| The
Two-Tone Blue Bullet Project
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Originally
posted: 10/01/2004
Last updated:
03/31/2010 |
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 In 2001, I created a customized Weber Smokey Mountain
Cooker called The Little Red Bullet as
a fundraiser for eBay's "Auction for America" after the tragic events of
September 11.
Three years later, I created a second customized cooker called "The
Two-Tone Blue Bullet." This cooker was auctioned on eBay on October 1-11,
2004 to benefit hurricane victims in Florida and neighboring states.
The winning bid of $660 was submitted Thomas R. Markovic of Orlando,
Florida. To provide an incentive for bids above the cooker's value of
$582, I personally matched dollar-for-dollar the amount of the winning bid
exceeding $582, to a maximum of $500. As a result, my match was $78. My
employer, Hewlett-Packard Company, matched the contribution, so that a
grand total of $1,476 was raised for the American Red Cross
Disaster Relief Fund.
The idea behind this
project was the same as The Little Red Bullet: To have some fun working on it; to feature the finished
product here so you could enjoy it and maybe be inspired to try a project
like this yourself; and to donate the cooker to a charitable cause.
Here are some pictures of
this one-of-a-kind cooker and a description of the processes and
modifications that went into it. I hope you like what you see!
As always, click
on any of the pictures to view a larger image.
High Res (1.3MB) |
Introducing
"The Two-Tone Blue Bullet"
- A brand new
Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker with a two-tone porcelain enamel
finish. The lid and charcoal bowl are dark blue/purple; the middle cooking
section is medium blue/purple.
- Old-school Weber wooden lid handle with
black semi-gloss finish.
- Tel-Tru BQ300
bi-metal thermometer with black dial face, 100-500°F range, 2" stem,
mounted in the lid.
- Probe thermometer
eyelet in middle cooking section.
- Black anodized
aluminum legs, access door, and vent dampers.
- Stainless steel
inset hex head damper screws with flat black finish.
- All screw heads
with flat black finish.
- Modified charcoal grate to prevent charcoal fall-through.
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Stripping
Down The Cooker
The lid handle and
the four vent dampers had to be removed before I could send the parts
out for refinishing. The handle was removed by unscrewing the two
handle halves. To remove the dampers, I used a 1/4" metal bit to drill
out the inside of each rivet to weaken it, then used a pair of pliers
to crush the rivets and pop them out.
I drilled the lid for
the thermometer using the Unibit step drill bit process
described on the Mounting A Thermometer
page.
These photos are from
The Little Red Bullet Project, but
they represent the same process used on this cooker.
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Refinishing The Cooker
Unlike
The Little Red Bullet Project,
which used a powder coated finish, I
wanted a genuine porcelain finish on this cooker. The nearest source I found for this
work was located in Southern California.
I shipped the three parts
to the refinisher, where they were cleaned, sprayed with porcelain
coating on the exterior surfaces, and fired at 1100-1600°F.
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Old-School Weber Wooden Lid Handle
I wish the WSM still came with a wooden lid handle. Fortunately, you
can buy unfinished wooden handles from Weber Customer Support. I
sanded the handle and applied several coats of semi-gloss black paint.
I especially like the Weber logo stamped into the surface.
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Tel-Tru
BQ300 Bi-Metal Thermometer
The black dial of this thermometer goes really well with the other
black parts on this cooker. One neat feature is the cooking ranges for
smoking, barbecuing, and grilling indicated on the face.
I placed a large steel washer over the thermometer mounting base,
which acts as a spacer between the lid and thermometer, then inserted
the thermometer into the hole in the lid and fastened it with an
electrical conduit lock nut. |
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Probe Thermometer Eyelet
This eyelet replaces one
of the screws that fastens the grill strap to the inside of the middle
cooking section, allowing one or more probe thermometers to be
inserted into the cooker. A special flaring tool fastens the eyelet to
the cooker.
Special thanks to Fred Pirkle at
The BBQ Guru for providing the eyelet for this cooker. |
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Black Anodized Aluminum Legs, Access Door & Vent Dampers
I had a black anodized finish applied to all the aluminum parts of
this cooker.
The parts were cleaned
and then placed in an electrically-charged sulfuric acid solution.
This causes oxidation--called "anodic film"--to form on the surface of the parts. The process was finished
by sealing the pores of the anodic film using a hot water bath.
The anodizing process
improves the appearance of the parts, and since it's an integral part
of the aluminum, it will never flake off. |
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Stainless
Steel Inset Hex Head Damper Screws With Flat Black
Finish I
replaced the vent damper rivets with 1/4" x 5/16" stainless steel
screws with an inset hex head, and washers and nuts. The head on these
screws matches the size and shape of the original rivets, and the
inset hex adds sort of a high-tech look.
The heads of the vent
damper screws, the grill strap screws, and the handle screw were
sanded lightly and sprayed with high-temp flat black barbecue paint.
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Modified Charcoal Grate Since the charcoal
grate is manufactured with openings on either side that allow charcoal
to fall through, I had a welder add additional rods to the
left and right of the two parallel braces running across the grate.
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Back to Operating Tips & Modifications |
