Jason F
MemberGot rid of the matchlight.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2017
- Location
- Atlanta, GA
I'm actually an old member (JasonF, registered in 2004), but I couldn't reset my password because I no longer have access to the account I originally signed up under a very long time ago. Oh well, so I had to register again...
My New Braunfels Bandera is about 12 years old, and to be honest I haven't used it the last 2 seasons. Just been too busy between family, work, travel for work, etc... Every time I wish I could cook on it, I didn't have enough prep time, etc.
I made some time last weekend to take the cover off and give it a once over to see if I needed to do anything to it before I fired it up again. I didn't do a good initial seasoning on the smoker, and since it hasn't been used in a while it's gotten some rust on it it now, and the cooking chamber had a bunch of gunk in the bottom. Seemed like a perfect excuse to rip it apart and give it some TLC and refresh it for the next 10 years worth of use. :-D
Step 1: Gotta break it all down
Thankfully I didn't really have any trouble with anything coming apart after a little WD-40 in a few of the nuts and bolts, especially those attaching the fire box to the cooking chamber.
Step 2: Knocking off the rust
Having never tackled anything like this, it seemed like the perfect time (nay, excuse?) to buy an angle grinder. I was staring at all the disc options when a Home Depot guy who I had overheard talking to another customer walked over and asked if I needed help. Sure, help me find the right disc for taking rust off this smoker.
Unfortunately he pointed me to this product, the Milwaukee Steel Wire Cup Brush (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-3-in-Carbon-Steel-Wire-Cup-Brush-48-52-5060/100030480. As I started using it (again, my first time using an angle grinder), to me it felt like it was working, but not very quickly and didn't seem to have a lot of "bite" - not that I need a LOT of bite, but I needed more than I was getting. So I inspected the packaging again for the brush cup and it's designed more for polishing than material removal.
Unfortunately daylight was fading, and as you can see I'm doing this in my backyard, I don't have a workshop to be working in. So I spent all of my time on the cooking chamber exterior then moved to the interior at the bottom which is really where it probably needs the most remaining attention.
(note that's mostly grass in the bottom of the cook chamber, not wire from the brush cup)
As you can see though, my wire brush cup was disintegrating by this point because I'm sure I was using it too hard and pushing it beyond what it was designed to do. I guess I probably don't have to take it all the way down to the metal like in this rebuild (that swamprb did a few years ago, but maybe it couldn't hurt??
So tomorrow after church I'll be back at it again, but I need a new tool to attack the rest of this. (Or other ideas beyond the angle grinder fellas?) What would you guys suggest? I was looking at some of these as options, but again having no experience at this, if there is a better option please let me know - I realize I don't know what I don't know about this.
option 1: 3" brush knot cup
option 2: 4" twist wire wheel
option3: grinding & polishing wheel)
option 4: quick strip disc
Thanks in advance for the advice fellas, I really appreciate it.
My New Braunfels Bandera is about 12 years old, and to be honest I haven't used it the last 2 seasons. Just been too busy between family, work, travel for work, etc... Every time I wish I could cook on it, I didn't have enough prep time, etc.
I made some time last weekend to take the cover off and give it a once over to see if I needed to do anything to it before I fired it up again. I didn't do a good initial seasoning on the smoker, and since it hasn't been used in a while it's gotten some rust on it it now, and the cooking chamber had a bunch of gunk in the bottom. Seemed like a perfect excuse to rip it apart and give it some TLC and refresh it for the next 10 years worth of use. :-D
Step 1: Gotta break it all down
Thankfully I didn't really have any trouble with anything coming apart after a little WD-40 in a few of the nuts and bolts, especially those attaching the fire box to the cooking chamber.
Step 2: Knocking off the rust
Having never tackled anything like this, it seemed like the perfect time (nay, excuse?) to buy an angle grinder. I was staring at all the disc options when a Home Depot guy who I had overheard talking to another customer walked over and asked if I needed help. Sure, help me find the right disc for taking rust off this smoker.
Unfortunately he pointed me to this product, the Milwaukee Steel Wire Cup Brush (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-3-in-Carbon-Steel-Wire-Cup-Brush-48-52-5060/100030480. As I started using it (again, my first time using an angle grinder), to me it felt like it was working, but not very quickly and didn't seem to have a lot of "bite" - not that I need a LOT of bite, but I needed more than I was getting. So I inspected the packaging again for the brush cup and it's designed more for polishing than material removal.
Unfortunately daylight was fading, and as you can see I'm doing this in my backyard, I don't have a workshop to be working in. So I spent all of my time on the cooking chamber exterior then moved to the interior at the bottom which is really where it probably needs the most remaining attention.
(note that's mostly grass in the bottom of the cook chamber, not wire from the brush cup)
As you can see though, my wire brush cup was disintegrating by this point because I'm sure I was using it too hard and pushing it beyond what it was designed to do. I guess I probably don't have to take it all the way down to the metal like in this rebuild (that swamprb did a few years ago, but maybe it couldn't hurt??
So tomorrow after church I'll be back at it again, but I need a new tool to attack the rest of this. (Or other ideas beyond the angle grinder fellas?) What would you guys suggest? I was looking at some of these as options, but again having no experience at this, if there is a better option please let me know - I realize I don't know what I don't know about this.
option 1: 3" brush knot cup
option 2: 4" twist wire wheel
option3: grinding & polishing wheel)
option 4: quick strip disc
Thanks in advance for the advice fellas, I really appreciate it.
