintage cutting tank, which has a top valve I removed and a bottom threaded plug. On opening it smelled like Rubbing alcohol. Inside is not hollow, empty, but has a fibrous material in it .Asbestos looking.

I used an awl to pick out some of the fiber and put some some soapy water in each end but it dosent want to absorb much water.

I want to cut it open with a chop saw. Or Grinder with cutting blade. To make a bell out of it.

Would you feel safe cutting this???

If I did, I would fill it with water first.

And I dare say it wear a mask! LOL

At his age if it is asbestos it won't hurt him LOL.

get some cannon fuse. stick it inside the tank out in a pasture someplace. light the fuse and drive away in your pick up. see what happens.

Fibrous inside , it sounds like a old acetylene tank, question is ,do you feel lucky.

Let 'er rip, tater chip!

Yep go for it , I cut L.P. tanks open all the time.

^^^^This^^^^^

Google should tell you what "honeycomb" made of and whether it is safe to cut it or not

I cannot remember anyone ever cutting one that I know

I would be leery of it myself, and I have cut a propane tank

I always heard filling with water is one of the worse ways to try this. There will always be an air pocket somewhere and if there "was" enough gas in there before water you can bet that pocket will go boom when u hit it. Nothing with a vessel and cutting is safe but when I've done it it was all openings wide open and slowly approach with lit torch and if there's gas hope it burns as I get close instead of explodes. I've been in a hole where an open pipe belched flames and I didn't like it. You could here it coming but only enough time to lay down in hole below pipe and hope it was only a little gas. We always purged with nitrogen I believe. But it's been a few years.

Might get blew eyes so be safe, one blew over there and other blew over here!

Hold my beer...........

Can't tell if you are worried about the asbestos or gas. Of ot the asbestos then throw a bit if the material in a hot fire or hit it with a torch if it don't burn and almost gets cleaner in the heat its it's probably not a great thing to get in your lungs. If you are worried about an explosion find something else to cut lol

It will look like a cake walk if it goes well if it doesn't everyone will be like " what was he thinking". Play the odds and go for it or play it safe and not. The large majority of the time it goes well if aired out for awhile.

Open Invite for a BBQ and Tank cutting event.

Whomever , cuts, cleans out this cylinder (and survives) will get BBQ ribs and a Game used 330 Belisle.

Signed waiver required.

Pine City, Mn.
Balts Farn

Fill with water. Cut with a hacksaw.

As I've matured I've mostly adopted the principle that if I have to ask myself "what's the worst that can happen " I don't do it. I've learned the hard way I usually find out what's the worst that can happen and it's mostly worse than I had planned for. With that said I've met some people that can regularly pull some stupid stuff off regularly and it goes smoothly every time for them but I sure ain't one of them...

I agree with it most likely being an acetylene tank, I wouldn't cut it without a whole lot of prep.

I had one that the bottom was rusting really bad. Tried to find someone to come get it and remove the gas from it. No one would touch it. Finally bled it off and got rid of it. I was told even after bleeding it that the fiber would have still held a lot of the gas. Not enough to cause enough pressure but enough to blow if a fire source was available.

It would make a great bell, but not worth the risk.

You must be adopted because your sister Callie ain't skeered and she never will be LOL

It's because of her that I learned to be skeered. At least that's what my psychologists tells me

I don't know what you got, but my method for welding fuel tanks is to run a hose from a vehicle exhaust into the tank for a little before starting and while I'm welding.

Striking the first arc is always a rush! lol

Just because you stick a flame up to an opening and it don't do anything doesn't mean its safe. When you start cutting and heating it may make a vapor and that vapor is what explodes. I've used water which you need to drill a hole at highest point so the water don't compress a airpocket and ignite there. I've used carbon monoxide off a tailpipe again you need a hole for it to escape, If you have a large air compressor , air moving thru will also work. If heating the tank won't hurt it I think I'd pile wood around it and heat it up good away from anything, you included. Just don't keep cutting if you see a vapor. If you are grinding just don't grind enough at a time to make enough heat to make a vapor from any fluids that may be collected some where.

Some times just a spark can ignite it too. I knew an old blacksmith that had a guy bring in a tank to get the end cut out it. He ask the guy if it had, had any gas or oil in it. He said not in 10 years. He left it there, next day the smith was cutting with a torch 6 feet away and a spark went in a bung hole in the tank and blew the end out of it.

Quick google search shows asbestos was used at some point in acetylene tanks. Based on that alone I would leave it like it is.

Ok the tank you are dealing with is an old acetylene tank. They were filled with asbestos and acetone in which the acetylene was resolved. That way they could store the stuff safely as acetylene self combusts at pressures greater than around 3 bar. Desolving it in acetone ( line co2 in water ) made it sort of safe. What you smell is the residue of the acetone in that tank and the resin that holds the asbestos in place.
Can you cut it ? Yes you can but you will have to have is purged with an inert gas. Drill a hole into the bottom of it and insert a thin hose connected to a CO2 tank with a regulator and open the valve of the tank to let the pressure out while you purge it with CO2 ( or any other inert gas Nitrogen, Argon they all do the same trick in this scenario ) Then you can cut it without the thing ringing your bell before you turn it into one. Wear a disposable paper cover all and a good dust mask ( respirator ) and safety glasses because of the sparks from the cutting disk.

