New Barrel questions

[Non Savaunt]

I just bought 5 of these new barrels for $30/ea from a barrel distributor out of Omaha to make myself and a couple of family members some uds's. I will also be building a smoker out of the 200 gallon propane tank pictured slowly as the materials are fairly expensive! My main questions are:

1- do I need to do a burnout for the inside? I'm not sure if there is a rust prohibitor and it seems like there is some black overspray that they used for the outside of the drums.

2- would a burnout be the fastest way to remove the paint from the outside or could I use a paint stripper like the VHT strip fast?

3- Do I need high temp paint on top of a high temp primer, or can I just use the primer and a cheaper top coat? Also, how many cans of paint per barrel not counting the high temp primer?

 

[SonnyE]

Those look like the hazardous waste drums we used to use where I worked.
When you burn them out the paint is going to burn right off, and the drum will rust like crazy.
As long as you are ok with that, build away!

Looks to me like they were used to collect machine shop cuttings.

When ours got rusty inside, they could not be used for HW.
I got one that was being disposed of to use as my dust collector drum under my cyclone separator. Perfect for my needs.

 

[Non Savaunt]

Those look like the hazardous waste drums we used to use where I worked.
When you burn them out the paint is going to burn right off, and the drum will rust like crazy.
As long as you are ok with that, build away!

Looks to me like they were used to collect machine shop cuttings.

When ours got rusty inside, they could not be used for HW.
I got one that was being disposed of to use as my dust collector drum under my cyclone separator. Perfect for my needs.

Could I put anything inside of them to prevent them from rusting? Maybe a grill paint?

 

[SonnyE]

Could I put anything inside of them to prevent them from rusting? Maybe a grill paint?

Don't know.
Being as they are going to contain fire, I kind think most things would burn off.
Probably better to use Pam or similar and just spray more on as needed. Cheap and easy to maintain.

 

[gmc2003]

It says it was a UN APPROVED DRUM. That usually means it was used for holding hazardous materials. I wouldn't use them at all.

Chris

 

[Non Savaunt]

So I called the distributor and they said that the barrels are cleaned using some sort of Industrial method and have no contaminates in them. Supposedly there are quite a few people who buy these barrels for building cookers.

 

[gmc2003]

Is that a risk your willing to take. Me not so much.

Chris