Hi all,
I'm new to this forum, and not the most experienced smoker, but my wife and I have been experimenting for a while.
I am an ex-design engineer turned home remodeler, and I have been looking around the net at various build-it-yourself smokers. I hate to say it but I keep seeing the same few tired designs over and over again. There is the one made from two barrels, one stacked on the other, the one that is a modified store-bought vertical smoker (magnum?), the one made from two propane tanks, etc. etc.
I've also seen several commercially made "cabinet" style smokers, basically a square box with a door on the front and some kind of firebox/smoke generator below. They seem to be a fancy version of a refrigerator modified to be a smoker.
Which brings me, finally, to my question. Why doesn't anyone convert an old oven to a cabinet style smoker? It seems to me that you are way ahead starting with an oven. You already have an insulated metal box with a door that has a high temperature gasket to seal it closed. You already have racks, and supports to put the racks on. Most typical ovens have a metal drawer in the bottom for pot/pan storage that could be taken out and modified into a firebox, especially if you want to use electric burners for generating/controlling heat. I have seen a number of designs employing a hot plate and a cast iron pan for wood chips. An old oven has four burners, one of which could be transferred to the burner box, and a really clever person could hook that burner up to the oven control so that it would be turned on and off based on the setting of the oven temp dial. This seems so logical to me that I can't understand why I haven't seen one. Am I missing something here? Is there a basic flaw in my idea that I am not seeing. I would appreciate comments.
I'm new to this forum, and not the most experienced smoker, but my wife and I have been experimenting for a while.
I am an ex-design engineer turned home remodeler, and I have been looking around the net at various build-it-yourself smokers. I hate to say it but I keep seeing the same few tired designs over and over again. There is the one made from two barrels, one stacked on the other, the one that is a modified store-bought vertical smoker (magnum?), the one made from two propane tanks, etc. etc.
I've also seen several commercially made "cabinet" style smokers, basically a square box with a door on the front and some kind of firebox/smoke generator below. They seem to be a fancy version of a refrigerator modified to be a smoker.
Which brings me, finally, to my question. Why doesn't anyone convert an old oven to a cabinet style smoker? It seems to me that you are way ahead starting with an oven. You already have an insulated metal box with a door that has a high temperature gasket to seal it closed. You already have racks, and supports to put the racks on. Most typical ovens have a metal drawer in the bottom for pot/pan storage that could be taken out and modified into a firebox, especially if you want to use electric burners for generating/controlling heat. I have seen a number of designs employing a hot plate and a cast iron pan for wood chips. An old oven has four burners, one of which could be transferred to the burner box, and a really clever person could hook that burner up to the oven control so that it would be turned on and off based on the setting of the oven temp dial. This seems so logical to me that I can't understand why I haven't seen one. Am I missing something here? Is there a basic flaw in my idea that I am not seeing. I would appreciate comments.