Free Kettle


 

Bruce

TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
I had sworn off picking up any grills this winter and I especially ruled out picking up any more kettles for rehabbing, but so far I have grabbed two kettles. Free is hard to ignore. The first one was a basic black kettle. The current one is a "red" kettle with the lid holder and a thermometer in the top handle. Again, it was free or wouldn't have bothered but I figured the color, the accessory holder and the lid holder were all good reasons to grab it, plus the fact that is was on my way back from dropping off my daughter and future son-in-law at the airport.

Let me know what you guys think. I neglected to take any photos of the inside. The cooking grate "may" be salvageable, I didn't look to much at the rest, but it didn't seem too bad. The worst part is the two spots on the bottom sides where the lid hits it when put in the rack. It looks to be 1991 vintage. Does this have potential for a flip?

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Bruce, you just beat me to it was about to post that hoping you would get it. Great deal are those just dents or all the way thru.
 
Bruce, you just beat me to it was about to post that hoping you would get it. Great deal are those just dents or all the way thru.

Those are just dents. Not all the way through. There are matching ones on the other side as well. The add said it was 22" and it probably is. Is this a good find then? Will it be worth cleaning up and flipping?
 
I would think that's a first generation MT or Master Touch. 92 is when they were introduced with the ash catcher ring like a OTG.
You still have the thermo and bezel, pretty cool for free!!

Tim
 
OK. I got it. Yah, mine has the pan. Not the ash catcher thingy on the Master Touch types. But, mine does have the lid holder.
 
It is worth spending a little time putting a nice shine on. Buy a new cooking grate, and charcoal grate.
I would knock the majority of the dents out with a well placed rubber mallet, and then touch up with
some high heat red, but kettle purists will argue with me all day long about that.
Then list it at $100 obo.
 
OK, thanks Dave, that is what I will do. But, I might skip the pounding the dents and touch up. I am not a kettle purist, but it just seems better to not try to hide it. The only real dents that I noticed were where the lid rested on the bowl while in the lid holder.
 
It is worth spending a little time putting a nice shine on. Buy a new cooking grate, and charcoal grate.
I would knock the majority of the dents out with a well placed rubber mallet, and then touch up with
some high heat red, but kettle purists will argue with me all day long about that.
Then list it at $100 obo.

I try to understand their line of reasoning. I used to collect coins when I was a kid, and I learned back then that you were NOT supposed to clean coins other than gentle wiping. No polish, etc. I guess I can see where you could go overboard and do too much painting, but if you can get really close on the color, it still seems to me a kettle looks a lot nicer without a couple black eyes!

I tried to market my patent-pending 26" Red "Aristocrat" on the WKC as-is with a lot of patina but no re-touching. A few flickers of interest but mostly comments that it was too rough. I am planning on keeping it - most likely - since it is a pretty cool find. I want to experiment with using JB Weld high heat as a filler and then careful high heat gloss red painting and feathering out with a Dremel tool. I feel the big thing is to not paint over good porcelain.

Does anyone have experience with JB Weld high heat to comment whether this might work?

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JBweld as a filler is an interesting idea. I don't know how it would work spread out thin, but it might work great. It actually does seem a lot like BONDO when it is pliable.
 
Does anyone have experience with JB Weld high heat to comment whether this might work?

It looks like JBWeld has 3 high temp options,

https://www.jbweld.com/product/highheat-epoxy-putty

of which I have only used the putty. I would not think the putty could
be spread thin enough to do what you are wanting. It is VERY thick
and does thin out well at all. The paste or possibly muffler cement may
be a better option, but without trying, I do not know.
I would also think the Dremel process could be a little bit tedious. I would
totally try your idea Jon.
 
I wouldn't use JBWeld on the interior of the grill as it isn't food safe. I wouldn't use it on the exterior as filler even just because I doubt it would look that great after it drys. I think your best option is to clean it up as much as you can to remove the thick amounts of rust. I would personally throw it in some evaporust after a good scrub as long as I wasn't worried about it falling apart. Then take it to some one who knows how to weld if there are any places where it structurally needs it. There have been some people that have had some luck paint matching the reds with some high heat paint if you are interested. Still nothing wrong with just seasoning the metal though.

I remember seeing it over on WKC. It is certainly a cool kettle and deserves to be brought back as best as it can be. Unfortunately 26ers can be a hard sell unless you find someone local just because they are so darn big. I would hate to see the shipping price on something like that especially if it was packed well.
 
I have used the original used it on the Silver C and 1000 to fill in the moon craters on the frame piece rusted next to the firebox. Used an old credit card to put it on and its fairly thin if your careful used a piece of a beer box the glossy side to mix it then applied it like sheetrock mud a few thin coats. Its only rated to 500 but have not had any issues whether the bowl lid gets hotter than that don't really know.

I might try doing one of those rust spots paint it with the high heat fire it up a few times and see what you get.

Outside only of course with the JB.
 
That's a really good idea using an old gift card or something as a mold for the jb Weld.

I've read of few people just use bolts and large fender washers to plug holes in the bowl, but would look really weird on the lid.

I have used the original used it on the Silver C and 1000 to fill in the moon craters on the frame piece rusted next to the firebox. Used an old credit card to put it on and its fairly thin if your careful used a piece of a beer box the glossy side to mix it then applied it like sheetrock mud a few thin coats. Its only rated to 500 but have not had any issues whether the bowl lid gets hotter than that don't really know.

I might try doing one of those rust spots paint it with the high heat fire it up a few times and see what you get.

Outside only of course with the JB.
 

 

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