THE FIRST SMOKER
This is a BBQ smoker that I built in 06-07. It was made out of an old propane tank that we had found at a scrap metal yard. If you can find one in good condition I highly recommend using them.
WARNING: If you find one from a scrap yard, DO NOT CUT INTO IT! Remove any bolt or valve piece that will allow you to vent any gas. After the pressure is removed, you must then fill the entire tank with water and let it sit for 2 days. This lets the flammable fumes and chemicals seep into the water and will eliminate the risk of explosion. Once it’s ready you can cut into it and remove the water. Then you can start fabrication.
The thickness of this particular tank was 1/4″.
3/16″ would be the thinnest I would make the body of a smoker or a grill, anything thinner than that and the bottom will want to rot out quick.
The trailer that it sits on was a kit you can buy from Harbor Freight. It’s a 4′x6′ trailer and it comes with all the lights, running gear, tires, fenders, and springs.
The racks were designed to be removed in order to clean out the tank when it was needed, but being my first attempt that didn’t exactly pan out. But who needs a clean out? Keep that flavor in there.
The Thermometer was purchased at Academy Sports. There are many places to get one. They will be marked for Temp ranges for smoking, grilling, BBQ’ing, etc.
This was a different take on where to put the fire box. Traditionally it is placed on the end of the smoker, but in order to save space and to give the tongue some weight I decided to place it on the back side. It is made out of 1/4″ plate with 2″x2″x1/8″ angle around the seams. The air control works quite well to keep the intake balanced right.
All the valves on the back don’t have a function with the smoker, but are a neat accent to the design. Another reason to use a Propane tank to build BBQ Smokers/Grills, cool valves.
Not bad for a first attempt, but it smokes extremely well.
OUTDOOR CABINET
This is a team project with my father for his sister (my aunt C). She and her husband have recently moved into the area from Seattle, Wash. and the house they have has a pool. Well they want some sort of cabinet/desk/table thing outside to store all of the pool paraphernalia. So dad got to figuring and I got to welding.
The Frame is made out of 2″ 16 ga Square Tubing. A lil heavy, but it has casters on one end to help with that. It stands around 30″ tall X 24″ wide X 60″ long. It still sits in the shop in this condition, but my part is done so thats why it is under Past Projects.
SHOP SIGN
This was born out of sheer boredom. I didn’t know what to make one day out in the shop. I had some 1/8″ plate lying around so I broke out the torch and went to town.
Real simple. I pulled a western looking font from Word and cut out the letters, traced them, and cut them. After I found some 1.5″ strap so that’s what’s holding up the letters. I went ahead and ground down the metal with a hard abrasive, and then used a finish wheel to smooth it out. One coat of clear later and oooo…. Super shiny.
Fire Pit I
So this was the first fire pit I did for a good friend of mine. There was no design from her or any real idea of what she wanted, but she knew she wanted a fire pit. I had some metal and free time so I came up with this on the fly.
Kind of a small pic but isn’t it cute? By the end I was calling this thing R2-D2. It’s a real simple design that makes a really great project. It used to be a small tank of some sort but when I cut both the caps off and made them the top and bottom, it all just came together.
The uprights are 1′” pipe cut 24″ long. The feet are 1.5″ sq Tubing. There are 3 legs, even though the picture only is showing 2.
And it was put to work very quickly. She seems quite happy and it is still a favorite feature in the winter time in Texas when it dips below 55 degrees. 
