As my title for this thread states, I have enjoyed the art of smoking for several years. Living in Texas most of my life has given me a love for brisket. Moving to Mooresville NC 4 years ago sent me into a BBQ culture shock. I have grown to like pork but will continue to force brisket onto my neighbors at every possible opportunity. I have outgrown my Brinkmann Smoke-N-Pit and have decided to build my next smoker. BTW...I have some woodworking skills but have never made anything out of metal and have never welded. I have followed several builds on this forum and with everyone's help I am ready.
I found a guy selling an old propane tank that was manufactured in 1950. Still in great shape and the walls are 5/16" thick. I cut the doors out about 2 months ago with a circular saw and a $3 metal cutting blade. Found an old boat trailer on Craig's List. Perfect size for this project.
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Burned out the tank because it was starting to stink up the garage.
The kid across the street gave me a 10 minute lesson on how to weld. Too impatient to practice so started right in on the firebox. Glad I bought a grinder. The welder I bought is a small import model from Harbor Freight. It has worked really well for me. These cuts were made with the grinder and a cutting wheel. Much easier than the circular saw.
Trimmed out the door with 1/4" flat bar and made a handle with a simple closer. My welds are getting better. These don't need to be ground down.There have been several posts lately discussing the price of a 4x8 sheet of 1/4 steel. The guy I have bought all of mine from sold me the sheet for $175. That was about $75 less than anybody else around. I have yet to find anyone around here selling scrap.
Mounted the firebox. You can see that I actually cut 2 doors out of the 1 large opening. The left one overlaps the right one.
Borrowed an engine hoist so I could make brackets to mount the tank to the trailer. This thing is heavy!
Got it mounted back on the trailer. It took me about 8 weeks to get to this point. Now I need to be done in 3 weeks so I can cook for a party. Almost all of my spare time will go into finishing this up over the next few weeks. Thanks again to all that have posted before me. I learned a lot and appreciate your info.
I found a guy selling an old propane tank that was manufactured in 1950. Still in great shape and the walls are 5/16" thick. I cut the doors out about 2 months ago with a circular saw and a $3 metal cutting blade. Found an old boat trailer on Craig's List. Perfect size for this project.
.
Burned out the tank because it was starting to stink up the garage.
The kid across the street gave me a 10 minute lesson on how to weld. Too impatient to practice so started right in on the firebox. Glad I bought a grinder. The welder I bought is a small import model from Harbor Freight. It has worked really well for me. These cuts were made with the grinder and a cutting wheel. Much easier than the circular saw.
Trimmed out the door with 1/4" flat bar and made a handle with a simple closer. My welds are getting better. These don't need to be ground down.There have been several posts lately discussing the price of a 4x8 sheet of 1/4 steel. The guy I have bought all of mine from sold me the sheet for $175. That was about $75 less than anybody else around. I have yet to find anyone around here selling scrap.
Mounted the firebox. You can see that I actually cut 2 doors out of the 1 large opening. The left one overlaps the right one.
Borrowed an engine hoist so I could make brackets to mount the tank to the trailer. This thing is heavy!
Got it mounted back on the trailer. It took me about 8 weeks to get to this point. Now I need to be done in 3 weeks so I can cook for a party. Almost all of my spare time will go into finishing this up over the next few weeks. Thanks again to all that have posted before me. I learned a lot and appreciate your info.