My grandfather had a stickburner that he would use fairly often. It is a small, heavy gauge pipe steel rig that I think he had custom made while on a job in Mississippi if I remember correctly. He would make briskets, ribs, and the occasional chicken. He also had this godforsaken massive steel welded box that he used as a grill/fire pit. Some of my fondest memories as a kid are sitting around with him while he tended the fire. In retrospect, he way overcooked everything (purposely...he was part of the "if it has any pink in it, it could make you sick" club...grew up dirt poor). But I tell you what...I would give anything to have another one of his crunchy ribs if it meant he were still around. :laugh: :sad:
Anyhow, after he passed, I would get bummed out looking at his pit just sitting in grandma's backyard, so I decided that I would learn to barbecue on it in order to kind of honor his memory. I didn't know the first thing about it, and I had a real problem with burning everything I made on it at first. Used way too much sugar in my rubs and ran it way too damn hot. But after a couple of times, I found my groove. Learned to do the hand-test over the smoke stack to kind of gauge it. I didn't refine my technique until years later when I bought a cheapo offset of my own, but my grandfather's pit is the one on which I cut my teeth. It is on its last legs these days...almost rusted through. But it's still there in grandma's backyard.
If I could see him one more time, I would show him his great grandson, have him meet my wife, and ask him what it's like up there and if I've made him proud. And I'd also show him my pit, because it's just the kind of stout, rugged, heavy-as-hell craftsmanship that he would have appreciated. Brethren, I tell you, sometimes when I fire it up...when I'm cracking open a cold beer, and when George Strait is playing as that oak smoke is in the air...I swear it's like he is there with me, just for a second.