Wow.....587 pages later....I finally read every post!

A bit numb at the moment. I am trying to locate a drum to start working on mine. I have a MIG welder and tools to build what ever I need to (by-product of restoring a vintage car in my garage).

Burning out a drum is not an option were I live as I would have the City, Fire Department, EPA, CARB (California Air Resource Board), Sierra Club, PETA, The Gladys Cravits Nosey Neighborhood Association, and the Colgate Cavity Patrol kicking in my door if I tried. So I need to go with a reconditioned bare-metal drum.

Has anyone in the So Calif ever bought drums from Apex Drum (Commerce, CA) or Ditty Drum (So. El Monte)? Both sell reconditioned open-top bare-steel drums for about $40. Ditty had one style that will work, and Apex had them in different gauge metal thickness that range in price from $40-$70.

Have been smoking on a GOSM Big Block for a number of years, and looking to get into doing some Charcoal smoking for the flavor. I figure a UDS is right up my alley.

-Regards

Yeah, $45 is an awesome price. I spent $70 on mine!

-r

I haven't seen any replies to your post, so I'll just toss this out there... I got my drum at Capital Drum in Roseville, near Sacramento:

http://www.capitaldrum.com/

It's a bit of a haul, but if you run out of options and get desperate... LOL One good thing about the drum I got there is that they make the lids in that shop, so I got one that was freshly pressed and didn't have paint or a gasket applied. That way, I could paint it how I wanted to (gloss engine paint) and didn't have to scrape out the lid gasket. :thumb: It was also unlined. I washed it with dish soap to get out anything that was in there, but the very slight rust that I saw on the metal after I brought it home indicated that it was probably completely bare steel.

-Rodney

I bought a refurbished, unlined, closed end drum from Ditty for $29. I took my dome lid with me and decided on the closed end drum as it required the least amount of work to make the lid fit snugly.

$15 drums on this add http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/for/2615815128.html
I got about 6 so far from another guy with the same drums. The green drums fit the weber lid just fine, plus you get the flat lid and snap ring.

Yobtaf, I believe those have some kind of liner in them. So that isn't a good option for me as doing a full scale burnout is not possible where I live.

Carbon, thanks for the info. Did they ones you get have any kind of liner or rust inhibitor in them?

I definitely found no liner (at least the one I got) upon cutting the top open. It looked bare as far as I can tell. I took a weed burner to it to remove the exterior paint, while definitely burning off and sanitizing the inside at the same time.

any non galvanized/zinc ideas for covering up a 1" hole from the hole saw? I made an error and measured and cut with the drum facing the wrong. I have an air intake hole on the side up top. Unfortunately i have no access to a welder.

Maybe rivet in some sheet metal could even use sheet metal screw but rivets would be cleaner. Or just throw a 3/4 pipe plug in it :-)

pwa

Thanks Rodney. Probably going to be too far for this trip, but excellent to know about.

A screw, a nut, and a couple of slightly pre-bent stainless fender washers about 1.5" in diameter? Shouldn't be too hard to find something that will stand the temps that'll exist at the top of your drum. A scrap of sheetmetal and some RTV would also work great, especially on clean steel, provided that you're only going to smoke on this drum and won't be grilling.

-r

Do you have to do a stacked UDS or can you do a sideways UDS? Does it matter? I realize if it's stacked you can determine how far to put your meat form the fire, but just curious if that's the only reason to do stacked.

Just put a magnet over it! Otherwise, I'd say another nipple and a cap.

Thanks for the advice. the magnets arent holding as well as i thought so i went to go buy the nipple/cap. Right next to the nipple was the 3/4" black iron plug which was cheaper and is threaded so i bought that. it screwed right in perfectly.

Found a drum for sale on Craigslist. It is a food grade drum with a removable top with the ring around the lid for $10 only used once. Sound like a good deal? Also as for the ring are they necessary to keep or can I toss it? For the food grade I'm guessing it'll have a liner what's the process of getting that liner burnt off? Thanks.