Your thoughts on paint and value?

[kettlebb]

Come on, folks. We are talking about outdoor kettles. Not exotic cars or airplanes. I would rather have one that is blemish free, even if that means a paint touch up.
New ones can be bought pretty cheap.
My 1979 Happy Hooker Weber Cooker has had a face lift, using paint. It looks brand new. And I like it!

@TXFlyGuy I think you're missing the point.  "New ones can be bought pretty cheap" isn't the point.  For some or most of the vintage grills in this club you can't find many other examples of.  Like mentioned earlier, your grill your choice.

[hawgheaven]

I have never used paint on any of my kettles... not because I'm a purist, because I cook with all of them. They're gonna get road rash along the way. They are not museum pieces. They're well used,  kept clean, IMHO, that's all they need. New grates now and then, but that's it. Nothing against the purists here, I honor your ways. Been an antique car guy for many years... I know the feeling. But my Webers are my tools and are treated as such... with love and respect.

[Troy]

Come on, folks. We are talking about outdoor kettles. Not exotic cars or airplanes. I would rather have one that is blemish free, even if that means a paint touch up.
New ones can be bought pretty cheap.
My 1979 Happy Hooker Weber Cooker has had a face lift, using paint. It looks brand new. And I like it!

but in a way, these old grills are a lot like exotic cars and airplanes.

they're limited and old.
"why restore that 55 Chevy when you can go out and buy a new Prius"

[TXFlyGuy]

Nothing against restorations. I like old stuff. That's why my '79 kettle gets used weekly, and both of my new Weber's sit in storage.
My nature is a bit freaky, and blemishes bother me. Now...where is my spray paint?

BTW...my old kettle has a gorgeous satin finish that I actually like better than the high gloss look. But that's just me.

[Filibuster]

There is a member who said we are stewards of these grills, that resonated with me and I will hold on to that saying to my end. Now I'm not going to save every grill on Craigslist but the few grills in my posession will get full RRR and nothing less.

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[Poorfolks]

I wouldn't touch the paint. Full resto would be stripping and refinishing porcillin and baking in 1600f oven IMO anything less is a Rube Goldberg attempt to hide flaws(character marks) IMO.

[LowandSlow]

As a new member, and  longtime kettle fan, I believe that it's ok to get the metal round , polish legs, and make a grill look  as good as it can , except to apply paint. One of my other hobbies is old bikes where the value goes down when the spray can comes out, But I never bought a kettle to fix it up and sell it . The big difference between an old bike and an old kettle is that a kettle is porcelain not paint. These things are as old as I am, and even the really clean ones have small battle scars and stories to tell. If your lucky enough  to have one that you kept for a long time ,you know what I'm talking about.
You can always touch it up with paint, but once you do ,you can't unring that bell

[Poorfolks]

This^^. Oh, and welcome.

[brewtownbeatdown]

You can always touch it up with paint, but once you do ,you can't unring that bell

Actually, you can unring the "touch up paint" bell.  Lacquer Thinner & steel wool can remove paint w/o affecting porcelain.  Die grinder w/ wire wheel can, but you need to run slow enough to not affect porcelain (bristles heat up, then start scuffing). 


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[Rub]

Some good discussion and good points being made above. It just goes to show that we collect kettles for different reasons.
I likely wouldn't have kept this little Yachtsman if I didn't touch up the abuse it showed. It's too distracting for me and I don't enjoy looking at that. The touchup isn't perfect, but now when I look at it I'm not reminded of how abused it looked. My eyes don't focus on the paint, I see a good looking yellow kettle. And she's a great little cooker. I touch up purely for my own pleasure.

[Mr.CPHo]

I had a WSM cerakoted blue for my own personal amusement.  It has never been used, and I have no plans to use it.  It essentially lives in my office as a Looker and offers a glimpse of what colored WSMs would look like if Weber ever went that route.  (Yes, I know there are some one-off colored WSMs floating around out there, this isn't one of them).  I do wish Weber would've made colored WSMs for the masses.  Could you imagine a red WSM getting hot?!

Besides that exception, I have never painted any of my vintage or rare kettles during restoration.  I like the character flaws and I like thinking about the generation of grillfellas before us that used and, in some cases, abused these kettles.  To paint over the flaws diminishes that sentiment.

To that end, I personally don't think touch-up paint increases value. 


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[XRichard23]

I had a WSM cerakoted blue for my own personal amusement.  It has never been used, and I have no plans to use it.  It essentially lives in my office as a Looker and offers a glimpse of what colored WSMs would look like if Weber ever went that route.  (Yes, I know there are some one-off colored WSMs floating around out there, this isn't one of them).  I do wish Weber would've made colored WSMs for the masses.  Could you imagine a red WSM getting hot?!

Besides that exception, I have never painted any of my vintage or rare kettles during restoration.  I like the character flaws and I like thinking about the generation of grillfellas before us that used and, in some cases, abused these kettles.  To paint over the flaws diminishes that sentiment.

To that end, I personally don't think touch-up paint increases value. 


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Man that's gorgeous. I wonder what that would cost me around here


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