I recommend spending some time thinking about the location of this door. Planning to have a propane burner, I wanted to be able to reach into the barrel with a lighter while simultaneously turning the gas valve on the propane tank. With the propane tank to be positioned behind the smoker, this led me to locate the door on the side, with hinges positioned for the door to swing toward the front of the smoker, out of the way when I'm working with the burner and propane tank valve.
To create an access door of sufficient size, I had to cut through one of the barrel hoops, changing from a wood cutting blade to a metal cutting blade when cutting through the hoop. I drilled pilot holes at the four corners of planned access door, then used a jigsaw to make the cuts. I lined up the vertical cuts with the cracks between the barrel staves; a cut was still required to provide a gap of sufficient width for the door to open and close. The horizontal cuts, along the top and bottom edges of the door, were each made along the edge of a barrel hoop as a guide for the saw.
Once the door was cut and removed from barrel, I used zinc-plated flat bar to reinforce the top and bottom edges of the door. This presented a considerable challenge since the taper of the barrel made it impossible to bend the flat bar into an arc that would lie flush against the door edge. I overcame this by shimming the bar with washers where I inserted screws to attach it to the door. Strap hinges and a barrel bolt latch enable the door to swing freely and latch into place. It took some adjustments and additional cutting, sanding and filing to get the door to operate smoothly.
While constructing the door I kept the barrel on its side, held stable in cradle created by an old wool blanket draped over four concrete blocks.
No comments:
Post a Comment