# recommendations for inexpensive ash bucket



## dreezon (Oct 21, 2009)

Can anyone recommend a decent but inexpensive ash container. I was just going to pick on up from Lowe's for $20, but I thought I'd ask around first. Money is very tight right now.


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## Wet1 (Oct 21, 2009)

Find a steel 5 gal bucket or steel trash can.


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## LLigetfa (Oct 21, 2009)

I use a coal hod.  The angled pour spout lets me lower in the ash shovel versus just dumping it from a height and raising dust.  Only thing is I wish it had a hinged lid.


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## mellow (Oct 21, 2009)

Look in the clearance section at Lowes, that is where I found my steel bucket with lid for $8.  I dump that into a larger steel trash can, I got that at lowes to.


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## dreezon (Oct 21, 2009)

Clearance. I love clearance.


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## DBoon (Oct 21, 2009)

I got a used 2 gallon steel bucket with top for $3.  It doesn't sit inside, so I don't really care how it looks (though it looks just fine).


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## wahoowad (Oct 22, 2009)

Yup, Lowes and most anywhere have a lot of metal buckets and small trash cans for less than 20 bucks. Get one that can do doubleduty for you in the warmer months so you get a full year of use out of it.


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## savageactor7 (Oct 22, 2009)

$20 isn't jack anymore...to assure yourself of a quality product check out the local hearth shop. For a few dollars more you might get one that will last a life time.


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## fonman (Oct 22, 2009)

We picked up a nice galvanized pail w/ lid. I would have to check, but between 2-3 gallons. Lid comes off a tad hard, but less than $20. Found at Home Depot in the cleaning section.


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## Pauly (Oct 22, 2009)

I bought two used 15 gallon galvanized trash cans with lids at a yard sale this past summer for $7 apiece.  One of them will sit outside the front door as an ash receptacle one day.


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## littlesmokey (Oct 22, 2009)

Try a feed store. You can get a tough metal can used for feed in barns. Last one I bought for a "gift" had a lid lock and was about $10.


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## Bigg_Redd (Oct 22, 2009)

dreezon said:
			
		

> Can anyone recommend a decent but inexpensive ash container. I was just going to pick on up from Lowe's for $20, but I thought I'd ask around first. Money is very tight right now.



You can get the same one at WalMart for half that.


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## madrone (Oct 22, 2009)

I'm using a 4 qt. galvanized bucket. Prolly cost $5.00.


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## waynek (Oct 22, 2009)

Free works best for me. There are two log home builders in my area and they get their log preservative/stains in 5 gallon steel buckets. The buckets have a steel lid and I have taken several off their hands in the last twenty years or so. There are many uses for them besides hauling out the stove ashes.

The old coal hod has been retired and sits next to the fireplace. Its current function is to store kindling. Fireplace and wood stove ashes are hauled out with a steel bucket.
jackpine


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## LLigetfa (Oct 22, 2009)

I used a small galvanized pail for years before the wife bought the coal hod.  I didn't realize at the time that dumping the ashes into the pail sent a lot of it airborne.  With the wider opening on the hod I can lower the shovel into it and then gently slide it out with a lot less ashes getting in the air.







This ash holder is too pricey for me but I do like the low profile design and lid.


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## gerry100 (Oct 22, 2009)

A few years ago I looked at ash pails in the wood stove section of the HW store for $20-25.

A few aisles over general Merch. I found a 5 gal galvanized pail. for $6.

Fill it with ashes, and wearing my stove gloves ,  set it outside to cool. Dump later.


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## oconnor (Oct 22, 2009)

Whatever you get, look for one with a raised bottom so that any heat that may dwell in the coals doesn't get accidently transfered to whatever you set it on.  I got a stainless raised bottom can with a lid at a Princess Auto in Canada for 10 buck - feed stores should have something similar.


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## firefighterjake (Oct 22, 2009)

Galvanized metal pail with lid from the local True Value Hardware Store . . . I do not keep this inside and it took a bit before the smell of the galvanized metal burned off.


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## SteveKG (Oct 22, 2009)

I use a five-gal. bucket [steel] with lid. Free. I used to have a couple dozen around here but am down to one. They were originally full of wood stain. Mine has so far lasted for over 20 yr.


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## LLigetfa (Oct 22, 2009)

firefighterjake said:
			
		

> it took a bit before the smell of the galvanized metal burned off.


Ja, I still have my old bucket but now it's all rusty because the coating burned off.  I wondered what the health effects were smelling it but I'm still alive.

Like Rodney Dangerfield used to say... "if I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself".


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## Capt (Oct 22, 2009)

LLigetfa said:
			
		

> I use a coal hod.  The angled pour spout lets me lower in the ash shovel versus just dumping it from a height and raising dust.  Only thing is I wish it had a hinged lid.



I will agree, I use the same thing.  For a lid, I just put on a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil so I can carry it through the house to the garden where I dump the ashes.  The hod stays outside.


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## dreezon (Oct 23, 2009)

Thanks for all the responses. I do like the idea of something really well built that will last, but it seems any time you get something that claims to be designed for a special use, you get gauged bigtime. Like tools for luthery—they figure since you can't just buy them from the hardware store, they can charge you 8 times what you'd pay for a similar tool that's not for luthery. I think I'll check the local seed store & maybe wal mart. 

Also, I was thinking if I got one of the plain buckets I could put some leftover 1.5 inch ceramic-fiber insulation in the bottom & maybe cover that with a disc of sheet metal. Or just pour a layer of mortar mix in the bottom. Probably a moot point anyway, since I plan to put it on my concrete porch.


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## Thrash44047 (Oct 23, 2009)

I went to Wal Mart and picked up a cheap porcelain coated stock pot. One of the black/bluish with the white specs on it. It comes with a lid and works great.  I have had it for 4 years now and used it when I had just my fireplace. Did i mention that Im a lazy ass and left ashes in it for weeks and it hasn't  rusted out yet.


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## LLigetfa (Oct 23, 2009)

I've heard of some people using a shallow oval or rectangular roasting pot and sticking it right inside the stove so that dust raised whilst shoveling, stays in the stove.  I also heard of a Victorian bedpan being used that way but in one case the heat melted the solder and the handle fell off.


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## gerry100 (Oct 23, 2009)

The way to rust out an Ash Pail is to let the ashes get wet an dsit in the pail.

Avoid that and thye'll last a long time.


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## zzr7ky (Oct 23, 2009)

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


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## ssweb (Oct 23, 2009)

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


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## zzr7ky (Oct 23, 2009)

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


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## gerry100 (Oct 23, 2009)

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.


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## kork (Oct 23, 2009)

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.
> 
> ...


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


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## Thrash44047 (Oct 23, 2009)

I keep mine right next to my stove and the lit fits tight enough that I don't get any odor.


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## bmwloco (Oct 23, 2009)

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.


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## szmaine (Oct 23, 2009)

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.



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


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## bmwloco (Oct 24, 2009)

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...


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## LLigetfa (Oct 24, 2009)

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.


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## ccwhite (Oct 24, 2009)

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.


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## bmwloco (Oct 24, 2009)

Hopefully your stove ash doesn't turn out like the coal ash problem in Tennessee... what a mess!


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## szmaine (Oct 24, 2009)

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.



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.


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## Badfish740 (Oct 24, 2009)

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.


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## ccwhite (Oct 25, 2009)

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.


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## maverick06 (Oct 27, 2009)

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.


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## savageactor7 (Oct 27, 2009)

^well fry my hide.... that's good to know.


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