They always told me to never store them laying down that it would mess them, acetylene that is. here is a link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fn4BI6SkDE

Thats because the acetone will then get out through the valve making a mess of the regulator. You can transport them lying down. Just set them upright and wait a few minutes before you use them to make sure the acetone has drained away from the valve

That makes sense Scuba.
I've lugged tanks around over 50 yrs and I have probably learned more about them in the last couple hours than all the other years put together. I found one place that said if a tank was made before 1985 it possibly would have asbestos in it. Here is another 10 minutes on how to cut them and press the stuff out of them (I think he said gypsum but I don't hear very well)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYs-ipnnvTk

Correct. I learned that in trade school, fifty years ago, and I'm still kickin, just not as high.



Charlie

We never get too old to learn, but when and if that time comes I should be ready for Washington D.C.

These days they have some sort of synthetic sponge material in them to hold the acetone. I am not sure of its exact composition though. But the stringy stuff 330 describes is for sure the old asbestos version.

Cheap tank VS quality of life, what to do? LOL

When they mine asbestos they mix talcum with it to help thin it down, makes great powder?

any way you could cut it on a band saw and lube it well to prevent sparks?

I'll fill it with Water n soap and wait and see if one day I feel blessed with courage or flippant whatever

Tomorrow I'm cutting a scuba tank

Reading threw this post I was just going to suggest I send you a couple old scuba tanks. See this LOL

I have made several bells from old scuba tanks and CO2 fire Extinguisher.. Right now I have access to maybe a dozen or more old scuba tanks. The aluminum ones will scrap out for a few bucks the steel ones not much. The brass valves are worth more than the tanks.. I usually leave the valves on most and drill threw them put clevis on them. The steel tanks ring different than the aluminum which I think have a softer tone. It also makes a difference what you use for a gong. I have my reasons but have used both golf club heads and golf balls for gongs. Very different tones.. I gave a scuba tank to a guy that made a bell and some how tuned it? One his kids even used it for some orchestra band thing??
I've cut scuba tanks with sawzall and grinder with cut off wheel. Usually go with grinder. Been thinking about cutting one and see if can cut slots to make like a xylophone. Then mount it with a whirly gig so make big annoying wind chime. Something like the old gal had in movie Twister.

As for cutting any tank with unknown product inside??? I get nervous myself. I knew young fella was 18 tried that and literally lost his head. Nice guy no way stupid just wasn't thinking that day.

Here is bell I have hanging by my back porch door.
I used to ring one similar to it that is by other side house back door, to call the dogs in from yard..



Mac

Mac, I have one of these two tanks here at Mt farm, wish I had access to more!!!

The second one in this picture is still at the scrap yard. I'll go get it today!

I took out the valve last eve. And filled it with dawn soapy water..

Can I cut into them without water now that it's empty of oxygen?

Thanks, Scott

What's the scrap value of yours?

Asbestos in a scuba tank what did I miss?

A lot

New tanks

Cokeacola Co2 first

Now a Scuba Tank today.

Lost but nothing new. LOL

Going to the junk yard Now

Scuba tanks you can just cut without any prep other than getting than opening the valve. As a rule and unless otherwise marked, they are filled with straight compressed air, not oxygen as some folks think.

Close your eyes look the other way and go for it

I did not know that, Thanks for That!!!

I didn't get to work on one of my two Scuba tanks yet today. I'm on the bottom half of the Coke co2 cylinder bell

The one at the top I started this post about is being waterlogged, and I will not be cutting it.

Yep Scuba is right. Scuba tanks are just compressed air not oxygen.. I have cut even small oxygen tanks too if they have set open valve for a while. I currently have one oxygen tank being welded into the body of what will be a large mosquito.
330 the tanks in your picture look to me to be steel. I have no idea what pile they would sort them into at scrap yard. Would guess plain sheet iron?? I know the Aluminum cylinders go in sheet aluminum pile. Last time I took any of that in for scrap think was 40 cent lb?? The side wall on the steel scuba tanks is probably about 3/16 thick max. The aluminum tanks side wall much thicker maybe 3/8?? can't say ever measured one. I usually cut both with cut off wheel. Aluminum seem to be more of pain to cut and I'm probably using wrong wheel? I tend use same cheap disc to cut everything metal and I blow a few up. You should be able to find a original hydro date on those tanks. Would tell you how old they are when they were made. I have seen some scuba tanks made in the 50s and seen steel O2 tanks still in use made in 20s. Most are now being replaced by aluminum tanks my earliest ones are from 70s. There are lot of aluminum scuba tanks from 70s & 80s got scrapped because they had bad alloy mix. Treads in valve neck and tank shoulders would crack. I'm in the middle of kitchen overhaul but will see can I take few pictures some this stuff soon.



Mac

Thanks for the info ^^^

I wish we lived closer, I'd buy a few old tanks from you ...if you're ever waning to unload some..

This bell making is addicting!

I'm out of Pine City, mn, but go to St. Paul often.

I forgot to mention that horizontal band saw works best at getting nice straight cut. I cut a couple tanks years ago with one and it worked great. If you have access to one that is big enough to put a tank in they really do work best. I forgot about doing that because been long time since I had access to one. Saves time cleaning up grinder cut edge with sanding disc.

Mac

Scuba and Foxpaw are the only ones of the lot of you that I would even let in my shop! lol.

Hey I thought I got the cannon fuse Idea by
danny was Great....I just had no cannon fuse.

Mac, I only have a chop saw and or a Grinder with cutting disc