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Dang!

Day before yesterday, I was putzing around with unfinished projects. A friend had given me two 33 gallon metal drums to make him some barbecues out of. I had made him a couple about ten years ago. He left the ashes in the bottom, and they rotted away.

You cut the tops out, cut the drums in half, butt them up, and weld legs on them. Add expanded metal top. Simple. Botta bing, botta bang. Boom.

But ............ I have been putting it off thinking of how I would accurately cut them, and just not wanting to fool with cutting them.

I noticed a seam, and figured that I would just cut along the seam, and do the layout to get the line on the other side the same. Ditto on the ends.

Well, I used my air chisel with the y shaped cutter to cut the ends out of the barrel. Hammered the razor edge down flat. Smooth! I used a circular saw with metal cutting blade to do the other cuts. Smooth. Now, I just have to wire wheel down the razor sharp edges, and weld them up.

Why is it that sometimes we take so long, and think so hard, and when we go out and do it, it is so easy?

Like the sixty second repair that takes six months to get to?

Steve

Reply to
Steve B
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Such is life. I like reading a book or manual 6 month or a year later - boy did the manual grow... What I see - The first time through - lack of knowledge and some is boring. The second time, been there had it done to me - understand at a different level and thereby pick up more the next time.

Maybe the use of the Y cutter was done a month ago - and a connection was made.

Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Steve B wrote:

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

Steve, I can't picture this. Why do you cut the drums in half and then weld them back together? Sounds like you could have just left them whole.

LB

Reply to
brassbend

I'm just guessing here, but it sounds like : Cut them in half lengthways, then butt weld them together end-to-end...

Carla

Reply to
Carla Fong

I'm just guessing here, but it sounds like : Cut them in half lengthways, then butt weld them together end-to-end...

Carla

Reply to
Carla Fong

"Carla Fong" wrote

100% correct guess. But you cut the top out so you don't have a partition in the middle of the thing. Of course, let me say you weld the two pieces you cut the top out of to make the middle joint, then leave the half ends with the caps on the ends of the barbecue.

Then weld the legs to the ends of the trough.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

But what do you use to cover the bbq and keep the heat in?

When we build-em here, we cut em in half then put a hing along the back so we can swing the lid up or down to keep the heat/smoke in in the right amount to control the temperature.

Of course, we use ours to BBQ, not to grill, so I guess temp regulation is probably less important when grilling.

Tillman

Reply to
tillius

Either you missed a smiley or you havenever seen a barbeque grill. ...lew...

Reply to
Lew Hartswick

I don't know what you call these other than grills. They are for cooking mass quantities of hamburgers and hot dogs. The grill does not have a lid. As "barbecues" go, they ain't much, but for "grilling" hamburgers and hot dogs for a hundred people, they work great.

STeve

Reply to
Steve B

Tried it once, but just too hard. Like making a ship in a bottle, it's just too hard to put all that stuff inside through those little holes.

;-)

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

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