# interior cleaning of SnP - who said to stuff it with newspaper and light it up?



## tasunkawitko (Aug 22, 2009)

bad idea!


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## DanMcG (Aug 22, 2009)

that has to make for a big flame? do you care to elaborate?


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## the dude abides (Aug 22, 2009)

sounds like something we're all wishing you'd have taken pictures of.


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## tasunkawitko (Aug 22, 2009)

there's a lot of smoke but it's not too big a deal. the worst part is that the paint is blistering all over the top and bottom of the cooking chamber. 

going to need a gallon of lard to rub it down, now.


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## kingudaroad (Aug 22, 2009)

Just got a visual and chuckled a little bit, so I apologize for that.

Guess you can't believe everything you read on the internet.


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## billbo (Aug 22, 2009)

Your funny Dude! Sorry about the paint job Tasunka, that really sucks! Another lesson for all I guess.


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## beer-b-q (Aug 22, 2009)

And now you think someone would ADMIT saying to do it.


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## rivet (Aug 22, 2009)

Kleenin'? We don' need no steenkin' kleenin'!


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## ddave (Aug 22, 2009)

Now I don't want to get in trouble, but . . . I *think* it was SmokeBuzz. But, if I remember correctly, he has a Horizon or an Okei Joe smoker which is heavier -- probably 1/4" steel -- which would have *no problem* standing up to the heat I am sure.

Or video. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Bummer Taz. Well, the newer SnPs could use a little help in the paint department anyway. I'm sure after you get it all reseasoned and repainted, it will look better than it did new. And will have a higher quality finish.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 And eventually . . . maybe in a few months or so . . . you'll be kind of glad it happened. 

Well, maybe not glad, but I'll bet you'll be appreciate nicer finish anyway . . . I hope. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Dave


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## wavector (Aug 22, 2009)

It could have been worse. What I usually do for my NB Black Diamond is take a side grinder to it with a wire wheel. I would post some pics if I had them. Maybe I'll take some, next time, of me with all of that black stuff all over my clothes. Always remember to wear a leatrher gloves, safety glasses and a faceshield when working with side grinders.


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## tasunkawitko (Aug 22, 2009)

actually, guys - it wasn't that bad - the paint blistered in only a few places. things cooled off a bit, and about 90% of the paint went back to where it was - the only bits i lost were little dots pea-sized and down in a few places, and another spot on the bottom about the size of a couple of grapefruits sitting side-by-side. 

i've rubbed them down with lard (actually rubbed the whole thing down) and started a smaller fire the length of the cooking chamber to cure the lard into the surface. it cleaned the inside pretty good with nearly everything burning down to just a very small bit of white ash (a testament to how hot it was). i used a grill brish to brush down the inside which is now clean but still full of ash. i also gave a smaller version of the same treatment to the firebox. (rubbed it down with lard FIRST).

end result, it's not as bad as i thought it was at first, but it's not great. i will be rubbing the surfaces down with lard for the next few smokes until i get a good, hard cure all over, and things will be fine. next year or the or over the winter i might take it out to my dad's shop and give it a good going over with hi-temp paint, but i am leery of that stuff unless a person can find about 1400-degree paint. but, the firebox has done well with just an occaisonal rubdown with olive oil or lard (no rust yet!), so i will probably continue this all over as-needed.


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## rivet (Aug 22, 2009)

Whatever you do, DO NOT PAINT THE INSIDE OF THE FIREBOX OR SMOKING CHAMBER!

It doesn't matter what the paint can say's you don't want that in your food. The outside of the smoker is fine to paint. 

Let the natural smoking fats and stuff coat the inside of  your unit  and leave that be. The inside of your firebox is fine the way it is no matter what it looks like. 

I will PM you pics of my smoker insides (upper parts) that I have never cleaned since day one and they are fine. The bottom portion of the smoking chamber I scrape out with a garden trowel. 

You don't want inorganic- or any non-food-safe chemicals in your food.


