Gas Cylinder Piggy Bank

We run Fancys Family Farm and rely heavily on donations from visitors. We didn't want the usual collection tin that people shake on street corners so I hit upon the idea of making Matilda the metal piggy bank from an old 15kg gas cylinder. I don't have a step by step guide but I think it is pretty self explanitory.

I started off by emptying the cylinder, removed the valve with a large hammer and filled it with water to drive out the remaining gas. Then I ground off the upper and lower rings, the embossed lettering and the weld line around the middle. Next I made the legs from off cuts of steel scaffolding pole and tacked them on. The eyes are also scaffolding pole with penny washers welded on the ends. The nose is an old electric motor housing with a steel plate on the end. The ears are the only part that is not from recycled parts, this is 2.5mm sheet steel welded onat 90 degrees then heated with a propane torch and bent downwards. The tail is an old window latch that I found very rusted on the farm.

Once everything was tacked in place and and I was happy with the placement I seem welded it all in place and cleaned everything up with a sanding disk on the angle grinder. Then a coat of high build etch primer was applied by brush then it was flatted with 120 and 400 grit sand paper followed by a coat of pink gloss. I am really pleased with how she has turned out as this in the first thing I ever welded and I taught myself as I went along. The welder is a Silverline 160A arc welder and I used 2.5mm rods throughout. I now plan on making a whole family of piggy banks from different sized cylinders to place around the farm.