Bar B Q Pit from a Prone Tank

tractorboy5500 · Aug 4, 2011

Thought I would post some picks on my home-made Smoker, Before I get bashed here, I removed all the fittings and filled the tank with water before cutting, and yes I was still afraid to cut on it, I drill a small hole in the door cut out to start the first cut easer. And to keep from warping the door, I cut about 4" and move to another corner to keep the heat down on the metal so the door will be true and have a flush fit when closed.

tractorboy5500 · Aug 4, 2011

More pics,

tractorboy5500 · Aug 4, 2011

The fire box is 1/2" thick, and 22" pipe, that should last awhile. And the legs is 6" pipe and the smoke stack is 5 3/4" sch 80 pipe, I know the smoke stack seems a little heavy but it was cheap at the scrap yard.
This tank is 60 years old and still has writting on the inside of the cap. 3rd pic.

tractorboy5500 · Aug 4, 2011

Sorry about the miss spelling on the pro pane tank on the title, my bad

:ashamed::confused2:

tractorboy5500 · Aug 4, 2011

Grill area :drool:

Alan L. · Aug 4, 2011

Very nice!

tractorboy5500 · Aug 4, 2011

First fire to burn out smell and all the other good stuff, I got it hot as I could for 10 hours. I did this a few times before cooking on it, and for the first time to cook, I bought 20 lbs of beef fat and smoke it for a few hours to help season the pit, and wipe the whole inside with cooking oil before cooking the fat, I guess the fat was good, my dogs and the neighbors dogs ate the **** out of it, :licking: now the dogs realy like me now.

tractorboy5500 · Aug 4, 2011

Not finished with it, the family couldnt wait, so I cooked on it the first time. Yes that is a hatchet, its for the stop when open so the door wont fold all the way back. And the 10" channel on the fire box is a bean warmer or what ever needs to be warmed up. It gets plenty hot.
On the pic with the ID tag, thought I would post it, the tank was made in 1950, Its been in our family the whole time. My mom put a folder together to show at reunions, when we used to play on it when I was young, we called it the steel Bull.
Like I said I am not finished with it, I just bought some 4x7" rect. tubbing to weld on to pick it up with my forks and to make a wood rack on the back of it.
If any of you guys see something to improve with what is already done, I am all ears.

NativeSon · Aug 4, 2011

Great looking Pit! I've had a similar one on a trailer for over 20 years. It's been more fun than feeding monkeys at the zoo. I use to fire it up on Thur. afternoon to cook brisket for Fri lunch special at my restaurant. I'd get it loaded with a case of brisket then head over to the ball park to watch the boys baseball games. When I got back home the neighbors had added hams, sausage or what ever they had and were sitting on ice chests in the drive having an inpromtu party. We had some great times with that pit.

The next morning I'd tow the still smoking pit to work to finish off the brisket and keep it hot. People would pull up at a light and say "Where you goin' with that?" and want to follow me to my destination. Here in Texas the smell of Hickory smoke makes us a little crazy.

You're going to have a lot of fun with that pit.......enjoy!!

Charlie

MarkV · Aug 4, 2011

Nicely done, I am jealous.

MarkV

mwb · Aug 4, 2011

Awesome! I really need to build one. Does the grill area get hot enough to actually BBQ on or just hot smoke?

The hatchet is funny; "hey buddy, can you pass me the hatched?":laughing:
Maybe you should consider a latching lever to support the lid so it can't blow down on you?

Another way to neutralize a tank for cutting is to put exhaust in it. Put a pipe from your car or truck into the tank and let it purge. The exhaust will push oxygen and vapours out and leave inert exhaust inside.

Nice job:thumbsup:

955er · Aug 4, 2011

Yummy:thumbsup:

tlbuser · Aug 4, 2011

Nice conversion from wild bull ride to bull roaster. The only thing I see missing is the brisket

tractorboy5500 · Aug 4, 2011

mwb said:
Awesome! I really need to build one. Does the grill area get hot enough to actually BBQ on or just hot smoke?

The hatchet is funny; "hey buddy, can you pass me the hatched?":laughing:
Maybe you should consider a latching lever to support the lid so it can't blow down on you?

Another way to neutralize a tank for cutting is to put exhaust in it. Put a pipe from your car or truck into the tank and let it purge. The exhaust will push oxygen and vapours out and leave inert exhaust inside.

Nice job:thumbsup:

I can get it up to 475 degree's, for Bar B Qing, 350 is good. The lid is heavy enough it wont blow down, it goes back far enough not to do that.