Previously posted here after picking up a smoker for free on gumtree, it was a bit rotten so I decided to name him Rusty and got onto restoring him to the best of my limited ability.
https://www.reddit.com/r/smoking/s/xbcA6nqY2A
About 90% of the comments were telling me it wasn’t worth it etc. but I didn’t want that to deter me. I stripped down to the bare metal, put Hammerite rust gel over, scrubbed some more, then painted and seasoned. I have attached all of the relevant pics documenting this.
I am so happy it’s worked today. I smoked for about 7 hours, followed the recipe for Pork Butt (shoulder for us Brits) by Mad Scientist BBQ.
I almost smoked some wings, rings of sausages and some shrimp. This was my first smoke on an offset smoker and fourth smoke overall, all other attempts ended up in the oven after failing but this went perfectly!
by Low_Will1393
36 Comments
😊
Sweet! Now come do mine!!!
Looks good!
Looks good.
Editors note: I ‘also’ not ‘almost’ smh
Any recommendations on the YT video for restoration? I picked up a Rusty from a curb side a while back but haven’t gotten to restore or use it yet. Your result looks really awesome
Cracking work mate, you should be dead chuffed with yourself 👍
That looks nicer than half the smokers I’ve happily eaten food from. Good job!
Looks great. I had one of these for years before treating myself to a 120 gal propane tank smoker with insulated firebox. I did all the upgrades on the old one too, firebrick in the bottom to increase thermal mass, sealed all the seams with gaskets, added a plate between the firebox and cook chamber to direct the smoke horizontally etc. Definitely helped but its hard to beat 1200 lbs of steel for heat retention.
I was able to crank out good food but with the thin metal and tiny firebox I wasn’t able to leave the fire for more than 5-10 minutes without having to tend it. With my new one, once I get a coal bed established I go 30-45 minutes at a time without touching it.
Not bad! Never trust that thermometer. While you did good work, the smoker was never much of a smoker to begin with. You need a blanket for it. You also need to elevate the sagging smoke box so that it’s flush with the side.
Good job my dude!
Redditors are so often wrong.
Looks good! But it’s completely subjective if “the work was worth the results” as most of them were saying. They didn’t say you couldn’t. They just they didn’t think it would be worth the time vs finding one that was ready to go. If you’d rather spend your time than your money, totally your choice! Some people would rather spend the money and save time
I bet you can’t do that to my smoker.
I don’t want to speak for anyone who tried to deter you originally. That said, I often have conversations about restoration projects that I undertake. It is very common for people to use the “your time is worth X amount, so just buying the better thing is worth it” rationale. Maybe that was what they were trying to convey. Either way, it seems that you and I both fall into the “if I like doing it, my hourly wage has fuckall to do with it” group. Great work! Be forewarned, lusty eyes will find bigger projects. If you’re into that kind of thing lol
OK. You WIN! Congratulations! It’s goo to see it resurrected and churning out smoked goidies!
What’s the shrimp looking things?
More curious about those deck insert looking things the smoker is on, worth getting? Saw em at BJs
Nah, don’t listen to neigh sayers. You did a great job fixing it up and did a great cook to boot. Oh and a free find! You had fun on the redo and were rewarded in the end.
Hey now, that’s a great looking smoker, looks like a shiny version of what I started out with, now, the thin metal and loose construction on mine left me running through lots of fuel, and struggling to manage temps, but, it got me great results with lots of work 🙂 definitely loved upgrading, made me appreciate the ease of the next grill I got once I had some disposable income
How did you strip it? Sander?
Did you actually grill up maggots?
It’s not hard to prove most redditors wrong. 😂
How much time did it take to restore a smoker that would be $25 on clearance like next fall?
The amount to rent the grinder and buy the materials to redo it are likely in the realm of what it costs for a new one.
Good for you and don’t like to see things thrown away but you didn’t prove anyone wrong unless you personally just enjoy doing projects like this.
Then why did you ask reddit for their opinion then? Just to be a contrarian?
I think my problems are:
1 the amount of wood in the firebox I feel like you’ll get too high of a temp with that much wood.
but more importantly
2 the sauce on the pulled pork. I’m from the south and it’s sacrilege to pre-sauce pulled pork. That shit scares me.
Otherwise nice renovation.
Redditors are so stupid! oh wait. Im a Redditor…
I just don’t understand people not cleaning shrimp.
Right on dude!
My cousin just fixed up my dad’s old drum smoker with some labor and scrap metal
Smoke the summer away
Did you smoke grubs?!
proving redditors wrong is very easy. lol
>I love proving Redditors wrong
That sounds like a boring existence.
Look you did a great job on the restoration but it’s still a thin metal smoker that holds heat poorly. It’s cheaply built in the first place.
Now you can invite people over for BBQ.
– A Brit in Texas
Don’t listen to all the whiners saying ‘how much is your time worth… just buy a new cheap one blah blah blah’.
This is a smoking subreddit goddamit, this subreddit is literally about people ‘wasting’ hours of lives for a nice feed. Every one of us could go and buy some brisket but instead we expend 16 hours making our own.
Good work my guy and enjoy the time you ‘wasted’ by making delicious treats in it!
