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I occasionally visit a BBQ forum (www.thesmokering.com), and it's surprising how much the BBQ folks are like the woodworking folks. It's a very sharing bunch of people, who like to post pics of their cookers and the food they make with them. (Just like our tool and project pics.) This forum has a range of expertise from rookie backyard chefs to commercial BBQ caterers and competition cooks, and the experienced guys are real willing to help us novices. A lot of the guys there are also into building their own cookers. (Stu got some advice there when he was doing his recent cooker build.)
I mentioned there a while back that I needed to add a drain to my outdoor cooker, but hadn't figured out a good way to attach a drain pipe and valve to the bottom of the cooking chamber. One of the regular members there (and a prolific builder of very nice cookers) sent me a PM and offered to make something to help me out. After I sent him the diameter of my cooker, he sent me this...
I added a 3/4" ball valve to the pipe nipple, drilled a hole in the bottom of my cooker, added a bit of high-temp silicone sealer, some wire, and an empty dog food can, and ended up with this...
I was very grateful for the help, but the guy who made the part wouldn't accept any money for it. He even refused to let me pay the postage. He said it was just scraps from his shop, and for him, shop time was fun time, so he enjoyed the chance to help someone (a complete stranger) out.
So a couple weeks ago, I decided to use up some of my scraps, and spend a little fun shop time myself. The end result showed up on his doorstep Tuesday. It's about 11 1/4" x 9 1/2", curly maple and walnut, with a little mineral oil for good measure...
This guy (k.a.m.) and his wife (Mrs. k.a.m., also a member on that forum) both do a lot of cooking, so I figured it was something they could get some use out of. Based on the PM he sent me Tuesday evening, I'd say they were both pleasantly surprised. He told me that a knife blade won't ever get close to it, something I've heard from almost everyone who has one of my "cutting" boards.
I mentioned there a while back that I needed to add a drain to my outdoor cooker, but hadn't figured out a good way to attach a drain pipe and valve to the bottom of the cooking chamber. One of the regular members there (and a prolific builder of very nice cookers) sent me a PM and offered to make something to help me out. After I sent him the diameter of my cooker, he sent me this...
I added a 3/4" ball valve to the pipe nipple, drilled a hole in the bottom of my cooker, added a bit of high-temp silicone sealer, some wire, and an empty dog food can, and ended up with this...
I was very grateful for the help, but the guy who made the part wouldn't accept any money for it. He even refused to let me pay the postage. He said it was just scraps from his shop, and for him, shop time was fun time, so he enjoyed the chance to help someone (a complete stranger) out.
So a couple weeks ago, I decided to use up some of my scraps, and spend a little fun shop time myself. The end result showed up on his doorstep Tuesday. It's about 11 1/4" x 9 1/2", curly maple and walnut, with a little mineral oil for good measure...
This guy (k.a.m.) and his wife (Mrs. k.a.m., also a member on that forum) both do a lot of cooking, so I figured it was something they could get some use out of. Based on the PM he sent me Tuesday evening, I'd say they were both pleasantly surprised. He told me that a knife blade won't ever get close to it, something I've heard from almost everyone who has one of my "cutting" boards.