Hellooo from Tunbridge Wells, Kent

[IvorBunch]

Brilliant idea!!
I shall make on of those then - defo.

What to do with the big hole though. Do you have to control heat loss from it or just leave it open? I found an empty tin can fits over it loosely. I don't know if tin can be welded to steel but, if it can then a sort of chimney could be made with a flap on the inside to control exhaust. Might be able to solder it on.

Finally managed to get the lid off yesterday.



There was some rubbish inside including a bunch of rubber gloves. All cleared and wiped out.



The weather looks to be good this weekend and I'm going to go for The Big Burn. Have to fetch in some pallets - maybe as many as 10 - maybe more.

Thanks again Doc

[IvorBunch]

I love the smoker going on in the winter Doc. I like to get a good bbq going in the winter and last year we had a good one - during a heavy snow fall with mugs of mulled wine - and thermal socks.

I see your chimney has a sort of tap half way up. What's that?

I finally managed to burn out the drum.


There is still about 3-6 inches, from the base, of the original paint on the outside of the drum. I am thinking that I might burn it out again but use charcoal, to start off with, to get the heat low down in the drum. I did wonder if this might be too hot and cause warping of the drum. I popped the lid onto the fire and it has warped slightly. I'm confident that I can gently bend it back into shape.

[IvorBunch]

Hi all.

Been really busy with work and family. I've managed to work on the drum too and it's now all but completed. Here are some more pics for you.



The wire wheel on a power drill worked it's way, fairly well, through the rough stuff left over from the burn out. But, it's not as easy as I thought. Also, I should have worked on the inside of the drum first. This was much harder to do, took much more time and was a very dirty job. Sanding the outside first meant that I had to spray an initial coat of heat resistant paint to stop it from rusting. It seems that the paint needs to be 'cured' through being heated so that when I turned it onto it's side the paint just rubbed off.

[IvorBunch]

The inside was very hard to do. The layer of carbon was very tough - especially around areas where there was air venting in during the Big burn. I used a wire wheel and a wire 'cup'. I was able to use an eletric sander on the outside of the drum first before going at it with the wire wheel and this made things much easier. Using the sander on the inside of the drum resulted in the edges of the sanding paper wearing down very quickly.




Having finally getting down to metal I scrubed the inside out with hot water and washing up liquid, rinsed it thoroughly and then straight away set a heat gun into it till it was thoroughly dry. I then gave it a really good coat of veg oil on the inside.

I then gave the drum a final outside coat of spray paint (3rd can) to also cover up the scuff marks.
Installed the lever ball valves, the thermometer and the bolts for the grills. The grill are normally very expensive at about £30.00. These were on sale and I managed to get a deal on a purchase of three.




The thermometer I used cost a fair bit more than others. I was looking for good quality and reliability and I used a higher price to guide me on that.

[All Weather Griller]

An excellent project. How do she cook?

[IvorBunch]

Not had a chance to get a fire going in it yet. Still a bit shy in the charcoal basket department. I've got an empty 15kg butane tank. When I can figure out how to safely take the valve assembly off I hope to use the bottom half for the charcoal.

[All Weather Griller]

Ok I see the problem. I have heard filling them with water and cutting the top off is best. I'm not sure how easy it would be to fill them with water would be though.