Back to the original topic of this thread, I just found this 24” Horizon RD Special Marshal smoker available locally for $1750
Should I grab it? What should I offer? New they are $3200 + $600 shipping
I fell victim to that trick myself when I sold a car when I was in college.my bro in law take cars and motorcycles for insanely low ball offers simply because the seller, once holding tens of hundred dollar bills, has a hard time passing...
order n. 10438 baby!!!! see ya in 6 months!
I started my research months ago and purchased the 1975 last week with no other competitor close to sway my decision with my max budget. There's a YouTube video of a podcast with JD (the owner) and I was completely sold on his work ethic to build a perfect backyard pit that performs like larger offsets restaurants use. He makes some comments in that interview which I interpreted as performance is his key objective, not looks, extras, etc. which keeps price at bargain level.
24"x48" chamber, 3/8 throughout, 24"x27" firebox, very tall stack, and using engineering to optimize the draft/even temps for that price is very convincing.
I've been researching smokers on and off for the last 2 years (obviously not well ), and just discovered this. There is nothing that beats it, agree. Total no brainer. Curious, what options did you get?
Also, Workhorse just raised their price, so lucky I ordered last week!!
How much did they raise their prices ?
They've got to have been taking a loss with steel prices the way they are.
Local guy bought a Primitive Pit. Same company as Workhorse. He said the price was great and delivery was relatively quick. They were selling at a lower price trying to get their name out .
About 250. I had a feeling they were about to raise it. I'm surprised they didn't do it sooner. I wonder if they had a big surplus of steel they bought before the crazy increases and were holding off on price increases until that ran out in an effort to keep gaining more customers?
What are folks thoughts on Workhorse's enormous firebox? Do I really need a 25" firebox on a 42" smoker?
I ask because I'm debating between the 37" 1957 and 42" 1969. The 42" is 10" larger because half the increase is in the firebox!
A 1969 with the 1957 21" firebox seems nice for my space... but I don't want to screw up their computational fluid dynamics :-D
Awesome thanks.A larger firebox gives you the ability to move the fire further away or closer to the cooking surface as a temp control tool. In Franklin's master class, he mentions if its cold outside, he'll have his fire in the middle, and then move extra coals to the front edge of the box to warm the cold air moving in before it hits the fire, which makes the fire not work as hard if that makes sense. I'm guessing it makes fire management and control easier and gives you more options vs. a small firebox. I know using a firebasket isn't preferred by Workhorse for this same reason - to easily manipulate the coal bed & to maintain the right amount of air flow to the coals. The circular shape is a natural V shape which helps the coals stay uniform, so I can see why a V basket might my useful for someone with a flat bottom firebox.
I'm going to order a 1969!
One thing I forgot to mention with firebox size (again from the Franklin master class). Bigger firebox/cooker can produce a bigger fire (without overheating the unit), which will have a bigger coal bed. With a bigger & hotter coal bed, it's much easier to get faster combustion and cleaner smoke. There's ways around this with really small cookers, like adding small splits very frequently, but definitely not as easy and consistent.
But that big coal bed won't bring you over your target temp?
I thought the way to the cleanest smoke is to use the smallest, hottest fire possible fire that will get you to the temp you need.
But that big coal bed won't bring you over your target temp?
I thought the way to the cleanest smoke is to use the smallest, hottest fire possible fire that will get you to the temp you need.