Task Pails

Because I work on several jobs at once I use metal paint pails to keep elements sorted and grouped for forging.  They are not built very sturdily but they don’t burn up when hot work is placed in them, they can be labeled and they weren’t expensive, especially when their cost is amortized over about fifteen years.

The pails get rather beat up as they are used and after they accumulate enough deforming damage around the rim they don’t nest well, so I repair them.  I forged a piece of flat bar with the same radius as the pail lip.  It fits in a vise and I can quickly true the rims with a light planishing hammer.

I often spray a light coat of WD-40 on the outside so they can be separated easily when stacked.  The downside is that the lubricant will vaporize when hot objects are dropped into them and the fumes are, at least, annoying.

In typical use, they store blanks until they are forged.  When each has been forged it it returned to the now empty pail.  When it is filled I just take it to the tumbler and dump it.  It’s just one more part of keeping the forge work moving along quickly and the work area cleared.

This information is an extension of the “Using Task Labels” post on 11/8/13.

Truing the deformed rim.

Pails stack neatly after repair.