- Jun 4, 2013
- 3
- 10
Okay everyone this is the only smoker I have ever built, her name is "Oakley"!!
I started out with an old high pressure water tank that my dad found over at my grandpas place. It is approx. 60" x 22". After doing some reading I decided I wanted to make it a reverse flow pit. That said I was afraid that due to the tank being pretty thin I would lose a fair amount of heat during the winter months on the bottom side of the dip pan, so what I decided to do was weld (2) 6" x 3" x 3/8" side by side, lay them in the bottom, and cut the hole on my fire box to fit basically a 12" x 3" piece of rectangle. This allowed me to get rid of the need for a drip pan as the top of the tube would take its place. Also I figured that because of the thickness and it being inside of the overall tank it would keep its heat very well as it traveled, as well as act like a hot plate once the steel reached temp. thus helping me regain internal tank temp after opening the lid.. I have a few handles, vent covers and paint that still needs to be completed but outside of that it is basically like any other reverse flow, so let me know what you think! BTW, I never claimed to be a very good welder so you wouldn't be telling me anything I didn't already know!
I added a pic of my first ribs as well.. (not a bad ring, and they ate very well)
I started out with an old high pressure water tank that my dad found over at my grandpas place. It is approx. 60" x 22". After doing some reading I decided I wanted to make it a reverse flow pit. That said I was afraid that due to the tank being pretty thin I would lose a fair amount of heat during the winter months on the bottom side of the dip pan, so what I decided to do was weld (2) 6" x 3" x 3/8" side by side, lay them in the bottom, and cut the hole on my fire box to fit basically a 12" x 3" piece of rectangle. This allowed me to get rid of the need for a drip pan as the top of the tube would take its place. Also I figured that because of the thickness and it being inside of the overall tank it would keep its heat very well as it traveled, as well as act like a hot plate once the steel reached temp. thus helping me regain internal tank temp after opening the lid.. I have a few handles, vent covers and paint that still needs to be completed but outside of that it is basically like any other reverse flow, so let me know what you think! BTW, I never claimed to be a very good welder so you wouldn't be telling me anything I didn't already know!