who was it that built the metal coal box for pit?

[GakFoo]

one poster on here built a square metal box that fit in the offest fire pit of his smoker. if i recall he said it helped keep the coals off the bottom of the rounded fire box and helped increase air flow. there were photos too. i have searched and searched for that thread to no avail. anyone remember who that was? i have a friend who volunteered to make me one, and as i sit here struggling to maintain my pit temp, i think i'll take him up on it, and i'd like to show him the post/photo.

thanks in advance.

 

[LonghornDan]

I don't remember who did it, but I followed their advice and made one for myself. Basically, it was just 4 pieces of 8" x 12" grating and a 12" x 12" piece for the bottom. Home Depot sells this grating over in their section with the toolboxes, at least in The Woodlands. They also carry the L-bracket pieces you'll need - I think I was able to buy two 48" pieces and cut them to fit with a hacksaw since you'll need a piece for each edge of the cube.

A word to the wise - the easiest way to cut the grate to fit is to take a chisel you don't mind ruining and a hammer - instead of trying to hacksaw all the grate pieces, just put it on the ground against a backing piece of wood and chisel your way across.

 

[Rusk]

It was me. The post above describes it accurately, and I also used a chisel to cut the grates. If you can weld stuff, you can do without all the nuts and bolts and cut down on the cost.

 

[Rusk]

Using that, here is how I get pretty stable temps that last a while.

I light half a chimney worth of charcoal in my chimney starter. Dump that in the box. Then I put 3 split logs of my wood I'm using for that session and let them burn down into a nice bed of coals.

Then I add a single split log each 1 to 1.5 hours as needed, and it stays right around 220F.

With the box grating, I can really quickly punch a hole through all my coals in the dead center of the box to the grate on the bottom. It lets air in straight up from the bottom, and air is all around the sides as you can see.

It's really performed well for me doing it that way.

Because it is a big box, I can throw stuff in and minimize the time the firebox lid is open. In the past I had to be careful not to mess up my pile of coals. But the box keeps things together so I don't have to worry about coals resting against the side of the firebox.

 

[12thStudStan]

I made one for one of my offsets using a jigsaw to cut the expanded metal, which worked better than I thought it would. Mine is welded, but one pictured is a great design. The next one I do I just might bolt it together.

I also made an expanded metal charcoal ring for a bullet smoker that worked like a charm. I just used a lighter gauge metal and bent it into a ring and welded it together at the ends.