Had some questions about my charcoal basket.
I used a Weber 10.5 inch charcoal grate as the base. I bought a 12x24 piece of expanded metal at Lowe's. I cut the expanded metal in half. I then had two pieces of 6x24. I stick welded a handle to the grate (base) and then went around the base spot welding the expanded metal.. I really had to crank my stick welder down as it was burning through the expanded metal like buttah.
Time was not on my side for an ash pan, so I ended up cutting my remaining piece of expanded metal and folded them in half to use to elevate the basket. I had to vacuum out the ashes..
Here is the basket. 10.5" in diameter and 6" tall. It held about 8 pounds of charcoal with about 4 handfulls of wood chips. This is the result of about a 4.5 hour cook (taking into account starting and cooling off)
Went to HF this weekend and picked up a welding slag hammer for $4... HMM...looks like a handle to me? I fired up the MAPP gas, placed the hammer in a vise and bent me a nice 45. Just have to attach it.