Dusting off the old Hibachi

Hello all,

Just joined your forum and am looking for help with a summer project. I inherited and old "Hibachi" grill that my father left to me. The story was that it came home with him from Japan in the late 60s after being stationed there in the Air Force during Vietnam. Anyway, I can remember him cooking on it in the back yard when I was around 5 years old. When my mom had me over helping throw stuff out under the deck last year I saw it. I hadn't seen it in years and thought it was long gone. Dad broke and repaired it more than once and its in pretty rough shape, but I would love to get it back in working order. I love to grill and currently do my smoking on a Weber Performer, so this would make a nice addition to my back yard.

I have done some reading here and I think the correct term for this is a Kamado grill, but my Mom and Dad were stationed in Tokyo for 7 years and he always called it a Hibachi, so I am personally going to have to stick with that.

The grill is in such bad shape I am not sure where to start. I am almost afraid to take off the metal hoops/hinge for fear it will fall apart. I am looking for those with experience to help give me some advise before I get started.

All opinions welcome....

Skynard

Here are a few pics. Looking for advice on the best way to proceed. Guess I will start by taking it apart and cleaning up...

Thats awesom

skullbone smoker said:

I remember coming back to CONUS from Yokosuka and Sasebo (Japan) on USS Constellation during the Vietnam years. There had to be at least 250 of these hibachis lashed to aything that would not move. We exhausted the supply of these from the Navy Exchanges all around - on both of my Yankee Station cruises. Good luck; and, as Marty said, take pride in your DAD.

Click to expand...

I had no idea there were so many of these around. I've seen the Green Eggs but have never seen another old Japanese model till looking around here. Me, my brother and sister were all born in Tokyo, but moved back to the states at age 3 so don't remember anything from over there. Will be thinking of Dad and all other Veterans this Memorial Day....

That looks AWESOME! Did you sandblast it? Have any cracks that you needed to repair (what did you use). Did you use high temp paint/primer?

Thanks for the pics. Hope mine looks that good one of these days.