Building a Homemade Smoker for the Homestead
Jul 30, 2020 22:11:57 GMT -6
macmex and rdback like this
Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 30, 2020 22:11:57 GMT -6
A few weeks ago, my sons and I were given an old air compressor tank that had a pin hole rusted through it and was no longer safe to be used for compressed air. We decided right away that it would make a nice meat box for a smoker, but all we had was the air tank. The tank was 4' feet tall by 24" inches in diameter and weighed about 250 pounds. It was an old tank made back in the '70s, fabricated from cold rolled, 1/4" inch thick steel and would prove very hard to work with.
It took the entire first day of construction just to cut the old motor mounts off it, torch the base off, and cut and dress the 36" inch wide door opening. We split the motor mounting bracket to form a cradle to hold the tank and called it a day.
Several more days passed before we had time to work on it again. This time, we spent 12 hours looking through local salvage yards and building the leg supports and mounting the wheels to the base to cradle the meat box. We used two 13" inch solid rubber wheelbarrow tires to support the immense weight of the final product that we estimated would weigh about 500 pounds.
Next, we spent another whole day looking in salvage yards for more parts to use. We found an old 40-gallon hot water tank and stripped the inner standpipe from it to be used as a 3" inch smoke stack. We found a 4'x 8' foot sheet of expanded metal that had been severely damaged by a forklift. We were able to cut around the bad pieces and salvage enough to use as the meat rack, charcoal rack, and serving rack surfaces. With a little cutting, bending, flattening, and grinding we were able to dress it up almost as good as new.
Before it was all said and done, we spent at least 40 hours of labor on this thing, but it turned out well and will last many, many, more years to come. The meat box is 48" inches wide, by 24" inches in diameter. The firebox is 24" inches wide, by 16" inches square. So the finished length of the smoker is 6' feet in length and the finished weight is between 400 to 500 pounds.
We welded on quite a few doo-daddys, like utensil hooks, hand forged door latches and hinges, and a door rest to hold the weight of the top opening door. So things like that took extra time but added character to the final product.
Before the ends were capped off or the complete push and lifting handles were installed.
My middle son, john, assembling the removable grilling rack and removable charcoal rack that fits inside the firebox or can be stored under the meat box when not in use. The flat top of the firebox can be used as a cooking surface or a griddle. It's also a fire door that opens past 90-degrees to be supported by the front fire door which also opens beyond 90-degrees, to be swung back under the opened top door ... In that position, the bottom side of the top fire door can be used to dry rain soaked wood beside an open fire or can be used as a work surface to split kindling.
We're not quite finished with it yet, but we are far enough along to start calling it a smoker.
John on day #3, fitting the door with the hinges that we made in the shop.
This is my oldest son, Matt, on Day #2. We started this project June 28th, and finished it July 28th. At first, we had it in our heads that we'd have it ready to use on July 4th, but in reality it will be more like Labor Day Weekend. This was a fun project to enjoy with all 3 of my boys. We had a good time building this together. This ought to be a thing we can enjoy on the Homestead for many years to come.
Thanks, Billy, for letting us use your shop to do our welding out of the heavy rains!
It took the entire first day of construction just to cut the old motor mounts off it, torch the base off, and cut and dress the 36" inch wide door opening. We split the motor mounting bracket to form a cradle to hold the tank and called it a day.
Several more days passed before we had time to work on it again. This time, we spent 12 hours looking through local salvage yards and building the leg supports and mounting the wheels to the base to cradle the meat box. We used two 13" inch solid rubber wheelbarrow tires to support the immense weight of the final product that we estimated would weigh about 500 pounds.
Next, we spent another whole day looking in salvage yards for more parts to use. We found an old 40-gallon hot water tank and stripped the inner standpipe from it to be used as a 3" inch smoke stack. We found a 4'x 8' foot sheet of expanded metal that had been severely damaged by a forklift. We were able to cut around the bad pieces and salvage enough to use as the meat rack, charcoal rack, and serving rack surfaces. With a little cutting, bending, flattening, and grinding we were able to dress it up almost as good as new.
Before it was all said and done, we spent at least 40 hours of labor on this thing, but it turned out well and will last many, many, more years to come. The meat box is 48" inches wide, by 24" inches in diameter. The firebox is 24" inches wide, by 16" inches square. So the finished length of the smoker is 6' feet in length and the finished weight is between 400 to 500 pounds.
We welded on quite a few doo-daddys, like utensil hooks, hand forged door latches and hinges, and a door rest to hold the weight of the top opening door. So things like that took extra time but added character to the final product.
Before the ends were capped off or the complete push and lifting handles were installed. My middle son, john, assembling the removable grilling rack and removable charcoal rack that fits inside the firebox or can be stored under the meat box when not in use. The flat top of the firebox can be used as a cooking surface or a griddle. It's also a fire door that opens past 90-degrees to be supported by the front fire door which also opens beyond 90-degrees, to be swung back under the opened top door ... In that position, the bottom side of the top fire door can be used to dry rain soaked wood beside an open fire or can be used as a work surface to split kindling. We're not quite finished with it yet, but we are far enough along to start calling it a smoker. John on day #3, fitting the door with the hinges that we made in the shop.This is my oldest son, Matt, on Day #2. We started this project June 28th, and finished it July 28th. At first, we had it in our heads that we'd have it ready to use on July 4th, but in reality it will be more like Labor Day Weekend. This was a fun project to enjoy with all 3 of my boys. We had a good time building this together. This ought to be a thing we can enjoy on the Homestead for many years to come.Thanks, Billy, for letting us use your shop to do our welding out of the heavy rains!
