Quality still the same?

[hawgheaven]

I always took care of it. I wiped the ash out and when outside for some days I always use a cover.

What do you think ?

IMHO, covering kettles is over-rated.  I wonder if this is the cause ... just sayin' ... 

I've always kept my kettles covered. Let them cool down, empty the ash, cover. No problems.

[HoosierKettle]

My one touch silver I bought new in 2008 is holding up great. It's always been exposed the elements year round and I used to use it as a fire pit occasionally (not a lot). It's also been my pizza cooker and I don't use baskets and bank the coals against the walls when I make pizza or anything else. With all of that abuse, it's hard to find any damage. There is a little crazing around the handle welds where the lid has been dropped. Last I checked the bowl there was no crazing. It still has the original ash sweeps that function properly.

My theory is simple. All you have to do to make a kettle last is put the lid on when your done cooking. My neighbor always left his lid off and let rain mix with his ash in the bottom of the bowl which makes a caustic paste that ruins the one touch and grate strap welds and generally starts eating the kettle.

Anyways, I consider my 08 a tank of a grill. For that matter, my 2010 26r is doing just as well uncovered.

I will say that I was using the ots as a dedicated pizza cooker and that was "drying" out the inside of the kettle and cooked all the protective grease off of the inside to the point that the one touch almost froze up. I used this grill for my recent work cookouts to get some grease back in the grill and moving parts. 40 cheeseburgers and 50 kabobs later and the one touch works as good as new again.

So if you have a dedicated pizza rig, it doesn't hurt to run some grease through them once in awhile if you want to keep the moving parts operable and most likely keep rust at bay.



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[HoosierKettle]

Also, I've bought and sold early 2000's kettles with the stainless sweeps. They were rock solid. Still in heavy use by the friends who got them.


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