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## tasunkawitko (Aug 23, 2009)

yep - agreed! i meant that i would paint the outside, but i do appreciate your telling me!

actually, thinking about how well the olive oil worked (and the lard worked even better), i will most likely continue that course of action. the old SnP looks as fine as ever, except for a few greasy spots where the lard didn't burn off all the way, and i think a little rubbing down with EVOO or lard will keep things just fine. 

i worry about the paint because as the metal expands or contracts with heat, i don't think the paint stretches with it, so it will eventually come off again anyway. as for the baked-on cure with oil, that stays with the metal no matter what, so it seems to me it works just as well or better. i might change my mind over winter and go ahead and paint it, but it will be outside only ~


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## forluvofsmoke (Aug 23, 2009)

Woah Ron! That really BITES!!! Well, at least it didn't destroy it...

That does remind me of a close meltdown last summer with my gas grill...needed cleaning when I fired it up, all burners on high to preheat before wire brushing the C/I grates...I got distracted and walked away for about 5 minutes. I returned to bellowing black smoke, a warped stainless cover and a temp gauge reading halfway between 800* and 50*, so somewhere in the 1000* range...

The cover did return to it's normal shape upon cooling to a reasonable temp, probably only because it is a double-wall cover...the temp gauge reads about 150* higher than actual now. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





The only real loss was some singed hair from when I flipped the top open to reveal 3ft flames...that was about all the fun I could handle for one day!

Be careful, and hope your smokin' goes well!

Eric


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## gnubee (Aug 23, 2009)

Another really bad thing that can come from burning that amount of paper is how the darn stuff flys thru the air. My nephew Stanley put at least two crumpled news papers on a campfire to get it started ( only because he didn't have gasoline on hand, his usual method ) When he lit it the wind blew it all over the place and we had to put out the small forest fire that resulted. Inside a smoker I would guess that hopefully any firey ashes would be caught by the vent screen. 

The mental picture I got when I first read your post made me chuckle. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I'm Not sorry though , You have to admit it was a bit funny.


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## tasunkawitko (Aug 23, 2009)

>>>The only real loss was some singed hair from when I flipped the top open to reveal 3ft flames...that was about all the fun I could handle for one day!<<<

actually, i didn't want to admit this out of embarassment, but this very thing happened to me. opened the lid - everything was smoldering for a second, then it flared out and i heard a sound like crunching a ball of saran wrap. didn't feel burned or anything, but immediately smelled the hair. saw it on my arm and thought no big deal, but it also got me right around my hairline and just a little bit on the eyebrows and lashes. could have been a LOT worse, and no permanent damage done except losing about an eigth of an inch of my hairline from left side around the front of my forehead, which will grow back. i was lucky!

gnu-bee ~ i can't blame ya for the chuckle, i managed a few of my own today! one good bit of news - no paper fly-around - the stuff bured very hot and very completely, leaving a surprisingly small amount of ash in the bottom which we will remove tomorrow.

finally, my SnP sticker on the front finally came off - no tragedy though, as this will motivate me to get a plate similar to RIVET'S with my OTBS number!


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## beer-b-q (Aug 23, 2009)

Sorry but I haven't had this good of laugh in a long time...
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





This reminds me of the TV commercial of the two women in front of the window and not noticing the husband lighting the grill and it blowing up into the air coming down in flames.  All while they never noticed because they were talking about the new windows or window treatments...


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## ddave (Aug 23, 2009)

I think you're probably right, Tas.  There are a few folks over at the Brethren who built UDSs and did not paint them.  They just sprayed the outside with Pam for the first few smokes they did until the finish built up.  If you saw them, you'd swear they were painted with glossy black BBQ paint.

After I got my Afterburner the paint on the bottom of my firebox started to come off.  Well, I didn't feel like taking the firebox apart to paint the bottom properly so I just sprayed it with Pam after each smoke.  Now it doesn't even need it.  It's got a nice glossy finish on it.

