Brian Dahl
TVWBB Gold Member
Hi gang - nothing really new, build-wise, in this post. I followed the instructions (gasp!), and it's turning out great! First on my list was rounding up a SJ. I wasn't keen on buying a new one, remembering all the less than $10.00 ones I've seen on CL or at yard sales. I finally scored an '84 for 5 bucks. On to the Tamale pot search - I took Chris' advice and took the lid with me. I found this beauty at our local Mega Foods It was a couple of weeks before Christmas and on sale!!
This pot was just a little bit larger than the lid. It only took a couple of rounds of hammer persuasion to crimp the top down to size. Rereading instruction, I realize I need another cooking grate - on the hunt for another SJ - score, an '85 for the same 5 bucks. Sweet. Cindy's really rolling her eyes now. I cut the bottom off with my jig saw, that worked like a charm. I got very lucky on the next step: When I installed the three top grate nuts, I paid attention to centering the front nut between the pot handles, and equidistant for the other two. I didn't pay attention to the drop from the rim, and that relation to the pot handle rivets! I put the top grate in and holy-moly! it just fits between the rivets and the nuts. I mean it snaps into place. I can turn the pot upside down and the grate won't fall out. Which will be a handy feature if I ever get to smoke in outer space! Jigged up the charcoal basket and realized I went way overboard 'lacing' it together with rebar wire. I went to the modified twist tie after thereafter
My plan is to take it to a metal shop and have them weld it. I'm especially pleased with the handles. I found a couple of powder coated, peg board rods. I cut the rods off and used the die to cut the threads in. Unfortunately, the twisting of the die twisted the rod being held in the vise, which took the powder coat off. You can see this on the top one in the pic. The handles themselves were a wooden drawer pull which I cut in half. They came this nice red, I only had to paint the cut side. I drilled out a cavity and epoxied them to a nut on the end of the rod.
And all put together. I used a foiled pie pan for the diffuser, I'm going to add a cake pan for the ash catcher. I want to figure a way to insulate the pot handles.
I tried to attach the tamale pot lid to the bottom as Case has suggested - it wouldn't work for me. I tapped, tapped, tapped with my hammer: nothing. I made some relief cuts in it: nope. I still have it, I'll figure it out! I'm looking forward to future smokes! Thanks to all for the detailed instruction that made this a relatively painless build for me!
This pot was just a little bit larger than the lid. It only took a couple of rounds of hammer persuasion to crimp the top down to size. Rereading instruction, I realize I need another cooking grate - on the hunt for another SJ - score, an '85 for the same 5 bucks. Sweet. Cindy's really rolling her eyes now. I cut the bottom off with my jig saw, that worked like a charm. I got very lucky on the next step: When I installed the three top grate nuts, I paid attention to centering the front nut between the pot handles, and equidistant for the other two. I didn't pay attention to the drop from the rim, and that relation to the pot handle rivets! I put the top grate in and holy-moly! it just fits between the rivets and the nuts. I mean it snaps into place. I can turn the pot upside down and the grate won't fall out. Which will be a handy feature if I ever get to smoke in outer space! Jigged up the charcoal basket and realized I went way overboard 'lacing' it together with rebar wire. I went to the modified twist tie after thereafter
My plan is to take it to a metal shop and have them weld it. I'm especially pleased with the handles. I found a couple of powder coated, peg board rods. I cut the rods off and used the die to cut the threads in. Unfortunately, the twisting of the die twisted the rod being held in the vise, which took the powder coat off. You can see this on the top one in the pic. The handles themselves were a wooden drawer pull which I cut in half. They came this nice red, I only had to paint the cut side. I drilled out a cavity and epoxied them to a nut on the end of the rod.
And all put together. I used a foiled pie pan for the diffuser, I'm going to add a cake pan for the ash catcher. I want to figure a way to insulate the pot handles.
I tried to attach the tamale pot lid to the bottom as Case has suggested - it wouldn't work for me. I tapped, tapped, tapped with my hammer: nothing. I made some relief cuts in it: nope. I still have it, I'll figure it out! I'm looking forward to future smokes! Thanks to all for the detailed instruction that made this a relatively painless build for me!
