Painting my smoker question

[Diablito]

Hi all. New to smoking and decided to start by making my own smoker out of a large filing cabinet with 4 pull out shelves.

I’ll be using a propane Coleman grill as the heat source to smoke the wood chips so it will never get too hot. May occasionally use burning coals in a basket but for now want to try the Coleman out and see how that goes.

I purchased a few cans of high temp ceramic header paint and painted the exterior as well as the interior shelving. Did not spray the rest of the interior or bottom of the shelves that would be over any food. See pic

I’ll be placing 2” spacers on the shelves to place my wire racks so meat will never be in direct contact w the shelves.

My question: Did I screw up by spraying the interior shelves? Is it harmful?

Appreciate any help I can get.

 

[BandCollector]

Personally, I would not have painted anything on the interior. Any smokers purchased usually do not have painted interiors to the best of my knowledge. Perhaps someone will be by who can be a bit more specific.

Not to be critical but next time ask the questions before you act if you are not sure. A lot of knowledgeable people here who are willing to answer any question asked.

Good luck,

John

 

[radioguy]

I agree with BC, don't paint interior. Get it down to bare metal and then coat it with food grade oil, and bring smoker up to temp
Search seasoning smoker, its very similar to seasoning a cast iron skillet. A multiple light coats of oil between cooks

RG

 

[Diablito]

It was already painted as it was a file cabinet. I thought I would simply cover that up with the high heat paint. Taking it all down to bare metal may be an issue as the entire thing is painted.

So have I just made a cooler looking file cabinet for my tools? lol

I'll look into what it would cost to have the entire thing sandblasted and start over. Love the idea of the pull out racks.

 

[SmokyMose]

Even if it's safe, I wonder if you would get a "paint smell" when heated. Also keep in mind that underneath that hi-temp paint is plain old enamel....

 

[Diablito]

I'll look into what it would cost to have the entire thing sandblasted and start over. Love the idea of the pull out racks.

Even if it's safe, I wonder if you would get a "paint smell" when heated. Also keep in mind that underneath that hi-temp paint is plain old enamel....

Good point. I've reached out to a company to see what they would charge to sandblast the entire thing. Depending on what they come back at I may end up doing something else.

Saw a few videos of people who did a small filing cabinet smokers and they didn't mention anything about the interior paint etc so i figured it would be fine.