My "K" Redhead Restoration

[cbpeck]

I picked up this "K" (1988) redhead in Port Orchard, WA a few weeks ago. It was in pretty good shape, but Port Orchard is a rough climate, so it did need some work. I thought you might like to see how it turned out. All said & done, I'm into this thing about $135. Is it worth it? Depends on who you ask. I'm pleased with the results. Not bad for a 25 year old grill. Here is what I did:

- Complete disassembly.
- Polished the kettle, legs & hardware with 0000 steel wool & Barkeepers Friend.
- Refinished the original handles by sanding & applying three coats of 2-in-1 polyurethane & stain.
- Replaced food grate, charcoal grate, one touch ash sweeper, hub caps & front leg cap.
- Replaced the original ash pan by retrofitting a modern ash catcher assembly.

Here she is:


With her top off:


Top vent:


Refinished lid handle:


New ash catcher:


Ash catcher installation (screws into the legs, no damage to the bowl):


Here she is all fired up:



What do you think?

[G$]

What an absolute thing of beauty.  I am jealous of both the Kettle and the lawn.

Also, my simple mind never considered your ash can retrofit tactic. I liek it quite a bit. The hosel clamps are very effective yet ever so unsightly.  I think I would be willing to drill in to legs as you have done.  Let us know how that works in practice.

[dazzo]

Amazing! Beautiful!

And I like it too   

[mike.stavlund]

Incredible, cb!  What a beautiful specimen.  The handles look wonderful, and I wish my red K was as clean and shiny as yours.  Brilliant adaptation of the ash pan, too.  Love it. 

...though I certainly don't need to heap up the praise-- your reward is right there in your back yard.  Congrats. 

[LightningBoldtz]

very nice restoration.  I am doing a mid 60's restoration at present.

[addicted-to-smoke]

Looks new, except you can't buy a new one that looks like it. And with your ash catcher mod retrofit, better than the hose clamp method.

[cbpeck]

What an absolute thing of beauty.  I am jealous of both the Kettle and the lawn.

Also, my simple mind never considered your ash can retrofit tactic. I liek it quite a bit. The hose clamps are very effective yet ever so unsightly.  I think I would be willing to drill in to legs as you have done.  Let us know how that works in practice.

Thank you for your kind words. I can't take credit for the lawn, as the photos were taken on a property owned by our family business.

I am very confident in the ash catcher retrofit. Stout SS screws into properly sized holes, and I can't imagine it going anywhere. It might actually make the leg assembly more stable. I added that photo because I do think it is a good way to go, and I hadn't seen anybody suggest it yet.

[Chasing_smoke]

Total beauty there! That cleaned up very nicely!


"my kettle is more powerful it will do almost anything."

[1911Ron]

That looks brand new!  I also like the retrofit of the OTG ash catcher.

[MacEggs]

You forgot to mention that you painted it .... Just kidding, of course! 

Looks fresh out of the box. Nice restoration, indeed! 

[Eastex]

You can't buy a new grill from Weber that's as pretty as that Red you have so yes, you really have a bargain!

[cbpeck]

You forgot to mention that you painted it .... Just kidding, of course! 

Looks fresh out of the box. Nice restoration, indeed! 

It does have a few small chips that I had intended to paint, but I decided to leave them as they were. A few beauty marks, so to speak. 

[Golly]

Love it

It's so beautiful

Love the pic with her top off

[bryanw21157]

Very nice!

[sunsanvil]

Even as a noob I can appropriate this piece and the work put into it.  A real looker.  Ingenious way to get the contemporary ash pan attached.