Never trust a 5 gallon pail...

This spring I had a 5 gal. bucket of white barn paint, less than half full split across the bottom and leaked all over my shop floor. It had been sitting there for several months and to my knolage had not been touched,,,, just leaked. I had steped in it and didn't realize it till I saw white shoe prints all over the place. Yeah some choice words came out over that one....glad the grandson wasn't around to hear that one let loose.
 
I’m seeing a pattern here in these bucket stories. I guess since Covid, a lot of businesses have been having trouble keeping quality employees. It is still showing it’s ugly head in quality of products available today.


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dkemppai said:
Went to horrible freight to buy four gallons of evaporust, and a couple of 5 gallon pails the other week.
Cleaned a big piece of chain in them and set them aside. Now, keep in mind I was very gentle lowering the chain into the pail. But wasn't too worried, I've got 5 gallon pails loaded full of logging chain that have held up to that for ever. I've seen buckets FULL of copper pipe fittings and nuts and bolts be manhandled for decades without issue. Even the big tumbler I made uses a 5 gallon pail. That was full of this chain and about 50 lbs of driveway gravel, rotating for about 6 hours without a problem.

View attachment 459649

This horrible freight pail, however decided to spring a leak. Who knows when. And let a whole bunch of my brand new evaporust run into the floor drain. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. Unloaded my whole vocabulary of unkind words at that bucket.

I think what happened, is the molding process leaves a little teet at the bottom center of the bucket. That sticks down below anything else around it. With any weight in the bucket that point load will crack the pail. The stupid thing is, that chain soaked in that pail for 2 days. It was only after the chain was removed that it leaked.

The really stupid thing, this is a MADE in USA pail!
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I had a brand new HF bucket too that had a leak. I thought it was just me, but guess not. HF may have had a molding process error. Even the best companies have things go wrong and products go out the door with hidden errors in them.
 
I get a new "homer" bucket from home depot every time I go there for small stuff. I grab a bucket instead of a basket and put the stuff in there. Haven't had any fail except the ones I left outside; they don't play well with UV. But the best buckets in my inventory are the chemical buckets from Leslie pool supplies.
 
RJSakowski said:
Made in USA has some pretty strict regulatory baggage attached.
www.ftc.gov

Complying with the Made in USA Standard

Introduction Basic Information About Made In USA Claims The Standard For Unqualified Made In USA Claims Qualified Claims Comparative Claims The FTC and The Customs Service Other Statutes What To Do About Violations Introduction The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with preventing
www.ftc.gov www.ftc.gov
www.ftc.gov

FTC Issues Rule to Deter Rampant Made in USA Fraud

The Federal Trade Commission finalized a new rule that will crack down on marketers who make
www.ftc.gov www.ftc.gov
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I looked into it and got so turned around that I didn't feel comfortable putting the sticker on electrical panels I build in my shop (to sell) without talking to an attorney first. I never talked to an attorney so I just avoid the issue.

I understand the reason for the laws but when they are in such nebulous terms that somehow 90% chinesium products can be "Made in the USA" while seeming to preclude my panels being "made in the USA," Something is wrong.
 
dkemppai said:
Side question. Are you the Kelly Coffield doing the metal casting on youtube?
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Yes, that's me.

If you want to increase the odds you have a decent bucket, select one that has been used by a manufacturer to sell their liquid product. The more valuable or environmentally threatening the contents, the higher probability you will be getting a good quality tough bucket. The buckets they give away or sell at the big box stores will be the lowest price (and quality) available to them from their supply chain. They're basically shopping bags, not liquid containers.

Most all of mine had hydralic or industrial fluids in them before they became available. They're great for everything except molten metal....LoL.

Best,
Kelly
 
kcoffield said:
Yes, that's me.
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Cool! Gotta say, I've enjoyed your videos. What I really like about your content is it's not as 'action packed' as a bunch of the youtube stuff out there. It's good because your content is informative and covers a lot of detail, rather than filled with 'click bait' content like a bunch of other channels.

I'm slowly moving towards metal casting at home, but a long way to go to get fully set up yet. Basically in the 'If something useful pops up, snag it' mode. Did build a ~18kW induction heater tho, so heat source done-ish...


kcoffield said:
If you want to increase the odds you have a decent bucket, select one that has been used by a manufacturer to sell their liquid product.
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Yeah, I'm starting to figure that out. Honestly, they felt light when I picked them up. That should have been a clue there!

I'm going to pester one of the local construction contractors. He has a painting crew that buys SW paint in 5 gallon pails. One of the painters lives a couple miles from me.
 
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