smoking UDS build and eventually some cooking

I've been burning it for about 4 hours now and it smells like a smoker, no off fumes except when I started and that was the butter oil. By the way that oil smelt like popcorn butter. I filled the barrel up twice with all hardwood branches and it had coals up to the bottom ring. The only paint burning is on the outside mostly around the air intakes. I'll do another burn tomorrow after I check to see if the paint comes off.
 
I did find this saying it's good to 400F.
coating.jpg

 
After a while I set the lid on cracked to keep the heat up hoping it burns the lid but that didn't happen, not hot enough with it on there.
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The info you quoted for that coating should not make you comfortable. You really should burn it/scrub it all out. These are temp rated coatings for hot fills, not for combustion, which can release different chemicals etc.
 
A few videos online I've seen about UDS builds show the guys throwing pallets and pallets and pallets worth of wood in the barrel, with rip-roaring flames coming out of the top...... for multiple days. Get a RAGING fire in that bad boy. Just keep filling up, like a bum trying to keep warm in the Winter, hahaha. Then scrape away inside/outside excess paint.

You also might wanna look into fabricating some kind of 'divider' for that charcoal basket. Just a flat piece of metal, about 3/4 the length of the basket, to divide it into two sections, so it burns like one long giant "snake"

Hard for me to explain, so I drew this, lol:
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Or, if you opt for a circular basket:
IMG_6212.JPG


Drop your pre-lit coals on the 'X' and the fire will work its way around the basket

If it were just one big huge 'open' basket, the charcoal would take off like wildfire and probably run hot. With a divider, you might get a more consistent (semi-"controlled") burn. Just a thought

Again, I've never built one, dude. So, take that with a grain of salt. Just trying to pass on some info that may be helpful
:cheers:

There's a video out there somewhere, with a guy showing a close up of his charcoal basket w/ the divider. If I can find it I'll post it here :cheers:
 
Mike, I already thought of that. I don't think it's gonna make a difference from what I saw today with the lid on. The intake only allows so much air and only the coals that get air burn and those are closest to the air intake. This was after I burned all that wood to make coals. And it would be great to make coals, I was impressed by how much was left after I covered it. It flamed up fast after I pulled the lid. 
 
I hate it when plans don't work out....
 
I talked to my uncle today, he's friends with a guy who owns a sandblast shop and that was my ticket to a free sandblast. I call him up and ask about it and he says the shop closed because the guy died.
 
I'm like WHAT? We were all together about 5 months ago eating lunch and the guy was only about 58. He had a massive heart attack at the hunting camp and his wife shut the business down to sell it. What more F'ed up is this was a family business and both of his sons worked there along with about 10 other employees. As it turns out, this was his 2nd wife so it's not her kids and she just closed that book and moved on.
 
He didn't have a will so if you learn anything from this make sure you update your will as life changes. She didn't have to shut the business down, they had contracts with a few oilfield companies and did major business daily. They didn't just sandblast, they had a paint booth too so it didn't matter what you wanted they could do it. 
 
I hope that dude haunts her till she dies..
 
Later this week I'll find a shop to get it done, I'm busy now working on the garden, it's time to plant.
 
Between being busy and sick I finally went to HF and bought a weed burner for the barrel. It took about 2 hours to get a good burn but the paint/liner is coming off easy.  You can see where I burned the barrel twice from the rust compared to metal using the weed torch. There's no paint left, that black is metal and it's gonna rust easy when it gets wet.
 
I plan on washing it out then using Easy Off oven cleaner to remove the remnants. 
 
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I think it's quite charming just the way it is! In rust we trust! Just kidding. It looks like shit. Paint the outside with bbq paint or manifold paint. You can probably find manifold paint in more colors than bbq paint if you feel like getting creative with it.
 
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