Found an add on my neighborhood social networking site Nextdoor. The add was written by a woman asking if anyone had a Weber kettle they would be willing to loan to her husband for use at a upcoming family BBQ. Funny thing was, I recognized the posting author's husband as a former coworker of mine. I contacted him and offered him one of my Weber OTG's. Found out he was cooking for a large family reunion and actually needed several Webers. He borrowed two of mine and after using and returning them, brought me two other kettles he had also used and brought back from the family cabin. He said they were not being used and I could have them and do whatever I wanted with them. One was a black OTS and the other was a blue N code OTS. In talking with him further, I found out the blue kettle was his Father's who had recently passed away. I told him I was happy to accept the kettles but on the condition he would take it back and use it after it was restored. He said he has a gas grill he preferred using because with the charcoal kettle, the ashes would blow all over from the little ash pan. I explained to him I could retrofit a ash bucket onto his Dad's kettle and alleviate that issue. Hearing that, he agreed to my proposition.
It appeared the kettle had been dropped at some time because one of the leg sockets was pushed in to the bowl. This prevented the ash sweeps from moving. I was able to pop the socket back out with a couple of whacks by a rubber mallet to the dent inside of the bowl. Installed new ash sweeps, wheels, charcoal grate, cooking grate, wood handles and retrofitted a new style ash bucket. Sanded and polished the legs, wire wheeled the triangle then primed and painted it.
My coworker is coming Thursday to pick up the kettle. Should be fun to see his reaction.