Free Kettle


 
I was definitely only looking at applying filler on the outside. The lid has chips but no holes. The bottom has the same, plus some damage that either needs welding or possibly the large washer repair trick. I have done some minor paint repairs with high heat red caliper paint. I am personally not a purist and would rather have well executed repairs than a red grill with black craters all over. Just my view, I can see other people’s reasons for leaving it more “as is.”

This is a special grill, and the chips of porcelain missing are deeper than paint can fill. Basically, I was hoping one of the JB Weld very high heat products (rated over 1000 degrees) could be used like bondo filler by applying with a plastic putty knife to fill in the missing material (similar to what Brian described) and then sanding smooth before carefully priming and spray painting. I plan to only paint to cover the damage, not the porcelain that is left. Hopefully, I can learn how to feather and smooth out the boundaries and make the repairs much less obvious. You will see them, of course, but I think the overall impression could be a lot better.

For the reasons cited by Bill - MO I tentatively plan to just keep this cool rescue find. I guess I am a hopeless collector!
 
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I would think it might hold up well as its the lid not going to get as hot as the bowl. If it needs to be done over in a year or so should be no big deal looks a lot better than it did before.
 
Hey Timothy,
Thanks very much for posting that link. That guy pretty much did what I have in mind. JB Weld has an “extreme high heat” version that should work even with a kettle at full blast. I agree with him that I would way rather look at his final product than a battle damaged kettle or WSM. That goes especially for a red kettle like mine where the missing porcelain is especially glaring.

I hope I can post some before and after of my initial attempts sometime this winter.
 
What do you guys think about doing the JBweld thing with a flip grill. I would be concerned the fix wouldn't last and it would be like buying a rust bucket car with bondo all over it. The patches inevitably crack and rust out again in a couple years and look even worse than before. If you "disclose" the fix to a buyer as you should, I would think 9/10 times they would pass on it.
 
I am not sure what market there is in your area for flipping Kettles as around here anyway they can be had all day long for $50 bucks or less.

Now Bruce if your talking about the red one you got for free and I know Jon and Dave mentioned the purist from WKC for example I would do nothing to it. Let them decide a lot of those guys probably would never buy something filled with putty and touched up if I had to guess. They would make the decision to either leave it alone or touch it up themselves. Not many red's around so it has some value to somebody the way it is what that value is who knows some of those guys take collecting to the next dimension.

Now Jon is talking about a keeper and he wants it to look better, that is a different story he has nothing to lose cause if the stuff cracks after a year he will just touch it up again. This is only my opinion
 
OK Brian. I got your jist and that pretty much mirrors my thinking as well. I did have the red kettle in mind when I asked that question.
 
Bruce said:
OK Brian. I got your jist and that pretty much mirrors my thinking as well. I did have the red kettle in mind when I asked that question.
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Others might disagree but I think it has more value the way it is left untouched just clean the bowl up get the gunk out and off you go.
 
And a good cleaning and shining on the outside and call it a day. I agree...I may have to replace some of the grates though.
 
I agree with you guys as far as resale goes. I would, however, do some small paint repairs to a flip kettle. I actually did that last fall. It was for one of my pastors. Not just because of that, I showed him the paint repairs I had made. I don’t think you have a lot to worry about with just using high heat caliper paint.

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Having no experience with something like the JB Weld Extreme high heat paste, I will just agree that using patch filler would probably make it much more likely that there will be an ugly failure down the road.

This rare red kettle is a hard thing for me. I lucked into getting it at a bargain price from a CL ad that just said “charcoal grill.” I say I was really lucky, but the condition is rough enough that it doesn’t draw the interest I had hoped when advertised for sale “as is.” Most potential buyers - even “purists” are ultimately out off by its excessive battle scars.

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Rather than give it away cheaply I think it has potential to be a special keeper if I can repair it with patches along the lines of what the linked article showed the guy did for his WSM.

Bruce,
My chips are large and deep. If you have a few smaller not so deep ones, I still think it might be worth trying a few coats of caliper red and maybe a gloss coat. Then try to feather the edges. It will be visible but you can also show someone your repairs to give full disclosure. I think just a paint repair would last for years.
 
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Bruce said:
And a good cleaning and shining on the outside and call it a day. I agree...I may have to replace some of the grates though.
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The bottom charcoal grate, unless totally ruined, isn't too big a deal if you wire brush it clean and cover with cooking oil. The top grate, I think, is what everyone looks at. I was lucky to grab a few at Targe's big clearance sale a year and a half ago. A nice shiny new one sure goes a long way to making a kettle look new. You can do a lot to clean an old one, but after a point - being just regular steel with a nickel chrome coating that easily wears off - there is only so much you can do.

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