The Texas BBQ Forum

Bought this smoker a few months ago, and some of you might have noticed that I cook when I want to cook regardless of what Mother Nature is up to.

So I've got some rust on my firebox. (Which is how I lost my first smoker.)

What do I do?
It's mostly superficial right now, but I want to knock this out.

Imagine (which is mostly true) that I will have to buy everything to do this. Please be as specific as possible to help me save my smoker from an early retirement.

I have a grinder, a wire brush attachment has crossed my mind. I don't want to go overboard.

See pictures.
Thanks in advance!

i keep a stainless pot scrubber and a can of high temperature RustOLeum paint out by my cooker
anytime it starts getting that dull look i give it a scrub and a squirt of paint
i don't do the whole thing, just the area that needs it
if you do it before a cook, the heat from the cook helps dry and harden the presh paint

I put a stainless brush in my cordless drill and get after the rust. When it's gone I hit it with the high heat spray. Seems to work well.

TX1911 wrote:I put a stainless brush in my cordless drill and get after the rust. When it's gone I hit it with the high heat spray. Seems to work well.

What about the inside?
Can I paint in there?

I wouldn't, but im n paranoid about toxins. I'd say hit it with the brush then season it really well.

I've never had the issue though.

BladeRunner wrote:

TX1911 wrote:I put a stainless brush in my cordless drill and get after the rust. When it's gone I hit it with the high heat spray. Seems to work well.

What about the inside?
Can I paint in there?

brush or scrub it with a stainless pot scrubber
than spray it with PAM or any veg/oil spray

Inside I'd wire brush then light coating of cooking oil. Simple as. I use that method for keeping my drum ready until next time.

Russ

If it was your time and money... what would you buy?

If you already have a cordless drill, just do the drill attachment. Less labor and cost IMHO.

this is what i use
and i have another dedicated one that i use to scrub my OldSmokey grill after each cook

Also, I don't know if it was mentioned yet.. After you get the rust knocked off, you can keep it slathered down with a coat of veggie oil to extend rust prevention.

I stripped just the firebox lid down to the bare metal because it was constantly blistering paint. I buffed it down with a wire wheel after sanding, and then applied cooking oil before a long brisket cook. By the end of the cook the metal was seasoned just like a cast iron skillet. Even after weeks of rain storms it's still beading water like rain-x. Now I"m using flax seed oil to coat it because I've read it gets super hard after you cook it in.

Here's the raw steel with some PAM oil on it:


After the first long cook it turned almost a bronze color:


After 4 days of rain the water was beading off better than a painted surface. It's been a couple of months now and it still looks the same. I do cook on it all the time though, so I don't know what would happen if it was left alone for long periods of time without any care.


Every once in a while I'll wipe out the inside of my firebox and spray it down good with PAM. It seems to help keep it seasoned.


I go through this stuff so fast I buy it in the 2 packs at Wally World:

slamkeys wrote:I stripped just the firebox lid down to the bare metal because it was constantly blistering paint. I buffed it down with a wire wheel after sanding, and then applied cooking oil before a long brisket cook. By the end of the cook the metal was seasoned just like a cast iron skillet. Even after weeks of rain storms it's still beading water like rain-x. Now I"m using flax seed oil to coat it because I've read it gets super hard after you cook it in.

Here's the raw steel with some PAM oil on it:


After the first long cook it turned almost a bronze color:


After 4 days of rain the water was beading off better than a painted surface. It's been a couple of months now and it still looks the same. I do cook on it all the time though, so I don't know what would happen if it was left alone for long periods of time without any care.


Every once in a while I'll wipe out the inside of my firebox and spray it down good with PAM. It seems to help keep it seasoned.


I go through this stuff so fast I buy it in the 2 packs at Wally World:

Hey slamkeys,
That is what I'm talking about!!
I cook a fair bit. At least one brisket a month, sometimes 3. I'm just starting to get the hang of chickens after doing 3 turkeys thanksgiving weekend. Figuring out pork ribs now that I got a wireless thermo with a smaller probe.
I cook for myself, I cook for neighbors, a few coworkers ... birthdays for friends. Pretty much any reason I can find, I'll fire that baby up.

I'm gonna ask some questions here that may be a bit over the top but I want to replicate what you've done there.

Electric sander to remove the paint- inside and out? Or just outside? What grit?

Wire wheel- can you grab a link from Amazon if exactly what you mean?

Thanks!

I posted more details on the Yoder site:
http://community.yodersmokers.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=999

I've never worried too much about the inside of my firebox because i always keep a cover on the pit when not in use, but I do spray it down with PAM periodically. I only sanded the outside of the firebox lid because that is the only place that seems to get hot enough to burn the paint off.

I hand-sanded the lid with a rubber sanding block and some adhesive-backed sandpaper I picked up at O'Reilly Auto. There was 80 grit and 120 grit in the assortment.

The wire wheel was a cup shape like this one I used with a portable Milwaukee 12v drill: