Well, thanks for posting. I took a look at my 36 incher just to see how it looked compared to yours after using for 6mo. By my estimation, I will be somewhere between 150 to 190 Years Old by the time it becomes a problem to burn through. Guess I should try to reoil it every once in a while in case my great, great, great, grandsons kids gives it a try. Yep, it is so thick, I fully expect to replace the burners and igniter system many times before being concerned about rust on the bottom side of griddle eating through.
Ever take a look at the exhaust headers on older real cars and trucks like my 56 Chev that I used a grinder on to open the ports up a little when I replaced the 265 with a 327 and had an aluminum intake painted orange to make it look close to original except for the 4 speed? Ha Ha. Yes, exhaust manifold metals were made to get hot and form a close to pink "rust looking" insulation layer, even at close to red hot temperatures. I suspect this Blackstone is similar, and also suspect we will have some kind of replacement cooking device by the time this grill metal fails, if we are still around. But again, thanks for giving us information of what you saw and were concerned with for us to take a look at also.
I might try to pick up a set of burners, one extra control knob/valve and igniter for future spares, just in case they fail first and parts might get hard to find. Like my 1970's two burner propane grill valve I have had to "redo" a couple times because there are no longer replacements. I don't think anything else could fail.
Ha, I bought a thermostat and extra heater (only disposable parts in it) for my "Smoke-it" #2 I liked well after using it a couple years about 5 years ago, "Just in case" Still in the box, have not used either of them yet, but am ready if either fail.
So far, it seems Blackstone has a peretty good history of longer term quality products. Hope we all feel the same 5 or more years from now.
