MBH "Redhead" Craig's List find

[Travis]

My goodness Jim. I can't imagine the work you put in there. It looks fantastic!

You do take great pictures. Good job brother! Good job


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[Darko]

You did a great job. It looks wonderful.

[haeffb]

I probably have over 8 hours into the cleaning and polishing of the ash pan alone.  Had to do it in 1 or 2 hour blocks as it is real hard on the fingers. 

What methods/materials/techniques were used on the ash pan?

[Mac]

Wow.  Hard to believe that's a 40-something year old kettle.  Amazing restoration.

[Russell C.]

Amazing RRR!

[Cellar2ful]

I probably have over 8 hours into the cleaning and polishing of the ash pan alone.  Had to do it in 1 or 2 hour blocks as it is real hard on the fingers. 

What methods/materials/techniques were used on the ash pan?

I followed the WKC "Ash pan clean up and polish procedure" instructions.  It is the third tab under the Grill Restorations Heading on the WKC Home Page:

Step 1- Deep soak in CLR
Step 2- Removal of surface contaminates with #0000 extra fine steel wool and fine emery cloth
Step 3- Shaping the ash pan
Step 4- Polishing

I agree wholeheartedly with the writer of this article when he states, "In my opinion, one of the most challenging pieces to restore on a Weber kettle is the ash pan".  After soaking in the diluted CLR, I began a process of alternating back and forth between the steel wool and fine and extra fine emery cloth. I tried to always sand with a circular motion, even with the emery cloth.  It makes it easier for the final step of polishing.  I probably spent 4 hours alone on Step 2.  I shaped the ash pan by using a small hammer and gently pounding out any small imperfections.  I used a very smooth brick retaining wall in my yard to slowly pound the pan on.  Whatever you use as a pounding surface, make sure it is extremely smooth as aluminum is easily marred if you use a rough surface to pound on. Work very slowly and pound gently as aluminum is a soft metal.  I used Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish for the final step. I tried Brasso but did not get as much result as with Mothers. This is where you start seeing the fruits of all the hard work coming together. Having now completed a restore on an ash pan I would recommend either covering it with foil when cooking or keep an extra un-restored pan for use when cooking. I would not want to do this again on the same pan.


This was the ash pan before I began the cleanup. This photo was taken after I had hosed off all the loose material. 




This is a large detail photo of what I was dealing with. The crude that was left on the pan was like concrete.

[captjoe06]

Holy Mackerel! Gorgeous!

Now will you put tin foil over the ash pan when you cook on it?

[weldboy]

Great job on the cleanup! Looks very nice


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[Travis]

Holy Mackerel! Gorgeous!

Now will you put tin foil over the ash pan when you cook on it?

Makes sense. I'm still a newbie and wondered why people were doing that (Seeing it in people's post). After reading Jim's explanation on how long and all that's involved, I would to.


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