Here's my fire grate with bolt and rod coupler legs

Jeff_in_KC · Feb 5, 2005

Just so you can see what I did... I kinda like it. I only wish I would have made it a couple of inches longer towards the damper door. It may not look the best but I like it one hell of a lot better than what I had!

BigBelly · Feb 6, 2005

Looks like you would get good air flow underneath that grate.

Jeff_in_KC · Feb 6, 2005

Maybe too much! Stuff burns fast as hell in there! I believe (and this is just coming from one cook with it) that I'll be leaving the damper more towards 1/3 or 1/2 closed with this at times.

tommykendall · Feb 6, 2005

My fire grate has much small mesh. I think you would lose essential heat bed coals too quickly with that.

Solidkick · Feb 6, 2005

tommykendall said:
My fire grate has much small mesh. I think you would lose essential heat bed coals too quickly with that.

I dunno TK, Any smaller may not let the ash fall through and snuff out the fire from lack of airflow. If it falls through, it's still generating heat.
That's one of my problems with my design of the charcoal basket I use, lighting from the underneath side.

tommykendall · Feb 6, 2005

Never had a problem with mine. I would figure that the hot coals falling through the mesh would quickly suffocate in the ashes below.

kcquer · Feb 6, 2005

Never had a problem with mine. I would figure that the hot coals falling through the mesh would quickly suffocate in the ashes below.

Later in the cook this is somewhat true, but early in the cook, when using the basket as Kick is, falling embers radiate heat upwards towards the bottom of the fuel pile and cause unwanted advancement of the fire.
When stick burning, the residual heat from coals in the ash area are helpful in generating heat to ensure clean combustion of fresh fuel.
The spacing you want in a firegrate is largley dependent on the type of burn you're doing and your choice of fuel.

jeffsasmokin · Feb 6, 2005

I put a lining of stucco lath over my expanded metal, and it works great! When I burn the wood down in my barrel, the embers are usually too small for the EM. The stuff has held up remarkably well. I just tie it down in a few spots with rebar wire.

Solidkick · Feb 6, 2005

jeffsasmokin said:
I put a lining of stucco lath over my expanded metal, and it works great! When I burn the wood down in my barrel, the embers are usually too small for the EM. The stuff has held up remarkably well. I just tie it down in a few spots with rebar wire.

I need pictures please...........

jeffsasmokin · Feb 6, 2005

Solidkick said:
jeffsasmokin said:

I put a lining of stucco lath over my expanded metal, and it works great! When I burn the wood down in my barrel, the embers are usually too small for the EM. The stuff has held up remarkably well. I just tie it down in a few spots with rebar wire.

Click to expand...

I need pictures please...........

Here ya go, Kick!

BigAl · Feb 7, 2005

Jeff_in_KC said:
Maybe too much! Stuff burns fast as hell in there! I believe (and this is just coming from one cook with it) that I'll be leaving the damper more towards 1/3 or 1/2 closed with this at times.

I did a lot of test burns when designing my basket and found that with wood chunks or charcoal the standard 3/4 expanded metal was too wide to allow complete combustion before the hot chunks fell into the ash. So to fix that issue, I just over laped a second sheet of 3/4 which was off set 50% and that effectively reduced the size of the openings and it worked better for me(longer burns from the same amount of fuel). That led to the ultimate 1/2" round rebar rods spaced 1/2" apart on their center lines.

I used rebar rods because the expanded metal that you get at local hard ware stores is too thin and burns out too quickly and I am a lazy fark and did not want to keep fixing the thing.

tommykendall · Feb 7, 2005

This is a great thread - needs to be bookmarked.

Solidkick · Feb 7, 2005

jeffsasmokin said:
Solidkick said:

jeffsasmokin said:

I put a lining of stucco lath over my expanded metal, and it works great! When I burn the wood down in my barrel, the embers are usually too small for the EM. The stuff has held up remarkably well. I just tie it down in a few spots with rebar wire.

Click to expand...

I need pictures please...........

Click to expand...

Here ya go, Kick!

Thanks Jeff! I dunno if I've ever seen stucco lath before, I'll have to do some shopping around, I think I'd like to add one of these to my collection
for when I cook with splits.

Jay, Do you see this? 8)

Here's my fire grate with bolt and rod coupler legs

Jeff_in_KC

somebody shut me the fark up.

BigBelly

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Jeff_in_KC

somebody shut me the fark up.

tommykendall

Quintessential Chatty Farker

Solidkick

somebody shut me the fark up.

tommykendall

Quintessential Chatty Farker

kcquer

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jeffsasmokin

Guest

Solidkick

somebody shut me the fark up.

jeffsasmokin

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BigAl

is One Chatty Farker

tommykendall

Quintessential Chatty Farker

Solidkick

somebody shut me the fark up.

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