Hello Brethren, my name is WeberWho. (Yes a lame forum name but my intentions were to ask a couple questions on the original egghead forum and jump ship. Eight years later I'm still posting and the name has stuck)
My first grill was an imitation Weber Smokey Mountain I found on clearance for $60. This was a game changer for me. I didn't know anyone personally that owned a smoker so it was very much a learning experience. After a few years on the imitation Weber Smokey Mountain I started to look for alternative options. I ended up coming across a grill/smoker called Big Green Egg when doing some research online. I was intrigued with the product but never seen or heard of them. Especially here in Minnesota. I found a place in the Twin Cities that carried them. I was pretty much sold as soon as I saw it. Buying a $700 large Big Green Egg was a little different than buying a $60 imitation grill. The lifetime warranty was the selling point for me. Figuring that this could be the only grill/smoker that I'll ever need to buy. (What a laughable statement when looking back!) I think I've owned 8 Big Green Eggs over the last 8 years. I'm down to 4 eggs now but have drank my fair share of the Kool-aid over the years. Loving every minute of it!
After 8 years of grilling/smoking with a Big Green Egg, I was in need for something a little different. Nothing against BGE but wanted something else to play with. I knew my next smoker was going to be an offset but wasn't sure the make or model. The Good One Marshall smoker has always caught my eye when looking at smokers. I really liked the design but I couldn't justify the cost and lump consumption for my wife and I. (My most expensive grill/smoker was my 1st large Big Green Egg. The other eggs I've bought were either used, on clearance, or won) So my next smoker had to be cheap or previously owned. When doing some research I found out that The Good One grills made a smaller offset called "Open Range". Right than and there I knew my next smoker was going to be The Good One Open Range. Now where to find one used?
I ended up finding a used Open Range smoker down in Emporia, Kansas for a good price. Road trip!!!
Sorry for the long introduction but wanted to give you a little insight of myself and me not knowing what I'm about to get myself into.....
I asked my wife on a Friday if we had anything planned for the weekend. She said nothing was planned. I asked her if she was interested in going on a road trip. She was down. So we left early Saturday morning from Minnesota to make our way down to Kansas to buy the Open Range Smoker. The drive itself was painless going down. We picked up the smoker for a good price but it was rusty and crusty. All good though. On the way home I met up with one of my old roommates in Kansas City and hit up Q39 for dinner. The goal was to hit Des Moines and grab a hotel for the night. Except we kept hearing on the radio that a big winter storm was going to hit between Des Moines and the Twin Cities. So our option was to fight the beginning of the storm tired or fight the whole storm rested the next day. We decided to keep on moving. After seeing all kinds of cars in the ditches with pounding snow coming down I decided to pull off and clear my head. Here's a picture of the smoker all tied down when clearing my head.
After fighting the snow storm for the last 4 hours of the trip we made it home. 1,117 miles in 23 hours. Not sure if it was worth it with the storm but an adventure nontheless.
Picture of the smoker after being pulled out of the truck.
I signed up here on the forum to ask a couple questions on where to start on the smoker for restoration but I ended up working through any questions I had. I started with any smaller parts that would fit in my Dad's sandblasting cabinet. Which wasn't much.
Parts hung to be painted.
The rest of sandblasting was a huge undertaking to say the least. I started out by grinding out the grates and lid pins that were spot welded.
More random sandblasting shots.
Paint.
My feeble attempt to heat treat the paint.
I didn't like the Fisher Price looking wheels so I switched them out with some bigger pneumatic wheels. The bigger wheels made the smoker sit at an angle. My Dad had an extra set of rubber seat bumpers from his John Deere mower that we turned into feet.
My Dad welding the pins back into place and welding a couple rods onto expanded steel grates we cut out
I did a boil test on the thermometer and it was a good 20+ degress off. I tried adjusting the nut on back of the thermometer but I ended up busting it. My bad! The thermometer seemed to be an oddball. It had a big thick stem on it to fill a hole in the lid. So your typical grill thermometer wouldn't work in the big hole.
My Dad is a mechanical engineer by trade so he came up with something to fill the hole. He cut down and bored a bolt and nut to fit your standard grill thermometer.
First time being lit to burn off any chemicals.
Finished product.
1st cook.
