A couple of years ago I saw some bells made from very large gas cylinders and wanted to do the same. Such large cylinders rarely come up on Craigslist, and when they do, they’re usually quite expensive.

Instead, I decided to try on some fire extinguishers that someone was getting rid of. They were all the dry chemical style, which was a little bit tricky to clean off – while I could unscrew the heads and empty them into a trash bag, cleaning out the insides was a different matter. The chemical seems to be moderately hydrophobic, making it difficult to just rinse out.

Once they were finally cleaned, I used a hack saw to cut each off near the bottom at an angle. This was surprisingly easy, holding them in a tail vise. After cutting the bottoms off, I stapled some sandpaper sheets to a flat piece scrap wood and used it to ensure the cutoff was one perfect plane. The two aluminum ones went very quickly, but the steel one took considerably longer.

I chose to give one a metallic look, for which I used 40-grit sandpaper on an angle grinder. It make very quick work of the coating. I had tried sanding by hand, or even using acetone to dissolve it, but the angle grinder was definitely the way to go. Once finished, it got several coats of clear lacquer to protect against developing a patina.

Another I left with just its original coating. I had some stray marks with sharpie, which I was able to mostly remove with acetone. However, the solvent had an effect on the paint as well, making it more matte in the areas I rubbed down.

The third one got coated with a spray paint designed to look like hammered metal. This, by far, was my favorite finish.

To attach them to a hook, I got bottle stoppers that fit snugly in the top and drilled a hole in each to receive an eyelet. In fact, a large fender washer goes on top and below the stopper, with the eyelet extending through. A large coupling nut secures the washer in place, and connects to a second eyelet inside the bell to hold the clapper.