Perfect candidate for Westerner Replica.... what?

[UserGone]

  I know a guy that knows a guy that may be able to do porcelain coatings. They would need to start with a bare metal kettle.

Sounds like a time consuming project that may take years to complete. But if I'm going to go through the trouble of stripping a kettle down to bare metal just to apply a new porcelain coating. It ain't going to be black. Just saying, go big or go home.



I purchased this faded Fleetwood from the original owner. He Still had the brochure that he gave me. He bought it new back in 1973 or 74. Said that this 800 series Weber was an older model that was marked down. He paid $48.50 cash and brought it home. He told me he actually made a profit selling it to me.



Now to hear what the purest have to say.
   

   




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[kettlebb]

That looks like a nice fade and patina, I wouldn't re-coat that one. Id find black that is a little more beat up and test on it. Cook a lot and see how it holds up. If it's good then proceed.


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[UserGone]

I do have another Fleetwood that's more beat up. But I don't need two Westerners....


Besides, if I proceed in building a replica Westerner. It would be a looker, not a cooker. I already have a Chief to cook in.


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[kettlebb]

Why not!? If you can get yellow that changes color I'd cook on that thing all day long.


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[Uncle Al]

How do you plan to remove the existing porcelain to get it back down to bare metal?

[LiquidOcelot]

I'll gladly give you what you paid 😁

[UserGone]

I'll gladly give you what you paid

Then How would anyone ever make a replica Westerner without a 26er base?
Trust me, this fade Fleetwood isn't perfect. The photo just shows it's good side.
I really don't know how I'm going to remove the original porcelain finish. I do have a smaller 22" that I can practice on.
No, I have no interest in re-coating that 22" kettle. The cost to re apply new porcelain will be expensive and if I'm going to re-coat any kettle it's going to be one that's a rare size and color.
But this discussion will go on for months before winter arrives. So I have time to raise the funds needed to start this project.


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[56MPG]

FYI - My powdercoat guy strongly cautioned me about doing a kettle in ceramic - and he does ceramic all the time. (Headers, etc that see a lot of heat) We talked about it for some time when I dropped off a bunch of outdoor furniture (and a Genesis) for blasting. Although it can take the heat, the coating is very thin - it will never look like porcelain or even powdercoat. It's also relatively fragile and unforgiving if it get's bumped around, not to mention VERY expensive. Of course, that's one man's opinion. I for one will not be taking that risk, but then again I like black kettles anyway, so I'm safe.

[UserGone]

56MPH I never mentioned ceramic.
If you do a search you will find only one place that still does porcelain finishes in the Midwest area. I can't mention who they are as I haven't contact them yet. It's a friend of a friend type of connection. It's expensive, like hundreds of dollars and maybe over 1,000.
Not cost efficient in any way, just plain crazy...
Besides,  I still have time to research this out but it's not going to be powder coat, engine paint or ceramic coating.


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[BMP]

I'd bet you'd be in well over a thousand by the time you got done with color matching and such. That's if you could get them to break production for something one off. I'm sure the glass is sprayed through a whole big system, unlike paint or powder that could be done in small batches. Might want to go back to the justification drawing board. It'd be cool to see you pull it off though.


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[MINIgrillin]

I contacted a vintage stove restoration place in DFW a while back with the idea of doing a black 26r. They told me $600 but stripping the existing coating off of the metal was very delicate and may puncture it. I think she was gonna media blast it. I figured $600 buys alot of steaks so I decided against it.

[UserGone]

Let's say it could be done but the one-off process would be very high... Say $2,500 for just one.. Ouch, not worth the effort when their is a real Westerner on eBay right now.

  So someone would need to prep about 12 Fleetwoods to be cost efficient on a small production run.
   Say $833 and change X 12=  $10,000.

Now 10K would open my eyes if I owned a porcelain coating shop and only had to coat 12 kettles. What's that, you want a Small batch of chestnut coppertone custom mix, no problem. Oh and a silly longhorn steer logo on each side.. Sure why not..
(Now to find the other 11 suckers to go in this with me)
Who else wants a replica Westerner?


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[kettlebb]

If it weren't for the copy right I'd try to get in and have Brutus the Buckeye painted on an OTG.


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[kettlebb]

If Weber did a college mascot run on the OTS they'd sell a shitload.


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