Since I had never worked with metal before, I first started by peening some small scrap metal sheets we had flying around.

I was incredibly grateful I could work on this project in a well-equipped workshop, since for some strange reason, I couldn't find any ball-peen hammers in hardware stores in around me. Ordering from online stores would have been the only other option, which I didn't have to resort to at first thankfully.

The first little shells turned out great, so I went and grabbed one of the steel drums we had standing around.
While it was clean and the bottom was perfectly good to use, I started the same way steel pans are traditionally built.