Help on identifying the content of this vintage gallon

these are not mine, but i do have one wizard ,and one like his, with no label , my theory is the label came off after freezing and warming and refreezing you get the picture ,a lot of time it was mixed with regular ice cube which melted leaving them in water to rot the labels off hence no label ,leaving a mystery can that doesn't open unless you wreck it .

 

freeze it and watch it expand because water is one of only a couple of thing that expand when you freeze it .bithmuth is another which is what they use in coolers today, when heated it shrinks causing cooling and a fan to blow the cool air over your drink(s) of choice .
P.S. if it is anything flammable , oil or alcohol based , it will not freeze . but don't worry it's not , it's just h2o

 

It's not worth anything without the label. Drill a hole in the top, it's probably paint thinner. Shove a cork in it and use it later if you want. good luck

 

That's it, I bet you're right!

 

look at the paint , it is water damaged and more than likely full of lead . they painted them to protect them from condensation when they warm up , but the tin and the paint expand and contract at different rates causing the paint to separate from the tin, and the expansion and contraction of the water inside the tin also doesn't help .

 

repaint it a nice color (purple lol), throw it in the freezer and reuse it .

 

water is the only liquid that will freeze in a regular fridge freezer , just put it in overnight and in the morning if you have ice then you know it is water .

 

if it is still liquid in the morning and you want to drill into it as suggested , don't used a power drill . 1 bit fumes mixed with air catches a spark and KABOOM . use a hand crank drill to be safe .

 

Hopefully it isn’t some very hazardous substance. I still remember drilling into an 80 pound US Army mustard gas projectile about 10 years ago. Markings were all perfect for a live 155mm mustard gas shell. It dated from WWII. I was 99.9% sure it was empty because the manual said a filled one would weigh 88 lbs. I’m still alive, book and scale were both correct, fortunately.

 

& we're all happy that you are !

My friends husband is a welder.......
once ....sparks were flying....and set off half a stick of dynamite in his garage....
he survived....but then she nearly killed him !!

 

i'm a second year welder and 10 year welders helper .. they taught us to be careful , i have seen crazy shit out in the pipeline , i have quit the patch now .