Heat Shield on homemade kettle table

[Cabernet]

Hi All, a little back story. I made a table for my kettle out of wood and was concerned about heat transfer from the bowl to the table so I used about a 14 inch high sheet of sheet metal and wrapped the circular frame of the table that the bowl sits it. It does the job perfectly. But it seems to have a greater use. It  hold the temp  of the kettle to the desired temp and holds it a lot longer. I know this because my buddy next door was smoking using the same charcoal that I was using and it took way more charcoal to hold and cook. Sometimes a safety concern turns out to be a great discovery. Hope this helps other DYI ers .
Heat shiel seen below wood frame in black.

[Nasoj21]

So the rim under the table is sheet metal? Interesting that it would hold heat better since there is still air flow around the kettle.

How do you get at your ash catcher?
 
I have about a 3/4" gap around my grill and haven't had the table start on fire in the last five years, though I have been slightly worried about it a few times when the charcoal side of the grill really gets going.

[Cabernet]

I saw some pics of people with a wood table on fire, that's what made me put in the heat shield. Having said that, I don't think it could happen unless some accelerant was spilled on the wood sections. I think it was over kill, but better to be safe. The table is made of wood and the top of the table is plywood covered in ceramic tiles. Yes, the rim is sheet metal and goes down about 12 inch's. There is about 1/4 inch between the table opening and the kettle. I'm guessing that the heat shield deflects the heat coming off the bowl of the kettle back to the kettle, but this is just a guess. As for the ash catcher and lower vent , you do have to reach under the shield to get at them. During grilling , I have a tool that I use to get at the vent handle . Below is a pic from underneath the kettle, you can see the gap between the shield and the  kettle. I have some picks of the build that I posted a few years back, but cant seem to find them.
Cheers

[Cabernet]

Hers a pick with the shield

[Nasoj21]

My girls just happened to find a long pallet with boards running the length of it and covering the whole top. The table I made before was based on a pallet like that for the table top.
I am going to pick it up in the morning and I think I am going to make another table for a separate 26 and probably a 22 as well, though I like the idea of possibly having an open end the mounts a smokey mountain. Anyway, I think to be safe, I will probably do the same thing. It certainly doesn't hurt, especially because I also happen to have some extra 6" flashing laying around.

[Cabernet]

I painted the outside of the shield with Rust-olium high heat but left the side facing the bowl unpainted.
have fun building
cheers

[Hell Fire Grill]

Deleted comment

[Cabernet]

Hi NasoJ21
Here is a link to the installation of the heat shield.

https://weberkettleclub.com/forums/index.php?topic=45235.0

Cheers

[Kit Johnston]

I originally built this table in 2016 for a 22". You can see that the double-handle version allowed the bowl handles to sit on crosstie "joists" of the table, allowing for a good 3/4" spacing, plus the tabletop was pressure-treated decking boards. They were wet for a long time, so no burning or "catch on fire".

I added a roof five or so years back so I could cook in the rain.

I bought a 26" a couple of years ago and finally pulled off the original top of now dried out PT decking. You can see that some of the crossties had blackened a little after almost 10 years of grilling.

The 26" only has one handle, but I did add a hinge, so those two items are what sit on the frame. I also used cedar, which is not pressure-treated, so I left a good ¾" gap. 

I did just order some of those Unknown BBQ kettle mounting brackets, which I will use some heat gasket between the brackets and the tabletop, as well as around the opening for the bowl. If the brackets work well, I will probably remove the handle from the bowl and replace the front board.