Soda Blast to Restore a Kamado

[trucdan]

I bought this #3 kamado for $30. The owner painted it with metallic silver. I tried to use my power wash to wash off the paint, but little came off. Then I came across a cheap soda blaster from Harbor Freight. $99.0 but got a %20 off last weekend. Just testing on that and looks like I should be able to get the paint off nicely. LOL, this will be a fun project.

[Bigbears BBQ]

Congrats on the new Kamado and keep us update on its progress

[Big George's BBQ]

Nice will be watching your progress. What's the soda blaster

[trucdan]

Soda blasting is the process to apply sodium bicarbonate to a surface to remove paint, rust, etc. Similar to sand blasting, but less destructive. The sodium bicarbonate is similar to a very fine salt, and they are blasted out using an air compressor.

[CakeM1x]

That thing looks beeeeeeat! Happy restoring, projects are always fun!

What's a soda blaster do that a hpw doesn't?

[trucdan]

I think soda blaster is similar to using sand papers. The difference is it much easier to take care of corners, grooves, uneven surface than sanding by hands. I think a powerfull high pressure water would be able to remove paint, but mine is not that powerful.

[dwfisk]

I bought that same soda blaster to clean our pool tiles & grout, worked great. I'm thinking it will do a great job on the kamodo too.

[MattGoose]

Dude - where'd you find that?!?!!

[trucdan]

I found the Kamado on Craigslist. The owner needs to move out of his place quickly so $30 is just a fee for someone to take it out right away. I was lucky, but I committed myself for a 2 hours drive to get it.

I also bought a bigger Kamado the next day; also from Craigslist for $200. This one is almost in a excellent condition, except the broken damper. The funny thing is that I was looking for Kamado in the last 3 months and ended up buying two on the same weekend. I had to delete my Craigslist app last week :).

[dgaddis1]

A good hi-tenp cook won't get the paint off?

[Peteg]

Nice score. Good luck with the blasting! Looking forward to seeing the after pics.

[jimithing78]

A good hi-tenp cook won't get the paint off?

These old kamado's are made of clay, not ceramic like current day BGE's and such. If you go above 400 or 500 you'll crack it.

Hope the restoration goes well OP. Does it have all the internals in good shape? I had an older one like that at one point - made some great chicken in it.