As you all may or may not know, I didn’t know anything about smoking, but have always loved eating smoked meats.
Last December 2021, I was bored and started watching some YouTube videos on different things, that’s when I came across some offset smoking videos and got hooked.
I had a small old POS gas grill that had small fire box on the side I was planning on taking to the dump but decided to try and I convert it into a smoker which I did, and that started my journey/got me hooked.
I started by smoking brats, chicken, and fish, and enjoyed every minute of it. That was until I tried smoking my first pork butt in the middle of the winter. I found out quick that my small little POS converted super thin metal smoker needed upgraded.
With that little smoker, I had to stand by it through the whole pork butt cook to maintain the fire. I had to constantly regulate the fire/temperature due to the thin metal and small fire box. That was no fun standing outside for ~12 hours plus in low 20-degree F temperatures if not in the teens.
Since I was hooked on smoking, and I didn’t want to have that experience again, I got online and started my search for a new and better smoker. I checked out a bunch of them, from Yoder, Oklahoma Joes, Horizon, Old Country, and many others. Having no knowledge of offsets or any other smoker, I didn’t know which one to go with. I decide to go with one of the Old Country Brazos, but they were out of stock. Since I couldn’t get an Old Country Brazos, I decided to order a Horizon, they were out of stock also.
After my first two choices failed, I found a retailer over in Denver (over 200 miles east of where I live) that had a Yoder Wichita priced for over $3000.
I was going to buy the Yoder Wichita. But before I did, I came across Workhorse pits. After doing more research on Workhorse Pits, and finding great reviews on them, I decided to order the 1975, which I did early January 2022.
The great thing about the Workhorse, not only did it have great reviews, but it also wasn’t much more money than the Yoder Wichita. I think I paid $300 or $400 dollars more which included all the extras I had added plus shipped to my door. The downside was, I would have to wait 6 to 8 months before I would get it.
I didn’t want to wait 6 to 8 months to smoke anything, so I decided to see if I could build one myself to get me by until my Workhorse was delivered.
But trying to build my own was a joke in-its-self, since I have never welded before in my life, plus I new nothing about welders.
Not being detoured, I bought a Hobart 210 MVP welder, picked up scrap material from work (3/8”x20” pipe and some ¼” pieces of scrap sheet metal) and started my build after watching tons of videos and talking to people that know how to weld. After doing some practice runs, I jumped in feet first.
Which brings me to finding this site. I found Smoker Builders site by accident while searching for info on how big my door opening should be on the smoker I was trying to bjuild.
This site was a game changer for me, I learned 99% of what I currently know on how to make a smoker from this site. Everyone was and is so very helpful.
Not quite halfway through my very first build (never welder before), I decided to cancel the Workhorse 1975 I ordered, but was unable too. At the time after you ordered your pit, you have a limited amount of time to cancel. I was past that time.
After completing my first ever build, I smoked on it until my Workhorse 1975 was delivered this past August 2022.
Since now I have two smokers, I decided to give the one I built to my stepson and kept the 1975 for myself.
I really do love how the Workhorse works, and don’t regret buying it.
Since I gave my stepson the one I built, I needed/wanted to build one for my daughter, which I did; I built her a RF that works awesome.
I like how her RF I built her works so good (maintain temperatures without touching it). I’m going to build one for myself for when I have smaller cooks, plus just for something different.
That’s pretty much my journey getting to where I am now and how I found this site.
Thank you Frank for making this possible!
I'll try to post smoe pictures of all the smokers below:
This is the POS smoker I started with:
