New to me - Old school Oklahoma Joe!!

[ilmsmoker]

Thanks to gr0uch0 for the help last night, I was able to determine that my Craigslist find was in fact an Oklahoma Joe from before the CharBroil buyout!  I bought her and brought her home today.  This is a 16" diameter model - I'm not sure if they called them Longhorn back then or not.  The serial number is 68584 if anyone knows how to decipher that code.

All in all she's in very good shape - there appears to have been some rust on the back side of the smoke chamber at some point - and I'm not sure if the pitting on the firebox is a sign of previous rust or "texture" of the metal used to build it.  Regardless, I'm looking forward to throwing a few splits in there over the weekend for a dry-run and putting some meat to the heat and smoke next weekend!

I have been smoking meat on various equipment for years, but this is my first offset and my first "old" smoker.  If anyone sees something in the pics I should be aware of or has some tips on use/care, I'm all ears.  For the near future, she's going to live in the garage.  And I have read that after cooking but before cooling, people will spray with Pam or some other sort of oil to give some corrosion protection.  Those are the types of pointers I'm looking for - and if there is a link to a "how to" somewhere, feel free to point me in that direction, I can read.  

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• ilmsmoker
• Apr 6, 2017

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• ilmsmoker
• Apr 6, 2017

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• ilmsmoker
• Apr 6, 2017

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• ilmsmoker
• Apr 6, 2017

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• ilmsmoker
• Apr 6, 2017

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• ilmsmoker
• Apr 6, 2017

 

[gr0uch0]

Very nice score, ILM, and glad to help with the ID.  These old ones were built like tanks, and I think you'll really enjoy it.  Treat this as you would seasoning a cast iron skillet--cooking oil or lard on the inside and out, and it will likely take care of your superficial rust issues.  I like the texture the photo of the firebox lid shows--adds an additional depth of character, imho.  You may want to reach out to amateursmoker, as he is a good source of info on these, and he has contacted the Davidson boys at Horizon Smokers for additional insight and product knowledge.  FYI, Davidsons were OKJ before selling the company to the Death Star.  There is no comparison of the before and after--Stevie Wonder can see the difference.

There are numerous threads throughout this site pertaining to offset smoker modifications that can be done to help level the grate temps from the firebox to the stack:  just search in the upper right engine and you'll see.  Some of these mods play into thin Chinese tin cans that won't pertain to you (i.e., trouble holding the heat), but look around for helpful hints.  If you don't have already, you may want to grab a nice thermometer to help you get this beaut dialed in--I have 2 of ThermoPro's products which were very reasonable, durable, and very accurate.  Out of curiosity, where did you find it?  I know you said it was on CL, but just wondering where this one ended up.  Best of luck, and by all means, ask away if you have more questions, and can't wait to see the meat soon. 

 

[ilmsmoker]

Thanks for all the info gr0uch0! I have spent lots of time lurking on here and reading the mods when I was looking at some of the big box buys of cheaper models. In fact I bought one of the $138 (or whatever the clearance price was) Oklahoma Joe Highland's last fall at Wal Mart, brought it home and never opened the box before I returned it.

That said, I know of a couple mods I want to do - I'll check the OKJ therm that came with the smoker for accuracy. I have a 3" (or so) Tel-Tru I use on my BGE that I love. I'll buy 1 or 2 similar to install on this smoker. I'm going to make a diffuser plate of some sort. I'm going to extend the chimney to the grate level. And I'd like to add the "clamp/locks" to the smoking chamber lid. I think they look cool and serve a good purpose - whether the weight of my lid requires them is to be determined. that's where I plan on starting.

My only concern if you want to call it that is the length of the firebox. Regular length firewood doesn't fit in very well so I'm going to need to cut what I buy or go cut my own to length. And I'm not sure how good this will do with just splits. It seems small enough that it will need charcoal and wood splits to maintain good even heat. This is the kind of thing I will learn through trial and error or by reading posts from folks with a similar setup.

Last - this find was in Wilmington, NC. Our airport code is ILM, hence my username. I can't tell you how many years I have been putting "smoker" or "offset" or some similarly key word in the local CL search. I missed out on a nice Klose years ago - so I jumped on this one pretty quickly once I found it. Timing is everything although I have no clue what the true market around here is for an offset smoker like this. Sometimes it takes the right buyer - and this buyer feels pretty lucky tonight.

 

[gr0uch0]

My pleasure, sir. It's great to see one of these old icons being brought back to life, and also nice to see quality taking precedent over some cheap tinny imposter. Good on you, and hope it brings you many years of satisfaction.

 

[SmokinAl]

Nice score!

Looking forward to seeing it in action!

Al