Guess it's not a smoker.

[BpMurphy]

So, what I thought was a smoker looks more like an oven. I'm thinking I can convert it to a smoker by drilling a few holes in the steel bottom and a few in the rear wall, up high where the flue is. Maybe?

 

[sawhorseray]

Maybe it's some kind of pizza oven? It's sure as heck something someone took some time and sweat to assemble. I'm thinking this is a place you just moved into? Maybe ask the neighbor that gets the smoke if it smelled good! RAY

 

[bill1]

I'm having trouble visualizing where this "oven" is located. Is the steel plate visible in the background of the 2nd picture the opened door of the first picture? It doesn't appear that there's any smoke entry or exit flue to that steel box...as you say it's just an oven. I suppose it could have been designed to just be heated conductively by a neighboring fire, but that's a crazy way to make an outdoor oven. He has a fire trough and firebox there that appears sized for a couple full pigs! Is there another area that might have been an area for meat, and what you've found is just the accompanying oven for bread and potatoes????

Maybe what I called the "trough" is intended to be an area where you pull fire out from the large brick area and it's just missing the grates (rusted out?) that go across it???

It's also a mystery to me why there's two large exhausts on this thing too? ??

 

[BpMurphy]

I'm having trouble visualizing where this "oven" is located. Is the steel plate visible in the background of the 2nd picture the opened door of the first picture? It doesn't appear that there's any smoke entry or exit flue to that steel box...as you say it's just an oven. I suppose it could have been designed to just be heated conductively by a neighboring fire, but that's a crazy way to make an outdoor oven. He has a fire trough and firebox there that appears sized for a couple full pigs! Is there another area that might have been an area for meat, and what you've found is just the accompanying oven for bread and potatoes????

Maybe what I called the "trough" is intended to be an area where you pull fire out from the large brick area and it's just missing the grates (rusted out?) that go across it???

It's also a mystery to me why there's two large exhausts on this thing too? ??

Well, it is just an oven. The fire is started in that trough and pushed under the steel plate that is the bottom of the oven. We baked bread it. Turned out great. I have drilled holes into the bottom as well as the back wall to allow smoke to get in. That seems to work. One chimney is for the oven and ot gets a good draft through it. The other is for the BBQ and it has an exhaust fan in it.

 

[bill1]

... other is for the BBQ and it has an exhaust fan in it.

That's what I was getting at...it wasn't clear from the pictures that there was another cooking area. The inventor apparently wanted a non-smoked oven in addition to his BBQ...maybe baked a lot of desserts and fruit pies? Must have made sense for him. It's all yours now. Drill away.

 

[Khrakk]

If the fire underneath does not get you enough smoke, you could always put a tube or a tray inside. As long as you get enough air inside the tube/tray will generate a bunch of smoke.

 

[BpMurphy]

If the fire underneath does not get you enough smoke, you could always put a tube or a tray inside. As long as you get enough air inside the tube/tray will generate a bunch of smoke.

That's a good idea. Thanks.

 

[bill1]

If the fire underneath does not get you enough smoke, you could always put a tube or a tray inside. As long as you get enough air inside the tube/tray will generate a bunch of smoke.

Proof of Principle: the 6-8 quart pressure cookers with a separate center space for ~1/4 cup of pellets. No air entry, what you start with is all the O2 you get. Excess pressure goes out the jiggler (one-way only). Produces smoke for at least 20-30 minutes. (These pressure cookers are kinda' illegal since they're clearly intended for indoor use and you can't smoke indoors.)

Your oven is about 100x the volume of such a pressure cooker.

If you want to produce charcoal and ash, you need a lot of air. Doesn't take much to make good smoke.