Wooden grill brush


 

JeffSBBQ

New member
Grilled some burgers for lunch today. While brushing off the grates my daughter showed me an article where people were getting broken wire brush pieces in their food and this caused serious problems. Did some research and found that a wooden grill scraper is a popular alternative to a wire brush. So decided to make one this afternoon. Took about an 1.5 hours(including beer break)

Started out with a oak 1X6 I had in my attic. Cut it to 20"

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Drew out my design in pencil.

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Cut out the rough shape with my jig saw

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Sanded the end down to a point with a belt sander.

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Rounded off all of the edges.

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Finished it off with some mineral oil.

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Going to cook some pork chops for dinner so I'll get a chance to use it today.
 
Looks good. I hope it works well. Some scoff but ingesting those bristles is a real risk. I'm a manager at a large hospital and I have friends that work in the ER and they say they see several people in for that every grilling season and that some even require surgery.

You could always wipe the grates down after each cleaning with a rag but if you forget....You are at risk. No thanks.

Here's what I've been using for some time. Actually works better than any brush I've ever used. It only works on stainless round grates though.

https://www.chargon.com

Let us know how your creation works.
 
Jeff,
Beautiful workmanship and a very practical idea. I have been getting more concerned about this issue myself. I tried the type that looks like a steel scrubby pad but they break up and leave metal behind also. I will be interested to see how your wood idea works. I have seen some in the stores, but they certainly come way short of your craftsmanship!

Greg,
Thanks for sharing about the charging product. It looks like a high quality solution for stainless bar grates.

Jin
 
Tony UK turned me on to the “Billy Bar” and I’m liking it a lot. I made an oak “bowl scraper” a while back, I use that for scraping gunk from the inside of my kettles, this year will be ta full on cleaning. BIL made me a big grate wash basin after I showed him one made from a hot water pan. I guess I’ll be stacking and scrubbing all my cooking racks pretty soon.
Well, after I can set it all upon the picnic table. It could still snow for another month!
 
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I've tried grill floss, and I've got a billy bar. Right now I use one that has a scouring pad on it and I find that's the closest to a grill brush. Nothing seems to work as well as a grill brush in all honestly. However, I had one of those almost brand new wooden handled Weber brushes and that thing would shed bristles like crazy. That ended the wire bristle brush for me. I had an old cheepo walmart brand one that never gave me that trouble. But again, I'd rather have slightly dirty grates than put my kid in the hospital or something.
 
I love your mod Jeff.
I use a 1/4" open end wrench but a flat wooden scraper sounds good.

Tim
 
Nicely done Jeff! Like Timothy, I have a Billy Bar and love it. I recently bought one of the wooden ones for my gasser and I like it alot.
 
I've tried grill floss, and I've got a billy bar. Right now I use one that has a scouring pad on it and I find that's the closest to a grill brush. Nothing seems to work as well as a grill brush in all honestly. However, I had one of those almost brand new wooden handled Weber brushes and that thing would shed bristles like crazy. That ended the wire bristle brush for me. I had an old cheepo walmart brand one that never gave me that trouble. But again, I'd rather have slightly dirty grates than put my kid in the hospital or something.

I have always checked VERY carefully and I have never had any grill brush (even when I've bought the el cheap chinese junk ones) shed a bristle..............ever. Been grilling for close to 50 years so not sure what I am doing wrong
 
I have always checked VERY carefully and I have never had any grill brush (even when I've bought the el cheap chinese junk ones) shed a bristle..............ever. Been grilling for close to 50 years so not sure what I am doing wrong

Larry,

You are very fortunate. I certainly have, and I have heard emergency room stories about this problem. Maybe I am too rough with my brushes!

Jon
 
I always though this was just an urban legend, created mainly just to scare people. I've grilled for almost 20 years and mad never once seen any evidence of metal bristles in my food, or in my grill. UNTIL this past weekend when I was cleaning my Q320. I had the burners out and was cleaning the inside of the grill and I found several metal bristles in the bottom of the grill. Then I began scrubbing the grates, and again, I found metal bristles in the low parts of the grates. I promise you this, I will never use another metal brush on any of my grills ever again. I'm just glad I found out while I was cleaning the grill, not in the emergency room.
Tim
 
I think the problem with bristles is one of two things. First, using a wire brush past it's prime. Second is using a low quality wire brush.

I use wire brushes. But, my ultimate goal for my Genny 1000 is a set of SS RCPlanebuyer cooking grates and then fashioning a custom device similar to the Billy Bar that is designed perfectly for the RCPlanebuyer grates. But, I still think I would go over them every so often with a wire brush to really clean them up good a few times per summer.
 
Bruce that chargon scraper is actually a pretty perfect fit for the Rcplanebuyer grates. That's why I prefer it over that "grill gadget" I was using initially. The chargon seriously works better than any brush I've used. It's a little slower. But still pretty fast (1 -2 min tops) once you get the hang of it.

Working in a hospital and hearing the horror stories and then finding bristles in the bottom of my grill was enough to convince me. I was always one to buy a new brush every year too.

I do think the danger to the average joe (few times a season griller) is relatively low. But then most of us aren't average grillers are we? We are fanatics that grill several times a week year round. Thereby upping our odds considerably. My thought process is why risk it at all?
 
I have always checked VERY carefully and I have never had any grill brush (even when I've bought the el cheap chinese junk ones) shed a bristle..............ever. Been grilling for close to 50 years so not sure what I am doing wrong

I never had problems when I used the type where the bristles were held together with twisted wire. It's the ones where they glue the bristles in that seem to be the issue. The grill brush thing is probably mostly b.s. hysteria but it got to me. The weber one literally just started shedding the things.
 
It seems to me that the risk is higher with cast iron grates and lowest with stainless bars. The cast iron grates generally have the broadest area that could harbor a broken bristle or a piece of one of those stainless "scrubby pad" brushes. I have found both:( in my grill and have gone to trying alternatives.

I never had this problem with my stainless rod grates, but I think the main reason is that they are much narrower and it would be much less likely for a piece of metal to cling to them.
 
I was in my local Walmart today and these were in the clearance section. Look very similar to the one the OP made. These were $7.00 on clearance.

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Looks like a good chance to give these a try. I think they would work best on stainless rods, but maybe they would adapt to cast iron or other wider grates. I had noticed these at Walmart, earlier. Maybe mine has them on clearance, too. I will try to see.
 
I was in my local Walmart today and these were in the clearance section. Look very similar to the one the OP made. These were $7.00 on clearance.

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They do look similar, but not made with the same personal attention and craftmanship:cool:!
 
True, there is something about DIY that makes it better.

But, I just realized that these things are priced at $5.00. I guess I should give one a try at that price, but I just know that sooner or later it would wind up in my bucket of wood for smoking...lol.
 
True, there is something about DIY that makes it better.

But, I just realized that these things are priced at $5.00. I guess I should give one a try at that price, but I just know that sooner or later it would wind up in my bucket of wood for smoking...lol.

Yeah, Bruce, I am in at $5;)! I had toyed with buying one at full price, but this thread and hopefully a clearance at my Wallyworld, too makes it worth a try!
 

 

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