Lava rocks

Mark · Jun 12, 2006

Aside from BBQ and my salsa garden, I dumpster dive. But I view it as recycling. Anyway, I just got a nice big Kenmore propane grill. All I need is lava rocks except I don't want to go to Lowe's to buy them. It's against my principals. So how about landscaping supply businesses? Think they'd have lava rocks?

Kevin · Jun 12, 2006

I've used landscape lava rocks before. Worked fine.

BBQchef33 · Jun 12, 2006

Home depot has lava rocks in the isle with all the bbq stuff.

chad · Jun 12, 2006

My current gasser has metal deflectors and I threw away the lava rock on my previous two gassers - bought a universal deflector and installed it in about 5 minutes.

Never missed the rocks.

kcquer · Jun 12, 2006

I like the rocks. Once heated, I think the surface area on the rocks helps to produce the really hot searing heat I like for steaks. Our current "fancy stainless" gasser has ceramic plates and I hate it.
Except for the fact the OL would shoot me, I'd trade it for the Kenmore Mark found in a minute.

I too have used landscaping lava rock and they work just fine.

Mark · Jun 12, 2006

kcquer said:
I like the rocks. Once heated, I think the surface area on the rocks helps to produce the really hot searing heat I like for steaks. Our current "fancy stainless" gasser has ceramic plates and I hate it.
Except for the fact the OL would shoot me, I'd trade it for the Kenmore Mark found in a minute.

I too have used landscaping lava rock and they work just fine.

Do the ceramic plates look like these:
http://www.thenoflaresquare.com/

BTW: I use one of these for knife sharpening.

Mark · Jun 12, 2006

chad said:
My current gasser has metal deflectors and I threw away the lava rock on my previous two gassers - bought a universal deflector and installed it in about 5 minutes.

Never missed the rocks.

Yeah, I could do that with a peice of angle iron probably. Cheaper is better.

Brauma · Jun 12, 2006

You could keep on dumpster diving till you find rocks. I liked the ceramic honeycomb tiles myself. Less flare-ups.

kcquer · Jun 12, 2006

Mark said:
Do the ceramic plates look like these:
http://www.thenoflaresquare.com/

BTW: I use one of these for knife sharpening.

The ceramic plates in our gasser look more like unglazed ceramic tiles and have slots in them. Roughly 6" square.

After 2 years I'm learning to live with it for burgers, chicken and chops, but when doing a good steak I'd still like more heat. I've considered building a shallow basket or tray from expanded steel for lava rock and replacing the ceramic plates over one burner.

Mark · Jun 12, 2006

Brauma said:
You could keep on dumpster diving till you find rocks. I liked the ceramic honeycomb tiles myself. Less flare-ups.

I take it you use the ceramic honeycomb tiles. How have they held up?

The grill was free. The ceramic honeycomb tiles are $30 before shipping. I'm not sure I grill enuf to justify the expense.

thillin · Jun 12, 2006

You could save money and pick up a few lava rocks out of peoples flower beds.

VitaminQ · Jun 12, 2006

Mark, I've got a chitload of lavarocks that we dug out of our garden when we moved in. If you want them, I'll send them to you. They weigh next to nothing. Let me know if you're interested.

Mark · Jun 12, 2006

thillin said:
You could save money and pick up a few lava rocks out of peoples flower beds.

That might be viewed as theft. I think some rock chunks and/or a home-made diverter plate might do the job. Or I could break down and buy a bag of lava rocks at the local HD or Ace for under $10.

Mark · Jun 12, 2006

VitaminQ said:
Mark, I've got a chitload of lavarocks that we dug out of our garden when we moved in. If you want them, I'll send them to you. They weigh next to nothing. Let me know if you're interested.

Hmmm... If you boxed up an old Hustler or sumtin you could send UPS bookrate. The rocks can be used as paper weights, right?

Lemme see what Ace wants. I think it's about the same as a good bag of charcoal briquetts.

Kevin · Jun 12, 2006

Mark said:
That might be viewed as theft. I think some rock chunks and/or a home-made diverter plate might do the job. Or I could break down and buy a bag of lava rocks at the local HD or Ace for under $10.

That'll work, but take it from an experienced sauna (pronounced "sowna" to you non scandanavians) builder, heat them suckers up in a safe place first. The porous ones will explode when super heated. Picking the correct rocks out at the gravel pit is an art form where my wife comes from.

Mark · Jun 12, 2006

Kevin said:
That'll work, but take it from an experienced sauna (pronounced "sowna" to you non scandanavians) builder, heat them suckers up in a safe place first. The porous ones will explode when super heated. Picking the correct rocks out at the gravel pit is an art form where my wife comes from.

I guess I could learn in time assuming I don't go blind by rock shrapnel. This might warrant an Internet search.

Mark · Jun 13, 2006

Here's what an Internet search found:

Subject: Sauna rocks
Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 00:32:40 -0700
To: Kalle Hoffman
From: Pekka Koivu

Here is more information about finding Sauna rocks in the nature:
Choose black/dark grey stones, which feels solid. Also the colour
should be solid. You can test the solidity by hitting them against
each other. Stones should sound firm. You can also put stones in to
the fire, let them become very hot, then throw them into cold water. If
the stones do not break, you can use them in your Sauna stove.
regards,

pekka koivu

Kevin · Jun 13, 2006

Mark said:
Here's what an Internet search found:

Subject: Sauna rocks
Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 00:32:40 -0700
To: Kalle Hoffman
From: Pekka Koivu

Here is more information about finding Sauna rocks in the nature:
Choose black/dark grey stones, which feels solid. Also the colour
should be solid. You can test the solidity by hitting them against
each other. Stones should sound firm. You can also put stones in to
the fire, let them become very hot, then throw them into cold water. If
the stones do not break, you can use them in your Sauna stove.
regards,

pekka koivu

Yep, I do remember the old time Finlanders telling me about the dark solid color. I was chicken and let them pick them out.

Brauma · Jun 13, 2006

Mark said:
I take it you use the ceramic honeycomb tiles. How have they held up?

The grill was free. The ceramic honeycomb tiles are $30 before shipping. I'm not sure I grill enuf to justify the expense.

The ceramic tiles lasted about 9 years. Which is how long the grill lasted. I'll take that back, most of the tiles lasted that long. Quite a few broke up. I had them mixed in with lava rocks. They are very fragile. That are good at suppressing flare-ups but they cake up with gook and need scraping off. I broke a bunch trying to clean them.

The grill was a wedding present from BeerGuy and a few others at work. I sprung for the fancy tiles since the grill was free.

Mark · Jun 13, 2006

Brauma: Wouldn't just turning them over and let the burner do the work of removing the "gook" been sufficient.

PS: What happens when you drop a load of bombs on Vietcong? You make gooks into gook. (Just demonstrating my political incorrectness so you guys know I'm normally abnormal; thus recovering).

Kevin: River rocks it is. This sounds like the most fun. I"ll heat them up excessively on a 100,000 BTU/H turkey fryer burner and throw them into a steel bucket of cold water.

Lava rocks

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