Mike Stavlund
TVWBB Member
Hey, just wanted to post some photos of the red 'K' (1988) that I got at an estate sale in June. There was no price on it, so I just offered them $10, since I could point to several immediate problems. They were definitely dealing that day, and snapped at the offer.
So this is not some victory lap for me, but just an offer of thanks to this amazing site. I learned *everything* about this grill and the cleaning and restoration from this site. So in an effort to give something back, I thought I'd show what I learned, what worked for me, and what didn't.
Though Weber customer service told me this was a Mastertouch, the fine folks on this bulletin board informed me that it was sold shortly before the Mastertouch grills went to market. This was the former top-of-the-line grill, the One-Touch Plus (hence the ash pan on the original grill-- the Mastertouch had the first-generation ash can). I'm no purist, though, so I decided to retrofit an ash-can on it.
Here is a detail of that ash-can addition. Several folks recommended the hose-clamp attachment, where the tabs of a modern ash can are bent back 180 degrees from their stock position to allow a stainless steel hose clamp to hold the ash can ring in place. It is a really secure connection. I went to the trouble of putting the screw part of the hose clamp *inside* the ash can ring-- a long screwdriver allows you to reach through the holes in the ring itself. It looks a little cleaner that way.
I also had a few chips in the finish to deal with. I cleaned up the chipped areas with a brass brush attached to a drill, then masked off the area. There were two kinds of paint recommended on this site, and I had a very difficult time finding either one of them. Then I happened upon this one at Amazon, and bit. It has a flat finish, but it boasted a temperature rating up to 2000 degrees (the other ones topped out at 1200). So I took a chance. (The metal polish worked great for the legs, and the polishing compound took off a lot of oxidation in the finish.)
I'm pretty colorblind, so apart from the flat finish, I was pretty happy with the repair. My wife has a keener eye, however, and said it looked worse than when it was chipped. The paint required a three-step heated cure, which I tried to approximate with a couple of different burns in the kettle. Sadly, however, several of the paint repairs are already flaking off after only 20 or so cooks. I have heard others say that repairing porcelain with paint is temporary at best, so this is perhaps to be expected.
I ordered a replacement thermometer for the one that was missing, and a new ash sweep assembly for the one that was frozen in place. I needed to cut all of that rusted hardware off to remove the old piece. I also replaced the lid holder hardware with stainless steel parts from my local hardware store, and also needed to do some cutting to get the old screw and nut off of that bottom part of the lid holder.
For general cleaning, I stripped the grill down (setting aside the handles and wheels), sprayed everything with oven cleaner, put all the pieces in heavy-duty trash bags to set in the sun for several hours (the lid in one bag, the bowl in the other, and the grates and triangle in another). After the oven cleaner had time to work, I scraped everything with a plastic 1" wide scraper, then scrubbed everything but the exterior with dish soap, water, and a stainless steel scrubbing pad. For the exterior surfaces I used 0000 steel wool and dishwasher detergent. I scrubbed the wheels with soap/water and used the metal polish on the legs (that stuff works really well!). Once everything was dry I did the painting, then used the polishing compound to put a shine on everything. Re-assembled, handles back on, and it was ready to go.
I also learned here about the way the red kettles change color when they get hot. Had to see that myself to believe it, and it is indeed magical. This thing cooks like a dream-- gets hotter and for longer than any other kettle I've used. I just need to save up for some Brian O'Neal wood handles, and I will be stylin'.
Once again, thanks to the fine folks on this site for teaching me everything I needed to know for this fun project. Next time you see a CL listing for an estate sale that simply says, "Weber Charcoal Grill", you might want to make a quick stop. I'm sure glad I did.
So this is not some victory lap for me, but just an offer of thanks to this amazing site. I learned *everything* about this grill and the cleaning and restoration from this site. So in an effort to give something back, I thought I'd show what I learned, what worked for me, and what didn't.
Though Weber customer service told me this was a Mastertouch, the fine folks on this bulletin board informed me that it was sold shortly before the Mastertouch grills went to market. This was the former top-of-the-line grill, the One-Touch Plus (hence the ash pan on the original grill-- the Mastertouch had the first-generation ash can). I'm no purist, though, so I decided to retrofit an ash-can on it.
Here is a detail of that ash-can addition. Several folks recommended the hose-clamp attachment, where the tabs of a modern ash can are bent back 180 degrees from their stock position to allow a stainless steel hose clamp to hold the ash can ring in place. It is a really secure connection. I went to the trouble of putting the screw part of the hose clamp *inside* the ash can ring-- a long screwdriver allows you to reach through the holes in the ring itself. It looks a little cleaner that way.
I also had a few chips in the finish to deal with. I cleaned up the chipped areas with a brass brush attached to a drill, then masked off the area. There were two kinds of paint recommended on this site, and I had a very difficult time finding either one of them. Then I happened upon this one at Amazon, and bit. It has a flat finish, but it boasted a temperature rating up to 2000 degrees (the other ones topped out at 1200). So I took a chance. (The metal polish worked great for the legs, and the polishing compound took off a lot of oxidation in the finish.)
I'm pretty colorblind, so apart from the flat finish, I was pretty happy with the repair. My wife has a keener eye, however, and said it looked worse than when it was chipped. The paint required a three-step heated cure, which I tried to approximate with a couple of different burns in the kettle. Sadly, however, several of the paint repairs are already flaking off after only 20 or so cooks. I have heard others say that repairing porcelain with paint is temporary at best, so this is perhaps to be expected.
I ordered a replacement thermometer for the one that was missing, and a new ash sweep assembly for the one that was frozen in place. I needed to cut all of that rusted hardware off to remove the old piece. I also replaced the lid holder hardware with stainless steel parts from my local hardware store, and also needed to do some cutting to get the old screw and nut off of that bottom part of the lid holder.
For general cleaning, I stripped the grill down (setting aside the handles and wheels), sprayed everything with oven cleaner, put all the pieces in heavy-duty trash bags to set in the sun for several hours (the lid in one bag, the bowl in the other, and the grates and triangle in another). After the oven cleaner had time to work, I scraped everything with a plastic 1" wide scraper, then scrubbed everything but the exterior with dish soap, water, and a stainless steel scrubbing pad. For the exterior surfaces I used 0000 steel wool and dishwasher detergent. I scrubbed the wheels with soap/water and used the metal polish on the legs (that stuff works really well!). Once everything was dry I did the painting, then used the polishing compound to put a shine on everything. Re-assembled, handles back on, and it was ready to go.
I also learned here about the way the red kettles change color when they get hot. Had to see that myself to believe it, and it is indeed magical. This thing cooks like a dream-- gets hotter and for longer than any other kettle I've used. I just need to save up for some Brian O'Neal wood handles, and I will be stylin'.
Once again, thanks to the fine folks on this site for teaching me everything I needed to know for this fun project. Next time you see a CL listing for an estate sale that simply says, "Weber Charcoal Grill", you might want to make a quick stop. I'm sure glad I did.
