Hi there from the UK

[Pete Bog]

Hi there, new member from Sheffield (the home of Hendersons relish!) in the UK here.
I am just starting out on my smoking adventure, though I'm not new to making fires and cooking over wood/charcoal as I'm into the outdoors.
I have an Oklahoma Joe Highland that I am just putting together, I have welded the firebox halves together to get a good seal and I'm looking at fitting a baffle plate.
Looking forward to your advice and seeing your recipes
All the best
Pete.

 

[Pete Bog]

Hi there, new member from the UK here.
I am just starting out on my smoking adventure, though I'm not new to making fires and cooking over wood/charcoal as I'm into the outdoors.
I have an Oklahoma Joe Highland that I am just putting together, I have welded the firebox halves together to get a good seal and I'm looking at fitting a baffle plate.
Looking forward to your advice and seeing your recipes
All the best
Pete.

 

[Winterrider]

Welcome from North Dakota, glad to have you join the forum. Lot of knowledge here if help is needed, these guys are pretty sharp.

 

[Flatrate]

Welcome from Michigan!

Dave

 

[JLeonard]

Welcome from Mississippi!

Jim

 

[02ebz06]

Greetings and welcome to the forum from New Mexico, USA.

 

[Pete Bog]

Thanks for the warm welcome !

 

[TexanTurk]

Fellow UK member, also just got my Highland (waiting for the rain to pass so I can season it).

Funny enough, I was wondering if what you've done to yours could be done. I've seen people weld the Firebox together from the outside, but it's always looked a bit scruffy, so I was looking at whether it was possible to weld from the inside.

How hard was that to do? Was the tight space an issue?

When building mine I did find it strange that the Firebox only bolts together on the sides. Can see day light straight through when looking from the front

 

[Pete Bog]

Fellow UK member, also just got my Highland (waiting for the rain to pass so I can season it).

Funny enough, I was wondering if what you've done to yours could be done. I've seen people weld the Firebox together from the outside, but it's always looked a bit scruffy, so I was looking at whether it was possible to weld from the inside.

How hard was that to do? Was the tight space an issue?

When building mine I did find it strange that the Firebox only bolts together on the sides. Can see day light straight through when looking from the front

Ey up TT,
I think welding them together is the way forward, for a good long lasting seal anyway.
I didn't fancy scraping out/resealing again later so thought I should do it properly now while it's new.
You'll need to get two halves clean on the inside where your gonna weld, and I didn't want to rip the paint off the outside so, at the risk of a not such a nice weld, I only did small welds and cooled them off in between.
The tight space wasn't so much of an issue, at least I don't remember much pain, you do have plenty of big holes to get through (i.e. the doors), also a smaller torch would help,
(I used a MB15 size)
I'm looking for a sealant/gasket to seal the fire box on with now, the red ATV sealant is well recommended I believe, but I cant help thinking a gasket would be better?
Some other mods planned are the baffle plate and a stack extension.
Happy smoking!
Pete.

 

[chp]

Welcome from Colorado. Nice welding mods to the highland.

 

[Pete Bog]

Welcome from Colorado. Nice welding mods to the highland.

Thank you matey.

 

[TexanTurk]

Great work. Yeah the sealants seem to be a little hit and miss. I think the firebox can reach temps that exceed the temperature of the silicone, and over a long smoke session they don't hold up well so I steered clear.

I did buy this gasket off amazon to seal my smoke chamber. It was really easy to work with and seemed to do quite a good job of holding in the smoke from what I saw whilst seasoning the smoker on the weekend. Wondering if some could be cut to outline around where the firebox bolts to the main chamber and sandwiched in when bolted together.

One thing I did notice with mine, is the quality of the welds on the unit from the factory appears to be quite poor. The rim around the top of the door on mine has clear gaps because the welds are so sparse that it's not making good contact across the chamber. I don't personally weld myself so had to rely on the gasket and hope for the best! haha.

Might invest in the latches for the door at some point, but holding off on that for now. Trying to figure out what would be the better mod to go for first out of the baffle plates and stack extension as I wouldn't be able to do both at the moment.

 

[rabovey80]

Hi There, UK OK Joe Highland 'new owner' also, as of yesterday. Will be looking to season in the next couple of days. I am waiting to see what needs sealing etc, but have put some gasket around the chamber door frame.

However, quick question if i may? Do you guys have a 'proper' drain hole or just 3 small holes across the bottom of the smoking chamber? Unsure if this would be sufficient?

