# baffle for Oklahoma Joe Highland smoker



## mosaicsmoker

Has anyone used the following tuning/convestion plate http://www.horizonbbqsmokersstore.com/servlet/the-418/Convection-Plate--dsh--For/Detail for the OKJ Highland smoker?  It seems very expensive, esp. with shipping on the big hunk of metal, but I don't have access to metal working equipment to make my own so I'd like to hear from current users before plunking down half the cost of the smoker for a convection plate.  My wife got tired of waiting for our son to finish the UDS smoker he started 2 years ago and bought the OKJ at Wally World and I'm trying to figure out how to improve it.

Thanks in advance,

Keith


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## oldschoolbbq

I understand unfinished promises . I have a smaller pit that I baffeled .  I used a light piece of Stainless I found at the scrapyard.

If you are not able ( as am I now ), see if a neighbor could help you and maybe they would get the bug too. You could Smoke together .

Your straight answer , I don't have an OKJ . Someone with one will be by later.

Enjoy your new Toy , and  . . .


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## buttburner

I had an OK Joe Longhorn and what I did was make tuning plates. They are just 6" wide pieces of steel that lay across the bottom of the smoke chamber. I think they were 18" wide

I sold that pit so I cant measure them.

But they worked real well. just keep a slot open between them for air flow, you don't need to drill a bunch of holes in them

I have pics of my plates here someplace

thanks


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## mosaicsmoker

Thanks, all.  I found some 2" wide plain steel strips at a recycler, will cut them to 16" length & arrange to tune the smoke.  lots cheaper than the pre-made plate & more adjustable. Plan to smoke some chickens Sunday as a learning experience for the 1st use of this smoker after seasoning.


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## buttburner

MosaicSmoker said:


> Thanks, all.  I found some 2" wide plain steel strips at a recycler, will cut them to 16" length & arrange to tune the smoke.  lots cheaper than the pre-made plate & more adjustable. Plan to smoke some chickens Sunday as a learning experience for the 1st use of this smoker after seasoning.


one tip I have so you are not chasing your tail

once you place them, allow plenty of time for the heat to settle before moving them

If you don't you will be very very frustrated.


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## mosaicsmoker

My wife is adamant that the smoker is HER smoker since she bought it when my son and I were taking too long to make a UDS.  She's a PhD chemist so her smoking will proceed with full experimental protocols.  She smoked a couple chickens for her first try and left out the tuning plates to establish a baseline.  The next attempt is going to be ribs with the tuning plates inserted and their locations carefully diagrammed in her smoking lab notebook.  She's now on my case to hurry up and complete the multi-probe temperature recorder I'm building using a Raspberry Pi microcomputer so she can plot temps at several locations for various tuning plate arrangements.  Given the history with the smoker I'd better work on it this afternoon before she goes out and buys a commercial system!

The chickens turned out great, although without the tuning strips she had to move the chickens around a good bit to account for uneven temps in the smoking compartment and finished them in the oven to crisp the skins.


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## perly58

I'm looking to mod a OKJ Highland, anyone have tuning plates in there's and care to share the cut sizes to help me out.


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## wolfman1955

Perly58 said:


> I'm looking to mod a OKJ Highland, anyone have tuning plates in there's and care to share the cut sizes to help me out.


Bump!!!


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## stevensondrive

Perly58 said:


> I'm looking to mod a OKJ Highland, anyone have tuning plates in there's and care to share the cut sizes to help me out.



Great question.  Anyone have suggestions?


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## mike3ga88

I made my own plate that is similar to the horizon. Got a friend at church that gave me the steel, had him cut it at 16x32 and it's 1/8". I got 2 step up bits and measured out my grid and drilled the holes, that was no fun lol. When I fired up the smoker I was still off by up to 40 degrees from end to end, I covered the first row of holes closest to firebox with foil and it put my temps within 10 degrees end to end. I started with 3/8" holes and went up to 1 1/8"













IMG_2413.JPG



__ mike3ga88
__ Oct 11, 2016


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## bl0wingsm0ke

Trying to bump this old thread instead of starting a new one.  Going to do multiple plates.  Should they be 16x6 or 18x6?  Also 1/8" thick or 1/4"?


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## wichita chief

Here's the plate I used in my Longhorn. It's for a Yoder Wichita. I also blocked down the gigantic opening between the firebox and smoking chamber to make it the size the build calculator calls for. I used some steel to fill it and direct the heat under my heat management plate. I block the small gaps on each side of the block off with foil bunched up. This helped me a lot.


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## bl0wingsm0ke

Thank you.  That looks great.


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