New Branfels offset Smoker Restoration with Pics!

I wanted to thank everyone who has posted their previous experiences and tips restoring smokers on this site. I gained so much knowledge prior to going out and getting a smoker to restore on my own. In return I'm posting some pics of my New Braunfels offset smoker I just finished restoring. I stalked craigslist for a couple of months trying to get my hands on one of these. I was thoroughly surprised at how fast these things were getting snatched up on there. However with persistence I got lucky and scored a unit in pretty good shape for being about 8 years old. I picked it up for $60 dollars from a guy who had kept it covered most of the time and had only smoked on it three times. So here are some pics and descriptions of what I did.

Here are some before pics of the smoker.




First Task was to get everything rust free or at least as much as i could. I used a drill and a couple different sizes of wire brush to get most of the rust off of the Barrel and Firebox. If I had an angle grinder I would of probably went with that. The sanding took about a day to get done. It was a lot more work than I thought. I used some naval jelly to get the last thin layer off. It worked fairly well, although I wouldn't say it was better than some elbow grease.

After I had everything cleaned up I used a sandpaper to roughen and smooth both the firebox and barrel before painting. Along with a good wash with the hose and dish soap to remove all the grit.


As soon as I received the smoker I removed all the hardware and carefully noted where everything went. I also removed the handles and made new ones out of dowel rod I picked up at home depot.


I painted it with two layers of rustoleum 1200* grill paint. The paint went on well, although it does have a tendency to show all hand prints and slightly comes off every time you touch it. I still need to fire it up and let the paint harden off. Anyways here is a pic of the finished product.




In the process I also sealed the gaps between the barrel and chimney with 2000* black fireplace mortar. I also used this to seal the firebox and barrel to each other. I realized there was a larger gap for air to get into even when the bolts were tightened. Seemed to work well, and will harden when i fire it up to form a complete seal.

You'll also notice a full board as the front table. I didn't like the cheap look of the three boards, so i picked up a cheap piece of wood and sanded it down to be more visual appealing. Added some red oak stain and sealed it up. Also did the same to the handles. I was pretty happy with look when it was finished. I have more pics and would be happy to answer any questions you may have!

Things still yet to be done:
I'm adding two more thermometer probes down towards the grate. Just ran out of light yesterday to put them in.

Also having a metal shop making my convection plate to the exact details of the one horizon smoker offers. I would have ordered it from them, but it's expensive to ship and fairly easy to show a metal shop a pic and have them make it. http://www.horizonbbqsmokersstore.com/servlet/the-307/Convection-Plate--dsh--For/Detail

Enjoy!

The Convection plate helps to keep steady temps throughout the cooking surface. From what i've read these types of offsets can throw a wide range of temps from one side to the other. The convection plate helps distribute heat to the side opposite of the firebox with a series of gradually bigger holes letting more smoke up to the food grate as it passes towards the chimney. The plate itself also retains heat helping to keep good temperatures in the food chamber.