Well I have been asked a few times about these so here they are. They are made from a couple cheap ash shovels from homedepot. The coal rakes where expensive so I heated the shovel and bent it in the vise. The coal sifter was hard to find so I used my drill press and went to town with no particular pattern.
looks good to me! I still want to make up several of those mega-sifters like I made last winter, haven't had an ounce of time to do it yet..... I use that thing all the time and I love having it. Makes total cleanouts/quick restarts a breeze, pulling all the coals to the top of the ash in mere seconds.....
Scotty I was gonna make one like that but the expanded steel mesh was really expensive! I may still do it though that is pretty darn sexy!
I went to a local steel supplier and my jaw dropped at the price! $32 for a 10in square piece! I need to check TSC they probably have a small piece in the welding metals.
I haven't purchased from this place, but they seem to have a reasonable prices.. http://www.metalsdepot.com/products/hrsteel2.phtml?page=expanded A 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" flattened expanded 9 gauge steel is about $75.. The 1'x1' piece of the same material lists at $3.90. Not sure about shipping. Again, never purchased anything from them.
Pete are you sure the stuff you were looking at wasn't stainless? Stainless expanded metal is pricey.
Yes it was mild steel sheets at Alro even worse they had some rust on them and weren't oiled well from the look of it.unfortunately there is only one steel supplier in our area of MI too. I may hit the scrap yard down the road from us and see what the have as well. Ovid ion sell dirty steel that I buy for welding but expanded is hard to find there.
If all you need is a small piece, I can send you one? I just made this last weekend and have enough left over to send you a piece a little larger than this, so you can make your own cut-out? (O.k. - I am never taking a pic with the iPad ever agin. This thing has the worst camera. I will get a better pic. Still need to paint mine. I bought the coal rake in the background for like $16 last year on the Bay)
