JUST GETTING STARTED

[quityerbitchin]

Santa was good to me. He got me a cheap 22 1/2 in grill, and a gift card to Lowes.  My drum is at the sandblaster (hopefully will be done tomorrow) if i get it back by the weekend I plan on doing my build on New Years day.  I have three pallets ready to burn it out, and just got back from Lowes, with all the hardware I need for the build.  The lid on the 22 1/2 grill is a little shy of the 23 inches OD i will need, but it should be easily modified with a hammer and channel locks.  I am going to try that and if I need to make it air tight i will use some high temp silicone on the rim.  I will try to take pics as I go.  Most likely won't get painted until spring, as it is too cold outside right now to paint, and I have nowhere inside to paint.  Do I need to worry about the drum rusting between now and spring?

 

[adiochiro3]

I would think it will rust; can you coat it with either oil or wax until you can paint?  Otherwise, you would have to grind it down to clean metal again before painting.

 

[meateater]

If it's sandblasted clean you shouldn't need to burn it with 3 pallets. Personally I wouldn't use pallets, they may have toxic wood. I'd just clean it out really good maybe powerwash and spray it down with vegetable or olive oil and season it with wood that you would smoke with. I've done two so far that way but my barrels were brand new. As far as painting I say hit it with primer on the outside just to keep rust away, you can always sand it in the warmer months and paint it right.

 

[ebeveridge]

has anyone ever painted the indside of their drum with high temp paint.

 

[mballi3011]

I don't think that painting the inside would be a good thing. But just get a fire going and put your grates in and everything and then let it go for a couple of hours. Then you will be ready for the meat.

 

[quityerbitchin]

So far today I have gotten the whole thing built, now it has a big fire in it.  I will wait for that to die down and then I will go spray the inside with some pam, wait for it to cool down, and tomorrow I will do a test burn.

Not a bad day's work... Happy New year!!!