recommendations for inexpensive ash bucket

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Hi -

I use 5 gal betal pail - I think Deck Stain came in it. Since getting married last year I've been 'upgraded with a nice 5-6 Gal. Galvanized wash Tub; it's got nice trunck style handles on both sides.

ATB,
Mike P
 
This is very timely for I just came on to get some thought on a galvanized pail I acquired.

It is a small 5 gal pail with a lid. However the thought is that we would keep it in the Living room by the fireplace. However it does not go with the decor. It has been suggested (Bet you can come up by whom) that this needs to be painted.

However I am seeing from some responses that the pail is not kept by the fireplace. Yet I am finding that I need to clean the ash out about very three days. Having to go outdoors for the can adds to the time it takes. For me right now that is not so much an issue yet I am trying to keep this simple for the CEO of the house.

As noted before the idea of painting it. What is the best method for doing so.

Thanks for the input
 
Hi -

I use 5 gal betal pail - I think Deck Stain came in it. Since getting married last year I've been 'upgraded with a nice 5-6 Gal. Galvanized wash Tub; it's got nice trunk style handles on both sides.

ATB,
Mike P
 
ssweb -

I never leave it it inside with hot ashes in it. Full bucket immediatly goes outside and away from the house. CEO should understand this is a safety issue. Also , if it' soutside it won't matter if the kids/dogs/clumsy adults knock it over.

Even after it is emptied it stays outside upside down.

therfore- cole/decor umimportant.
 
ssweb said:
This is very timely for I just came on to get some thought on a galvanized pail I acquired.

It is a small 5 gal pail with a lid. However the thought is that we would keep it in the Living room by the fireplace. However it does not go with the decor. It has been suggested (Bet you can come up by whom) that this needs to be painted.

However I am seeing from some responses that the pail is not kept by the fireplace. Yet I am finding that I need to clean the ash out about very three days. Having to go outdoors for the can adds to the time it takes. For me right now that is not so much an issue yet I am trying to keep this simple for the CEO of the house.

As noted before the idea of painting it. What is the best method for doing so.

Thanks for the input
Click to expand...
I bought a fairly cheap gal bucket @ Lowe's abd sprayed it black with high temp paint, then added a stamped metal ash shovel, the whole deal maybe cost me $10.00. I alway clean up ashes with a cold stove so the bucket usually sits right alongside the stove.
Hank
 
I have a 2 gallon pail, picked up at Lowes or Ace Hardware. It's galvanized.

Three years ago after buying it I sprayed it with wood stove paint, black, inside and out. No lid, I usually empty it cold into the composter in the back yard.
 
bmwloco said:
I have a 2 gallon pail, picked up at Lowes or Ace Hardware. It's galvanized.

Three years ago after buying it I sprayed it with wood stove paint, black, inside and out. No lid, I usually empty it cold into the composter in the back yard.
Click to expand...

Egghead alert: You might want to use ash sparingly in the composter , too high pH in your compost drives off the nitrogen -
Also, for folks that like to put it on the garden - watch your pH (have a soil test) I've seen as high pH as 8-9 from wood ash - plants do best ~ 6.5
 
No worries. I'd say only 1 out of 4 "dumps" goes into the compost.

The worms seem to love it. All the kitchen waste goes in. Garden waste, and the cats and opossum seem to enjoy feeding on it...
 
In former years I would dump the ashes on my spent burn pile that I later blended with the finished compost but last Winter I hadn't burned my brush pile so I dumped it on the unfinished compost. Big mistake... It turned the whole pile cold and took a very long time to compost. I won't be making that mistake again. BTW, my compost pile is about the size of an old Cadillac.
 
I have a ditch on my property near the house that is dry normally but flows hard when it rains hard. This ditch goes into a culvert about 25 feet from my basement door which pours out in my lower field. I dump my ashes right at the mouth of the culvert. They will pile up all winter. Then when the spring thaw comes and all of the spring rains the water just washes the ashes away. I was concerned that i would have a mess at the other end of the culvert but that hasn't been the case. The ashes just seem to disappear. Works for me.

I also have a great, CHEAP ash bucket. I am trying to remember where I got it. I'll figure it out and post again. It was cheap though and I just picked it up at a local store had to be Lowes, WalMart, or Tractor Supply.
 
Hopefully your stove ash doesn't turn out like the coal ash problem in Tennessee... what a mess!
 
LLigetfa said:
In former years I would dump the ashes on my spent burn pile that I later blended with the finished compost but last Winter I hadn't burned my brush pile so I dumped it on the unfinished compost. Big mistake... It turned the whole pile cold and took a very long time to compost. I won't be making that mistake again. BTW, my compost pile is about the size of an old Cadillac.
Click to expand...

Yes, you napalmed your microbes that time.

And I have compost envy! But my husband built me a really nice 2 bin composter out of some spruce slabs - (he made some beams for jacking stuff - cribbing I guess it called- out of some trees on the property).

Some people save ashes for de-iceing the driveway - sounds messy to me.
 
I picked up a $10 galvanized pail with a locking lid at Lowes made by a company called Behrens. It had a huge "Made in America" sticker on it which is the only reason I bought it. Otherwise I would have scrounged something. I don't mind paying a little for something that an American worker earned a wage making. I'm going to experiment with mixing my coffee grounds with the ash before it goes in the compost in an attempt to balance the pH-I'll post the results.
 
Here's the can I have. Works great. I think it even looks nice though my stuff is all in the basement and looks were not even on my radar when I bought this. http://www.behrensmfg.com/hd3_6106.htm
Pretty sure I got it at Lowes.
 
Ash is great swept between the pavers in my patio. They screw up the pH enough that weeds wont grow through the cracks. Wish I found that out years ago.
 
^well fry my hide.... that's good to know.
 
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