Whattya mean, "not pretty"??
The architect who designed the United Nations building in New York City left all the pipes & ductwork exposed.
Says that if a thing does what it's supposed t DO, it IS beautiful.

Looks bloody ..GREAT..to me.. :0)

Good job.!

Very popular addition around here would be the addition of wheels and a trailer hitch. Sometimes you'll see one going down the road still smokin'

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wet Spaniel

I bought myself a mig welder a while back and have been teaching myself to weld via YouTube. It’s not very pretty welding but I’m getting there. After a trip to GA some year back and seeing an offset smoker for the first time ever, I always wanted one myself. So I found an old compressor tank and got grinding and welding. She isn’t very pretty but she was good fun to make and it cooks like a dream.

---

Paint hides ah lotta ..Evil ..Bud.. ;0)

I love it. I always wondered what happened to that project. I am happy you are enjoying it. Brad

Ive always said my welding is mediocre but Im an expert with a grinder!!

I knew Fig would like it ........ I do too ..... great job!

I like to watch videos of good welders “stacking dimes”. Always wanted to learn the trade but not to fond of high voltage equipment. Kudos to those of you that can weld well.

Growing up on a farm I learned to weld when I was handed a torch at 7. Wish they w9uld have handed me gloves too.

Thanks chaps! RE the state of my welds, I was getting some advice from a couple of seasoned smoker builders. My favourite comments were ‘’well you ain’t taking her to the county fair’’ and ‘’you’re not building a submarine’’ - both pretty apt !

Here’s some other bits I’ve done - my wife has a horse, hence the abundance of horse shoes!

This is on the side of the road in Mount Dora, Florida.

ALMOST made me get into welding.

I like Jonty's miniature asado in the upper left.

I've been to Patagonia a couple of times, and plan to go again. The asados there are mind-blowing.

I have a couple of cookbooks by Francis Mallmann. In one he gives a recipe for una vaca entera - a whole cow.

One cow, butterflied, about 1500 pounds
Block and tackle
Concrete to set the post
About 2 cords of wood
Friends to help you marinate it all night long

I've done smaller versions with chicken and fish.  Burnt peaches and potato gallette are also favorites.  To tie this into another thread, the burnt peaches go really well with homemade vanilla ice cream.    But the peaches must be ripe and in season locally!  Store bought ones that are picked too soon and shipped won't work.

Eventually I want to build an outdoor brick oven and asado pit for bread, meat, etc.

Francis Mallmann

One of my own miniature asados - chicken a la rebar.

I took a long welding course in 1970. At the time I was engrossed in my new field. I remember getting on the local ferry to Vancouver Island and spending a great deal of the time examining the many welds on the floors, walls, and ceiling. I now agree that one shouldn't take their job home at night.

Back when I was working for Department of Neighborhood Services, I would sometime really ENVY welders.
I mean, I could spend hours or days investigating a property, getting the landlord or the tenants to clean it up, come back a week later, and it's all upfucculated again.

But, a welder gets a bridge or something welded, and, YEARS later, it's still there, LITERALLY strong as steel!

By the way: Love the horseshoe art.

In a previous life at a previous residence a couple of my neighbors had a welding business.  It was a small two man operation, with an occasional helper when business got to be too much.  Usually it was, as Dave said, "hand to mouth for 30 years".  Steel, stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, magnesium... whatever.  But it paid the bills for both families.  Loved those guys.  Tommy died a few years ago.

From my cycling life I can say that frame builders who can TIG weld "a stack of dimes" are revered. I can't say how much of this is cosmetic and how much is structural, but some cyclists like to geek out on such things. For my money, safety and performance are more important than looks (dimes), but I'm not wholly oblivious to a stunning bicycle.

forum.customframeforum.com/t/e...g-tig/132

Of course, none of this matters for a grill or smoker.  It's about the function, and ultimately, the taste.  If Jonty's smoker produces good food, that's the bottom line, dimes and whatnot be damned.  Carry on.

Reuben.. Your photo reminds me of my last ever welding job. It was a wire feed tig machine. I worked in the scaffolding factory for about 1 month. I was still living at home when my dad appeared at the back door of the shop and gave me a message I had been waiting for. The telephone company had called the house and requested me to report for work the following Monday. I ended up staying there for 38 years.

In my prime [cough, hack, cough] I only ever was "okay," [and only with a stick welder], but the years have decreased my hand steadiness, and cataract surgery did a number on my close-up vision, so ...???   

