After looking at these pictures I realized - I better get in there and sand off all that paint on the baffle plate before the end caps get welded into place. Luckily, the painted side ended up on the top.
Yes....paint on the inside is not advisable. I’ve had really good luck with a paint removal wheel on an angle grinder. The big box stores have them with the cut-off wheels. A tad on the expensive side and they wear down rapidly but you can’t beat them for efficiency.
Brought her home over the weekend and fired it up. Have to sand it some more yet and then paint it. I've read some people just oil the outside of their firebox rather than pain it. Thoughts on that?
I tried to oil the outside of an older offset once. What a mess. Darn think dripped oil for the next 3 weeks (and I had only put a thin coat on as well as wiped it down) and I had rust again in a month. It can probably be successfully but I had such a mess that I would vote for paint.
Threw on some paint. The lid had lots of grinder marks in it so I had to spend a lot of time sanding it. Not perfect, but much better than the 1st coat of paint. The firebox plates had alot if deep groves on them (used steel from some sort of farm equipment). I ground and sanded them down a bit, but the grooves were too deep and I was tired of grinding... so they are going to stay that way - at least for now.
A good flap disk is great for smoothing out grinding marks. On deep groves, I’ve had good success but running a super fast weld over the and then run the flap-disk to smooth them out. Much easier than trying to just sand them out like you do on wood.
Either way, no problem leaving them as it adds character! Congrats on a nice build.
1st food pRon from New pit... a chuck roast. I have a UDS, weber smokey mountain, pellet grill and green egg. Never have i seen a smoke ring like this!