 

[TexanTurk]

However, quick question if i may? Do you guys have a 'proper' drain hole or just 3 small holes across the bottom of the smoking chamber? Unsure if this would be sufficient?

Funny that because I was wondering why mine didn't have it. All the videos I've seen there almost seems like a drain that resembles an extra lug that the legs attached to.

Maybe it's a regional variation?

Mine also just has 3 tiny holes. But I will most likely use baking trays as drip pans anyway to be fair.

 

[Pete Bog]

Funny that because I was wondering why mine didn't have it. All the videos I've seen there almost seems like a drain that resembles an extra lug that the legs attached to.

Maybe it's a regional variation?

Mine also just has 3 tiny holes. But I will most likely use baking trays as drip pans anyway to be fair.

Three small holes in mine too.

Hi There, UK OK Joe Highland 'new owner' also, as of yesterday. Will be looking to season in the next couple of days. I am waiting to see what needs sealing etc, but have put some gasket around the chamber door frame.

However, quick question if i may? Do you guys have a 'proper' drain hole or just 3 small holes across the bottom of the smoking chamber? Unsure if this would be sufficient?

Ey up matey,
Not a proper drain, just the three small holes in mine.
I’m gonna get smoking n see how it goes, it may need opening out then a lug with a blanking plug welding on (and maybe a bucket hook too? )
If you’ve not got access to a welder I guess you could just open it up a bit and pop something over it when smoking?
Maybe you could hang a bucket on a hook from a small hole next to the one you’ve opened up?
Let us know how you go on!
ATB
Pete

 

[rabovey80]

Funny that because I was wondering why mine didn't have it. All the videos I've seen there almost seems like a drain that resembles an extra lug that the legs attached to.

Maybe it's a regional variation?

Mine also just has 3 tiny holes. But I will most likely use baking trays as drip pans anyway to be fair.

Hi thanks for your response, Yes it literally looked like a nice decent size hole with a hook for hanging a bucket on, so was bit shocked when missing on my smoker. I bought a couple of baking trays on the way to work this morning as it happens for this reason.

 

[Pete Bog]

Great work. Yeah the sealants seem to be a little hit and miss. I think the firebox can reach temps that exceed the temperature of the silicone, and over a long smoke session they don't hold up well so I steered clear.

I did buy this gasket off amazon to seal my smoke chamber. It was really easy to work with and seemed to do quite a good job of holding in the smoke from what I saw whilst seasoning the smoker on the weekend. Wondering if some could be cut to outline around where the firebox bolts to the main chamber and sandwiched in when bolted together.

One thing I did notice with mine, is the quality of the welds on the unit from the factory appears to be quite poor. The rim around the top of the door on mine has clear gaps because the welds are so sparse that it's not making good contact across the chamber. I don't personally weld myself so had to rely on the gasket and hope for the best! haha.

Might invest in the latches for the door at some point, but holding off on that for now. Trying to figure out what would be the better mod to go for first out of the baffle plates and stack extension as I wouldn't be able to do both at the moment.

I know exactly what you mean !
I believe the originals were very good but, as always, quality went downhill when construction was ‘shipped out east.
I was thinking mine was a second but it looks like there are quite a few that are just not quite right
I think I’m going for the baffle first but I need to get the fire box on.
Thanks for the link to the gasket
Pete.

 

[rabovey80]

Three small holes in mine too.

Ey up matey,
Not a proper drain, just the three small holes in mine.
I’m gonna get smoking n see how it goes, it may need opening out then a lug with a blanking plug welding on (and maybe a bucket hook too? )
If you’ve not got access to a welder I guess you could just open it up a bit and pop something over it when smoking?
Maybe you could hang a bucket on a hook from a small hole next to the one you’ve opened up?
Let us know how you go on!
ATB
Pete

Yes I figured I will try smoking (hopefully at the weekend) and see how i get on.
I managed to get the seasoning done last night, so all set to go.
Really looking forward to it all.
Looking forward to following everyones journeys and learning the smoker.
ATB

 

[chp]

Maybe you could add a few fire bricks under those trays to add some thermal mass to assist with temperature control.

 

[Pete Bog]

Maybe you could add a few fire bricks under those trays to add some thermal mass to assist with temperature control.

Great idea chp, I'm certainly going to put some in the bottom of the fire box as that should help too.