We made a grill
Welcome back to the Farm Life Farm Blog. It has been a while. Well I did just publish a greenhouse post, but prior to that I took a month-long hyatis. From the blog, not from the work.
I have a friend and she has two boys; well men now. Ten years ago, her eldest took a welding class. We see our children grow and know that it will be hard to find quality time as they develop their independance. You cannot read your 19 year old son a bed time story. So she happened across half an oil tank, found a way to get it in an SUV, and brought it home so they could build a grill together. As the years past, it became more of a family joke than project. They could not devise a lid or find time to get together and work on it.
Then one day she asked me if I had a welder and could help get the project done. We set a date and got together. I must admit that I have no technical training and did not aprentice or go to trade school. I have just tried things and read a lot. Youtube has helped a bit too. Her eldest son is an engineer. As we began the grill project, the eldest was writing things down and measuring other things and asking me technical questions. Unfortunately my answers remained a constant, "I dunno, we will see what works", which was met with mild consternation. I might have made it 20 minutes before asking, "are you an engineer?"
I slowly backed away and took care of ancillary duties like cutting and grinding to get the pieces ready for welding. The brothers tackled the actual welding and designing.
About 6 hours in, the boys were frustrated and I was tired. The welder overheated and we called it a day. I left all the gear there and they attacked it again a few days later. They had the back and sides on the day I was there and focused on the lid. Aparently they had a good day until they thought it was done: the lid did not close correctly. It was later relayed to me that the engineer commented that there might be legitamicy to the way I work.
My next free day I returned and showed the younger son what they had done wrong and we got everything lined up nice and secured all the pieces with welds.
What were we working with?
A 40 year old Lincoln Mig Weld-pac 120v
Half an oil tank
Two 55 gallon maple syrup drums
One tailgate from an 2004ish Chevy truck
Inside the box I had cut the grate from a rock sorting machine to hold the charcoal or wood with two levels in there to choose how close to your food the heat is. We cut 2 inch flat steel to support the grill grates whch are stainless steel fish net. The flat top is a great addition. We added enough supports that all the grates and the flattop can be moved around based on heat or convenience. The lid handle is a piece of Maple tree that had a perfect natural curve.Sanding and painting has happened since I have been there. The vision has been realized and the family is happy with the results and mom is slowly seasoning the new paint with small fires in the grill.
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