Blackstone 36" Griddle

So, I got it drug into the garage and opened up the box. Everything was well packaged and the outside perimeter was protected with Styrofoam.

Opened up the small packages and laid the parts out. One very nice feature with the packaging is that the hardware was in a bubble pack which made it very easy to see what was there and would have been obvious had something been missing.

The two swivel wheels come already installed. I installed the other two with the frame still in the box. For the rest of the assembly, instead of working on the floor, I put the frame up on my bench. The legs fold out and you attach the lower shelf and the bracket for the LP tank.

Then down to the floor to add the side shelves and the top. It sits on the frame with 4 steel pins on the top located in holes in the frame.
Assembly couldn't have been easier, but I used a lot more tools than a crescent wrench and screw driver like the instructions tell you. I also used a couple of clamps to hold the legs up while attaching the shelf, and since I was working with it upside down, a couple more to hold the shelf in place while installing the thumbscrews. I used a few metric sockets and wrenches too. It "Could" be done with a crescent wrench and screwdriver, but a few more tools makes it much easier. Total time from opening the box to finished product was under an hour, and I was watching the news as I was working, so I would say it can be done in 30 minutes assuming you have all the needed tools at hand.

One online review I saw made a big deal about attaching the LP tank to the bracket. I didn't have any problem.

I test fired it, fired up on the first push of the igniter, and then lit each burn is succession, and within a few seconds, the top was getting nice and warm.

I left the thumbscrews holding the right hand shelf loose so I can slide it out to fit the spot I cleared for storage. I left the left hand shelf on, since the LP tank is on that side as well.
So far, happy with the quality. Tonight I plan to season it and first cook tomorrow night. :-D

I teach shop at B.U.

Stlsportster said:

I was a Communications undergrad from 87-91.

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Cool!
Go Braves! :clap:

Thanks for the advice, BigKing.
Planning to order the hard cover for it as well.
Great idea with the foil pan to keep the cover out of the oil.
It'll probably live in the garage most of time, definitely want to keep it dry and keep the critters out of it!
Thanks again!

Watched a few of the utubes yesterday regarding seasoning the Blackstone. As BigKing and a couple of utubers mentioned, flaxseed oil can be used, but most of them simply used canola oil.
Todd Toven seems to be Blackstone's utube presence, makes lots of videos, and travels the country doing demonstrations.
His vid on seasoning discussed the different oils and it came down to him using canola, so since I have canola and didn't have flaxseed, I used canola.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DZ_V4IYvUI

Fired it up, cranked up the heat and once it started smoking, squirted on a thin layer of oil and rubbed it in with a paper towel.
Dang! that thing gets hot quick! Then I picked up my tongs and used them to hold the paper towel. My hands are tough enough/numb enough that I can flip a steak on the grill without tongs, but that towel was too hot for me!
Following Todd's procedure, I waited for the oil to burn off, then repeated two more times. I was going to call it a night then, since I had steaks to grill, but since we were having some cheesy potatoes and had a half pound of bacon....

Turned the heat down to about half and fried up the bacon. Cooked up quickly, very crisp and not at all greasy like when we cook it in an iron skillet. I was amazed at how much grease came out of that small amount of bacon. Ate a couple strips and crumbled the rest over the potatoes.

Scrapped off the excess grease, grilled the steaks, and had supper. Found a wing in the bottom of the grill that had fallen through Monday when I cooked up some Moose wings. Still looked and smelled good, so I ................chucked it out in the yard to the critters.

Came back to the griddle, wiped it down and called it a night.
Tonight will be the first "Official" cook on it, green chili bacon cheeseburgers.
I can't wait. :grin:

EDIT: Tonight, I'll do another coat of oil, followed by onions, then bacon, then the burgers. If I'm feeling lucky, I'll try the cheese skirt on the burgers.

The first cook went off without a hitch last night.
I charred a couple of chilli's with a propane torch and a few more over the vortex while I was putting another layer of seasoning on the griddle with a layer of oil and then some onions.
While the second round of chilli's were roasting, I sweated the first ones and diced some more onion.
Then the bacon went on. When it was done, I cleaned and chopped the chilli's, mixed them with the onion and on to the griddle.
Gave them a few minutes and put the burgers down in some bacon grease.
I learned a lot from this first cook.
I need to get more organized. I'm cooking in our attached garage and it's as far from the kitchen as it can be and still be in the house. We do have a family room with a good size wet bar right inside the garage, which works well for my grilling and smoking needs. Now I need to equip it for the griddle as well.
That being said, I didn't get many pictures and none of the final product. I will say they were darn good. Very happy with the BS.
Tonight will be shrimp fried rice, tomorrow morning will be pancakes, sausage, eggs and hash browns.
I'll try to get more pics of these.

Thanks Jeannie!
I'm having a blast with this thing.
I'm out in the garage now trying to figure out where I need to be organizing griddle supplies and equipment.
The good thing is that once it goes out to the patio, the supplies will be right inside the door.