One day as I was doing a trash run while camping, I spotted this metal tank next to the dumpster. As soon as I saw it I knew I could make it into a Hank Drum (Hang + Tank = Hank). Typically these are made from empty propane tanks, and this tank had similar proportions. Undeterred by my wife’s eye rolling, I brought it home and began to work. I used an angle grinder to cut the top and bottom pieces, which I eventually glued together with JB Weld. The water heater has a couple of tubes inside it, and after cutting these out it left a hole on the side of the finished drum, which you wouldn’t see in a propane tank drum. I found a template online for where the tongues should go, marked them, then used a jigsaw to cut them out. To tune this instrument you have to slowly cut to make the tongues longer, which will lower the pitch. It’s not perfectly tuned, but is close enough. I finished by spray painting it black and splattered some other colors, gave it a few coats of clear coat and called it a day. The sound is quite metallic, so I added a bunch of paper towels to the inside to help mellow it out a bit.
The finished product Stuffed with paper towels to dull the metallic sound Cutting the tongues lowers the pitch. Have to cut slowly while tuning Water heater Laying out the tongue templates Almost done, ready for painting Hammers from an old piano
