Stainless Steel grates as used on Fire Magic grills


 

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Have you all noticed the banner ad for Fire Magic grills? Looks like some top drawer equipment.

What especially caught my eye is that they are already utilizing an idea I have been mulling over regarding the design of their stainless grates. For better or worse, I guess I am the honorary defender of GrillGrates. We have had many discussions about the issues related to these, the biggest drawback being the aluminum construction.

My affection for GrillGrates is based partly on the reduction of flare-ups but more on the beautiful (at least to me) grill marks they make. The main reason for this, I believe, is that the top part of GrillGrates are flat allowing them to make sharp, distinct marks compared to those made by round stainless bars, regardless of how thick.

I am certainly not married to aluminum at all - far from it - so I had been thinking about contacting Dave Santana “rcplanebuyer” to see if there was a way to make stainless grates with FLAT metal. Well, apparently there is, because that is exactly what Fire Magic is doing:

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Check out their banner ad and website and see what you think. When things get less rough here at home, I hope to follow up with Dave to see what he could do. Maybe there is a way to get the results of GrillGrates with the safety and longevity of stainless steel. Now THAT would be a marriage made in heaven:cool:!
 
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Have you all noticed the banner ad for Fire Magic grills? Looks like some top drawer equipment.

Yes, it is nice. My friend has their stuff. He made a fancy grilling island containing the grill and a separate sear burner. I think he spent 5-6K on the equipment and uses it once per year for his annual cookout. Pretty sad. He does grill a bit more than that but uses his stove that has a grill section.
 
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Not sure where you found this info. I went to their web site and saw nothing about this. The original CI grates on my Wolf were a diamond type shape. A wider flat side and a narrow pointy side and designed to be used how you wanted.
 
Do they even make them for Weber grills?

While they certainly look very interesting and even inviting, price and availability make them a lot less appealing.
 
Do they even make them for Weber grills?

While they certainly look very interesting and even inviting, price and availability make them a lot less appealing.

No, those grates are replacement parts for their (Fire Magic) grills. I am hoping that rcplanebuyer can make something similar for our classic Weber grills. I am sure many of you would prefer the tight spacing like he uses on his round rod grates. The Fire Magic one’s in the above pictures may be even tighter. However, I am going to ask Dave to also quote a version with spacing the same as GrillGrates uses. This would involve less material cost, so might be more reasonable. (I still wouldn’t mind also trying a set designed like the Fire Magic ones, however:D!)

I like sear marks spaced like these from today’s grilling for my company here due to my mother in law’s imminent passing:

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If Dave can do it at a realistic cost and the results are the same then I will start advocating those, and we can stop debating about aluminum and GrillGrates in general:eek:!
 
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I would not space open grates that far apart. Guarantee you they'll be a huge disappointment the first time a burger or steak drops between them
 
My guess is that dave won't be able to do them much cheaper. The reason you see mostly round rod grates is that the stock for them is very common. Finding a source for the triangular shaped rods would be much harder and likely more expensive than the more common round rods. But, who knows. I will be looking forward to hearing what he has to say.
 
Round and square bar stainless 304 can be had in any metro area. Triangular stock looks like it might take a little more effort.

I'd suspect that Dave would still use round stock for the perimeters and anything else that needs to be formed in a ring roller.
 
No real advantage to using triangular unless you want the option to flip them over. Square stock otherwise would work just peachy for those wide flat marks. Cost wise I cannot imagine it being any more. It's a common type of stock
 
They each have their attractions. While square can be attractive round has some clear advantages
 
I can see pros and cons for sure, but the flat surface stainless might be the ticket to GrillGrates sear marks without the issues associated with aluminum. I also hope to ask Dave if it might be feasible to weld stainless I-beam shaped pieces to a flat perforated stainless piece to totally imitate GrillGrates - but with stainless construction. Really, a stainless grate with flat bars like the Fire Magic on a 13 flavorizer bar Genesis would probably be quite sufficient to achieve similar results to GrillGrates. If Dave is willing to make them, maybe I will be audacious enough to call them JonGrates ala the LarryGrates I experimented with previously...
 
Even square stock would work IMO for your idea Jon. They may not be really thin like the grill grates, but they should still create very defined "wider" grill marks. But, I am guessing any thing like that is going to run you around $200 or so for a three burner Weber. The underlying SS sheet wouldn't have to be very thick and the square stock bars wouldn't have to be really wide, but the combination of the two, it is going to be pretty heavy as well.

I am thinking about 3mm base with about twenty two 4mm square stock rods welded to it.
 
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Bruce,

I think you are right, but it will be interesting to see. I went ahead and contacted Dave describing straight up grates with flat top rods spaced like he does his round bar grates and also using the spacing that GrillGrates does. I sent him a link to the Fire Magic page that illustrates their grates. I also asked him about making something like GrillGrates but admitted that this was a little off the wall.

I will let you know when Dave replies.

p.s. Your new signature is a hoot!
 
Yah, I bet Dave is wondering "what the heck" right now.

Yah, I have had a lot of my rehab customers ask me when the stop by and see all my rehab candidate grills sitting there, if I "fix up old grills". One time, I just came up with "Yah, some people rescue dogs and cats and and I rescue Webers". He thought that was kind of funny and that is what I tell them when I get that question now, which is nearly every time a new customer stops by to look at my latest rehab. I decided to change my signature to that.
 
Fire Magic grill for sale - Round Grates

Here is a huge Fire Magic for sale near me at a huge discount from the original purchase price if the ad is to be believed and it $2,100 qualifies as a huge discount:

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https://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/app/d/barbecue-grill/6741744301.html

You have to say that it is one impressive grill. Looks like well maintained, too. Seems to have held up in the Florida elements, but maybe was well protected.

Way out of my range, but I post because I did note that this grill has ROUND stainless bars on its grates. Maybe the flat ones are a newer addition?
 

 

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