Having said that, I'm too stubborn to just quit, so this morning's cobble-together ['twasn't involved enuff to call it a "project"] was to construct a vertical rack in a corner of the shop for cut-off lengths of steel ... using bits of livestock paneling that I'd stolen (?) from our municipal dump* some time back.  The top-and-bottom "grid" is a b-i-g improvement from just leaning them in the corner.   [And like Dave ^^, I'm better with a grinder than a welder.]

* - It's off onto a tangent, but for those that think that having a set-aside at the dump for "useful" items adds significantly to the operation, I gotta ask: How long do you think it would be 'til somebody drops off scrap pieces of livestock paneling in the "good" shed?

quote:

---

Originally posted by reubenstump

I like Jonty's miniature asado in the upper left.

I've been to Patagonia a couple of times, and plan to go again. The asados there are mind-blowing.

I have a couple of cookbooks by Francis Mallmann. In one he gives a recipe for una vaca entera - a whole cow.

One cow, butterflied, about 1500 pounds
Block and tackle
Concrete to set the post
About 2 cords of wood
Friends to help you marinate it all night long

I've done smaller versions with chicken and fish.  Burnt peaches and potato gallette are also favorites.  To tie this into another thread, the burnt peaches go really well with homemade vanilla ice cream.    But the peaches must be ripe and in season locally!  Store bought ones that are picked too soon and shipped won't work.

 

---

I love your rebar chicken!!  I have to admit that a full size asado cross is on my radar - i live in sheep country (literally with sheep over the garden wall) and I'd love to cook a whole one over fire.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Owen

In my prime [cough, hack, cough] I only ever was "okay," [and only with a stick welder], but the years have decreased my hand steadiness, and cataract surgery did a number on my close-up vision, so ...???   

Having said that, I'm too stubborn to just quit, so this morning's cobble-together ['twasn't involved enuff to call it a "project"] was to construct a vertical rack in a corner of the shop for cut-off lengths of steel ... using bits of livestock paneling that I'd stolen (?) from our municipal dump* some time back.  The top-and-bottom "grid" is a b-i-g improvement from just leaning them in the corner.   [And like Dave ^^, I'm better with a grinder than a welder.]

* - It's off onto a tangent, but for those that think that having a set-aside at the dump for "useful" items adds significantly to the operation, I gotta ask: How long do you think it would be 'til somebody drops off scrap pieces of livestock paneling in the "good" shed?

 

---

Owen, my close up sight is crappy these days, I found that you can buy a lens to fit inside the screen on your welding hood - it saves me a lot of faffing with the rigmarole of glasses on/hood on/glasses off/do the hokey pokey/turn around.  I've also discovered bifocal safety glasses - they truly are a wonder for DIY jobs.

Thanks Jonty .... I was unaware, but a bit of research (?) tells me they're commonly called cheater lenses over here.  I will check 'em out, but when I say "did a number" I'm not exaggerating.  I've worn progressive bifocals for years, but the optometrist couldn't make 'em work post-cataract, so she advised conventional (?) ones with the "line."  My close-up vision remained just as ****ty, but now I have to tip my head 'w-a-y back and look down my nose ...... and, among other things,  still can't read most of the price stickers at the grocery store!!!    But on the other side of the ledger, it improved my distance vision enuff that the "corrective lenses" restriction was removed from my drivers license.

While killing time t'other day [a.k.a. waiting for my wife while she shopped], I wandered into the vision department of Walmart.   The optician asked, so I told her what I figured I needed. Her reply:  "You'll be waiting 'til hell freezes over, and then some."

quote:

---

Originally posted by Knows Picker

This is on the side of the road in Mount Dora, Florida.

ALMOST made me get into welding.

Now if it had articulated legs that could be "driven" from inside the bug.

And thats why I stopped. I MIGHT have just enough knowledge of electronics and hydraulics to make that happen.

One step away from becoming the Killdozer Guy.

C'mon, Nose!
Just DO it!

The fun thing about a six-legged insect, is that it CAN move thee legs, while having the other three on the ground, as a very stable tripod.
So, you needn't have six different controls, one for each leg.
Just TWO controls.
This here one does one on the left, two on the right, and that there one does one on the right, two on the left.

If your junkyard hasn't got a cheap enough bug body, cobble one up out of newspaper over chicken wire, maybe with leftover paint or even flour/water paste as a binder.

Too bad it's such a commute from Sonova Beach to Florida, or I'd come on down and help what I could.
 

Work of art as far as I'm concerned!