Grate Restoration/replateing

[Eastex]

Has anyone ever priced what it would cost and what the process would be?

[Jeff]

No...but thats something Id be a little curious about.  I have an old Weber grate that holds a cast iron griddle in the center.   The grate is pretty rough.

[1buckie]

 I've thought about this often, up to & including pricing a small sandblasting setup for grates & other parts.......

Never proceeded, usually how I approach grates is to scrape them down real good & cook a heap of 'turds to coat them down in bacon, sorta like cast iron.......

I've also heard sterling reviews of the stainless steel grates,  but do not have any as of yet.....

Any kind of plating or coating ( like powder coating / ceramic aluminized coating / chrome plating ) needs to be pretty much spotless going into the people's tanks or it will leave nasty residue in / on their equipment, so I don't think re-plating would be worth the time, etc. it would take to do up right

You could check with a sandblaster to see if they could do a batch of them at once, then an auto plating place for  the same batch, grouping up MIGHT make it do-able.....

[Heyjude]

I use a $10 harbor freight grinder with a 4" wire wheel attachment It makes fast work of 95% of the crud. If the grate is decent, it comes back fairly quick. If the plating is gone and I can get all the rust off, I do what Buckie says. Just oil it up and try to "Cure" it like cast iron.
Sometimes the rust is too much and I consider the grate a goner! 

[HankB]

I found my WSM grates becoming rusty and pitted in fairly short order. I started cleaning them after every smoke by first soaking in hot water with a little dawn (up to a day or so, depending on when I got back to them  ) and then scrubbing with a Scotch Brite and more Dawn. After a good rinse and allowing them to dry, I wipe them with an oily paper towel (cooking oil of course!)

For older grills where the stuff is really caked on, I put them in a hot camp fire which burns the gunk off. Then proceed as above.

The WSM grates have not deteriorated further and I expect long life out of them.

How many grates cannot be replaced? The only ones of which I m aware are the old 26" kettle. I can't imagine it would be cost effective to have an old grate chromed that could be replaced by purchasing a replacement from Weber or one of their retail outlets.

[Jeff]

THe one I have is no longer available.    I think Golly or Hogsy found a couple new ones out there way.  I think they posted a pic somewhere of it.

[Ken Mc]

chrome plating is VERY expensive. It would not be very cost effective. At the shop I work at, a minimum charge of 200.00 is the going rate.
I chrome plated for 12 years, and yes the parts need to be spotless.
I have however nickle plated some charcoal grates, but without being polished first, they just look grey. I have also nickle plated the bracket for the ash bucket for a M.T., just to keep from rusting more, also the wire charcoal baskets  for the older Performer.

Ken

[Heyjude]

So I guess Silver or Gold Plate is out of the question?