70's MBH readhead restoration.

[5280Jeff]

I got started on my readhead last weekend. Started with a lid and bowl clean up. After a lot of work with a wire brush, putty knife, and finally a wire wheel on my drill I wiped them down with krud Kutter at full strength. The bowl still had a bit of a grease film in it so both the bowl and the lid were left to soak with oven/grill cleaner for about 20 min. I rinsed both out with a couple of buckets of hot water and finished with a garden hose. I'm really happy with the results, for being 35 years old it cleaned up amazingly well. I forgot who posted the tip on using trash cans for kettle holders, but myself and my back thank you very much!













Next up possibly TIG weld the handle or stainless fasteners.

[AZ_MIKEY]

Looking good. I am going to have to use trash cans next time I clean all the kettles that is a great idea. That way I can move the next day.

[Jeff]

I bet it wasn't as easy to clean those up as it looked!  You should put some before pictures showing the outside of the lid and bowl too.  Especially if you plan to document from beginning to end in this thread.  You're off to a good start.

[G]

Nice start....consider trying a razor scraper from HD or other hardware store.  They work very well.  May have to try ther trash can idea. 

[Winz]

Wow - nice job!  Looks like new.  Keep the pics coming

Winz

[tattooedant]

I really miss working outside  ...when is it gonna be spring?!

[glrasmussen]

^^^ What Tattoo said ^^^ Been a long winter... Miss the 0000 final clean.

[Craig]

^^^ What Tattoo said ^^^ Been a long winter... Miss the 0000 final clean.

Amen!

Nice looking redhead!

[saxart]

Funny..  It was 45deg here today, so I was outside after work with a bucket of hot soapy water cleaning out the SJP after a chicken cook Sunday night.

[5280Jeff]

All of the replacement parts have arrived, new handle (thank you Brian), correct ash pan (thank you Stu), and new wheels off Amazon. I also have a new charcoal grate ordered. The original grate is rusted and warped beyond repair. Here is a couple of lid pics ready for a weld.

[pbe gummi bear]

Keep up the good work!

[Jeff]

Looking good so far! 

[MacEggs]

I am very interested as to how this turns out ... the welding, that is.
Man, I truly love the look of the orange peel paint on the older kettles.

Everything looks great, so far! 

[Craig]

Looks great so far! Can't wait until the finish!

[5280Jeff]

Picked up the lid from my buddy with the handle welded on. He got pretty aggressive with the welding and the grinder but it was a free weld job so no complaints from me. Now with as much painting as it will take to cover the welds and the other damaged coating I've decided to paint the entire kettle. Today I removed all of the vents and started the prep for painting. I'm going to use VHTs very high temperature ceramic coating white header paint as a base coat. VHT claims this will withstand 1300-2000 degrees. VHT also makes a red caliper paint rated at 900 degrees to finish. VHT recommends baking at 400 degrees between coats for proper curing which won't be a problem with a kettle for sure. If anything we are going to find out how well VHTs high heat paint can be used to restore a redhead.