Age of WSM

[Ken Johnson (barbqr)]

I received a WSM from Elizabeth Lumpkin. One that belonged to her late husband. I promised that I would keep a fire in it for him. She said she thought it was the WSM they used to win at the Jack.
The question I have is, the cooker she gave me has the wooden handles on it. What was the last year Weber put wood on the cookers. Kinda want an idea of how old the cooker is..

Thanks

Ken

 

[Ken Johnson (barbqr)]

I just checked the vents and can not see any letters on them. The bottom vent are held in place with screws like the ones that hold the brackets on. Guess it's pretty old.

 

[Chet Johnson]

This link off the the home page gives pretty good instructions on how to determine when your WSM was manufactured.

You can also look at this link for a timeline based on features and such.

 

[John Mason]

How's Elizabeth doing these days. I don't know her personally, but I do miss her posts on the forums.

 

[Chris Allingham]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ken Johnson (barbqr):
What was the last year Weber put wood (handles) on the cooker? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Ken,

1999 was the last year for wooden handles. They switched to gray Thermoset handles in 2000.

The vent dampers have been replaced (or came off and were reattached) if they're held on with screws; they would have originally been riveted.

Lack of a date code on any of the four vents is unusual, but does happen sometimes. I've often wondered if the code is stamped on the vent before the vent gets its concave shape...you might unscrew one of the vents and see if the code is hidden on the inside. If not, someone screwed up and didn't date stamp a bunch of vent dampers.

You've got a special WSM there, hope you enjoy it. Take a digital photo of you with the cooker and send it to me and I'll add you to the Owner's Photo Gallery.

Regards,
Chris