Unfortunately this will probably be the one and only cook this smoker sees. Nothing like driving all the way down to Kansas and than putting in 30 hours to restore a smoker to only sell it. The smoker itself seems to be an excellent smoker. I ended up buying another smoker and can use the cash. I'll make a different post on the new smoker. I'm excited to make the jump over to an offset smoker. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
My first grill was an imitation Weber Smokey Mountain I found on clearance for $60. This was a game changer for me. I didn't know anyone personally that owned a smoker so it was very much a learning experience. After a few years on the imitation Weber Smokey Mountain I started to look for alternative options. I ended up coming across a grill/smoker called Big Green Egg when doing some research online. I was intrigued with the product but never seen or heard of them. Especially here in Minnesota. I found a place in the Twin Cities that carried them. I was pretty much sold as soon as I saw it. Buying a $700 large Big Green Egg was a little different than buying a $60 imitation grill. The lifetime warranty was the selling point for me. Figuring that this could be the only grill/smoker that I'll ever need to buy. (What a laughable statement when looking back!) I think I've owned 8 Big Green Eggs over the last 8 years. I'm down to 4 eggs now but have drank my fair share of the Kool-aid over the years. Loving every minute of it!
After 8 years of grilling/smoking with a Big Green Egg, I was in need for something a little different. Nothing against BGE but wanted something else to play with. I knew my next smoker was going to be an offset but wasn't sure the make or model. The Good One Marshall smoker has always caught my eye when looking at smokers. I really liked the design but I couldn't justify the cost and lump consumption for my wife and I. (My most expensive grill/smoker was my 1st large Big Green Egg. The other eggs I've bought were either used, on clearance, or won) So my next smoker had to be cheap or previously owned. When doing some research I found out that The Good One grills made a smaller offset called "Open Range". Right than and there I knew my next smoker was going to be The Good One Open Range. Now where to find one used?
I ended up finding a used Open Range smoker down in Emporia, Kansas for a good price. Road trip!!!
Sorry for the long introduction but wanted to give you a little insight of myself and me not knowing what I'm about to get myself into.....
I asked my wife on a Friday if we had anything planned for the weekend. She said nothing was planned. I asked her if she was interested in going on a road trip. She was down. So we left early Saturday morning from Minnesota to make our way down to Kansas to buy the Open Range Smoker. The drive itself was painless going down. We picked up the smoker for a good price but it was rusty and crusty. All good though. On the way home I met up with one of my old roommates in Kansas City and hit up Q39 for dinner. The goal was to hit Des Moines and grab a hotel for the night. Except we kept hearing on the radio that a big winter storm was going to hit between Des Moines and the Twin Cities. So our option was to fight the beginning of the storm tired or fight the whole storm rested the next day. We decided to keep on moving. After seeing all kinds of cars in the ditches with pounding snow coming down I decided to pull off and clear my head. Here's a picture of the smoker all tied down when clearing my head.
After fighting the snow storm for the last 4 hours of the trip we made it home. 1,117 miles in 23 hours. Not sure if it was worth it with the storm but an adventure nontheless.
Picture of the smoker after being pulled out of the truck.
I signed up here on the forum to ask a couple questions on where to start on the smoker for restoration but I ended up working through any questions I had. I started with any smaller parts that would fit in my Dad's sandblasting cabinet. Which wasn't much.
Parts hung to be painted.
The rest of sandblasting was a huge undertaking to say the least. I started out by grinding out the grates and lid pins that were spot welded.
More random sandblasting shots.
Paint.
My feeble attempt to heat treat the paint.
I didn't like the Fisher Price looking wheels so I switched them out with some bigger pneumatic wheels. The bigger wheels made the smoker sit at an angle. My Dad had an extra set of rubber seat bumpers from his John Deere mower that we turned into feet.
My Dad welding the pins back into place and welding a couple rods onto expanded steel grates we cut out
I did a boil test on the thermometer and it was a good 20+ degress off. I tried adjusting the nut on back of the thermometer but I ended up busting it. My bad! The thermometer seemed to be an oddball. It had a big thick stem on it to fill a hole in the lid. So your typical grill thermometer wouldn't work in the big hole.
My Dad is a mechanical engineer by trade so he came up with something to fill the hole. He cut down and bored a bolt and nut to fit your standard grill thermometer.
First time being lit to burn off any chemicals.
Finished product.
1st cook.
Unfortunately this will probably be the one and only cook this smoker sees. Nothing like driving all the way down to Kansas and than putting in 30 hours to restore a smoker to only sell it. The smoker itself seems to be an excellent smoker. I ended up buying another smoker and can use the cash. I'll make a different post on the new smoker. I'm excited to make the jump over to an offset smoker. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
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