Dave


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## billbo (Aug 23, 2009)

Ran across this today on Youtube. I thought of you Tas. This is actually a whole pig in flames! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwAZi...eature=related

Brings up a good point that we all should have extinguishers on hand....just in case.


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## rodc (Aug 24, 2009)

OOPS - hope the hair grows back soon TasunkaWitko.

Could have been worse though - I was sent this:

_How to make a Paving Slab Oven....._

_You will need; _
_An unkempt back garden _
_Eight concrete paving slabs _
_An old, abandoned wooden table _
_A nearby lilac bush _
_Matches, (but no propellants) _
_Arrange to be wearing a pair of light, comfortable training-shoes. 

Tidy your back garden, concluding the operation by sweeping the assorted dry twigs and dead branches into a large pile. 

Survey the pile, and calculate that approximately eight bin-bags would be required to dispose of everything. 

Decide against this, and resolve instead to burn the rubbish, drawing on your previously determined skills in handling wood-fired central heating to construct an efficient fireplace for its disposal. 

Stand four of the concrete paving slabs on their edges to surround an area of ground about two feet square, tight to the back of the garden. Lean the slabs inwards slightly to support each other's weight without the need for fastening or sinking into the earth. 

Pile the twigs and branches into your impromptu stove. 

Light the twigs and branches. 

Throw on more twigs and branches until flames are leaping out of the top of the stove and teasing the overhanging branches of your nearby lilac bush. 

Wait for the fire to die down a little. 

Throw on more twigs and branches. 

Observe the flames once again teasing the lilac bush, and decide to enclose the stove. Manhandling a fifth concrete paving slab on top of the flames would obviously be foolhardily dangerous, so instead cover the stove with rotten planking from an old, abandoned wooden table. The rotten planking is damp, and will therefore not burn. 

The air in your enclosed stove is now superheating, rising exceptionally rapidly into the sky and sucking in its wake the cold, ground level air through the cracks between the paving slabs. This phenomenon tightly concentrates the fire within, sending jets of flame several feet through the primitive wood roof. This phenomenon was known to the bombers of Dresden as "firestorm." 

Stand back a little. 

The rotten planking should by now have been roasted dry and is beginning itself to burn in earnest. Wait for the glue between two planks to melt, which should drop one half into the stove and spill the other over the edge to land on the roots of the lilac bush, setting a line of flame racing across to a pile of dry twigs half-hidden awkwardly behind the stove and firing them prematurely. 

Kick the burning plank off the roots of the lilac bush and stamp on it with your light, comfortable training-shoes until extinguished. Cautiously reach your leg around the white heat of the stove and kick apart the external pile of burning twigs. 



Observe the roaring, flaming, jetting stove thoughtfully until the paving slab forming the back of the stove explodes with enough force to frighten the pigeons in their loft two doors down and set dogs barking in another street, this explosion blasting out pieces of concrete in sizes ranging from those of a pea to those of a satsuma and hurling the largest part, about a quarter of the slab, through the trunk of the lilac bush as if it had been struck a good solid blow with an axe. The stove will collapse in on itself, flinging burning debris in all directions. 

Congratulations! Your garden is now on fire. 

Stand back a little. 



Obtain a bucket of water from your kitchen. Run to the main mass of the collapsed fire and throw the water over it. As the water leaves the bucket, consider the effect of a sharp, instantaneous change of temperature on white-hot burning concrete slabs. Affect relief as the water is vapourised a few inches before reaching its target. 

Return to the kitchen for another bucket of water, this time concentrating on the non-concrete-based fires. 

Repeat. 

Wait for the concrete slabs, now safely isolated, to die out and cool down. This should take no longer than 48 hours. 

Clean up the garden over the next ten days, shovelling the swampy embers into bin-bags. Approximately eight ought to do it. _


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## beer-b-q (Aug 24, 2009)

That is definitely a pig roast...


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## tasunkawitko (Aug 24, 2009)

billbo - that was great!

rod - thanks, but no worries - hairloss was very minimal and invisible to anyone who didn't know about it. LOL


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