Locating a suitable UDS drum

Bob O Q Shawtee said:
Is there reasons why the fire must be roaring and licking high in the sky?
A controled fire not much different to one used in cooking will heat the barrel enough to remove the lining and paint. If the athorities are apt to show up when smoke is reported,you will not be able to use the drum anyhow.

Now there was a story about some fracker South of Ft Worth Tx atracting a lot of attention while burning a barrel out. The problem wasn't the fire in the barrel so much as the whooping,holloring and dancing around it was. :pound:
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The dreaded Red Liner.
 
---k--- said:
Like I said, I've got 2 from Cary. No issues.

You don't need/want one without rust inhibitor. The rust inhitbitor is just a light coat of oil. If it doesn't have this, it will be all rust when you get it. A quick rinse with some Dawn works. The EPDM gasket isn't an issue either. Just scrape it out. And I would ignore the temp rating. That isn't for what you're using it for. Maybe that is when the paint would peel??? Who knows. But these are standard drums. More than likely, any drum you find in Chicago came from them. I guarantee that their drums are perfectly suited to building a UDS.

Another Chicago manufacturer. http://www.skolnik.com/ They would sell me one for about the same price, but it was easier to drive to Addison than the City.

And, if you're interested in a Pitbarrel cooker, PM me. I got one sitting here I don't use much and would be willing to sell you.
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Perfect. That was what I was looking for. I'm curious to see what the Cary sales rep says, since one of my questions was whether the rust inhibitor would be water soluble. And as far as the paint goes, I was expecting it might peel, but I assume if it's a new drum, that won't be as much of an issue since I don't imagine going above 300 deg F that often. In this case, I could bypass the sandblasting.
 
I have a brand new, complete UDS that I had previously posted on the sales and ventures page here. It is made from a brand new unlined, unpainted barrel. Includes fire basket with ash catcher. The guy that wanted it, hasn't picked it up in a month, so it is available. $230 I can repost later when I have a little time. I sent you a message with my contact info if you are interested.
 
I got lucky and got mine blasted for $30. The same place does powder coating. He said he would blast inside and out and paint it for $75 as long as he had the color in stock. I just got the inside blasted. If/when I build another I'm gonna change some things and probably get the paint too. Craigslist is good for drums sometimes if you haven't already checked there.
 
jham0077 said:
I got lucky and got mine blasted for $30. The same place does powder coating. He said he would blast inside and out and paint it for $75 as long as he had the color in stock. I just got the inside blasted. If/when I build another I'm gonna change some things and probably get the paint too. Craigslist is good for drums sometimes if you haven't already checked there.
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Nice deal. I'll follow up with the sandblaster tomorrow on an estimate but this is definitely more of what I had in mind. I don't mind putting on some coats of hi temp BBQ paint but I'll either cave and buy a weed burner or get it sandblasted since I keep reading conflicting things on the rust inhibitor...some say water soluble and give it a good scrub and others say burn/blast it. Leaning towards the latter right now...
 
I purchased a new one from Grainger that had the rust inhibitor When I ran the weed burner around the inside I could see it evaporate off. Two were mineral oil barrel s that had a week green liner in them. Had both sandblasted inside and out for 60$. My baby drum was a unlined food grade lubricant drum. Just washed it out with dawn and weed burned. Painted two with hi temp engine paint and two with hi temp grill. The engine paint looks better and holds up a bit better for me. Dollar or two more can tho.
 
So I may have a solution. The sandblaster wanted $75, so that was discouraging but Apex Drum out in LA can ship an unlined, unpainted drum without the rust inhibitor. They suggest waiting closer to time of use to order, but this might work. They have a choice of gauge, and I assumed the 1.4mm since it may hold heat the best, but the 0.8mm probably will work just as well, no?

Also, if it rusts during shipping, would vinegar get the rust off, followed by cooking spray or Crisco prior to seasoning or is there another food-safe, non-toxic rust remover?

And I was thinking of making the fire basket 8" tall and 17" in diameter using the charcoal grate from a 22" Weber. Hopefully the drum source helps others.
 
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