homemade charcoal basket,,what ya think ?

Great idea - keen to see how it worked out

These are great addition to a weber if you use lump charcoal. Ive got a smaller side basket I made for my 26in. Perfect for indirect. Kind of wish I made it full size like yours.

Ive got to ask though...dont be mad at me... but is that mild steel (untreated) expanded metal? I ask because I made my first basket from a stuff known as lathing, used for old style plaster walls (so plaster could stick to it). I thought it was a great idea, cheap, and easy to work with. Only later did I think about the zinc coating that material has. Your picture kind of looks like its zinc coated.

I used it a half dozen times before I wised up. Now Im not as smart, tend to walk in circles, and grew three extra fingers. The fingers fell off when I threw it away and made an expanded steel basket, but only because the grinder took them off making the new basket (zinc poisoning threw off my coordination). Zinc vapor poisoning is bad, so make sure its not coated in the stuff, because a hot fire will vaporize it for sure.

If it is proper expanded metal, then carry on!

The zinc is something to keep a check on. Also, be sure to keep your standard grate under it, because it just looks a little light weight to me.

Good luck.

roncoinc said:

I checked it,,,in scrap pile now !!
tnx for the heads up.

Click to expand...

That sucks man!!! Sorry to be bearer of bad news, but with zinc it really seems like its way better to be safe than sorry. It's much better to toss than to worry about it as you eat that perfectly seared steak. I ended up using my extra lathing material to make a large seive to seperate rocks out of some good dirt I needed to move around the yard

Home depot, or Ace hardware have expanded steel in their "metal shop" bin. Usually in cardboard, labeled "expanded sheet". Usually available in 12x24. You might have to look a bit harder for the 24x24 (kind of pricey at that size). Get the one with the smallest grate pattern you can (usually 1/2 inch). They might have two thickness gauges available. The thin one has held up well in my weber, even though it has warped a bit.

If you get the thinner gauge (18gauge) you should be able to cut it with a tin snip or a diagonal cutter. It will be tedious and make your hands sore, but its doable. However, if you get the thick stuff (13 gauge), youll need a grinder to cut it.

It's worth it to make another one, especially if you use lump like I do. Makes it much more efficeint to use, and it wont drop the chunks onto the cleaning vanes on the bottom of the kettle, which tend to chew them up when swiping them back and forth.