Home Made Smoker

[The Apprentices]

Next on the smoker front.

First solder the blowpipe into the 1/2" hole at the rear of the main body so it sits proud of the main body by a couple of millimeters and comes to about a few millimeters of the inner wall of the main body to allow air passage when pumped, followed by the rear backplate which should be a couple of millimeters blow or inside the end of the tube, remember flux on the insides if possible.
Next is the foot and mount which holds the main body to the top bellows board and the main body tube.
First solder the two 1/2" support tubes to the foot making sure to orientate the scribes which you moulded to fit the curvature of the main body earlier.
Then wire down and solder the foot to main body to the support tubes, see picture and solder in place.
Then drill the foot to take the self tapping screws which hold the metalwork to the bellows board, Then clean everything up, which takes the longest.
Take a light weight 5 inch long chair spring, I got mine from a local repair shop, the wire is 3.00mm in diameter.

Cut the sring in half and clean up/smooth the cut end so it doesn't scratch or rub on the inside bellows board later.

Make two 140.00mm diameter bellows boards and round the edges over and make two stitching grooves about 10.00mm from the edge, I did all this on the lathe after cutting out the bords by hand with a coping saw.

Drill the top bellows board adjacent the blowpipe at the rear of the main body and where the two mounting screws hold the foot in place.
Notice the small metal clip made from a thin tin, which also holds the spring in place and uses one of the mounting screws.

 

[The Apprentices]

Not much left to do now, bellows, heat shield and spark arrestor in the cone, tomorrow.

 

[The Apprentices]

To complete the metalwork on the main body cut a thin metal plate or spark arrestor and fit it inside the cone slide so it butts up against the cone inside nice and snug, once you have done this remove it and mark off a series of hole positions and drill 2.50mm holes for the smoke to pass through but prevent ashes from being blown into the hive.

Clean everything up and add the most important man stamp, now your body is complete.

Next stage is the bellows, stiched versions, but I will include the easier pinned type as well.

 

[The Apprentices]

Bellows

Cut out two round boards 10.00mm thick by 140.00 mm in diameter for stitched bellows and 10.00mm by130.00mm on diameter for pinned bellows.

For stiched type you need to round one edge over and cut in a 2 X 2 millimeter groove 10.00mm from the edge to take the stiches so they are below the surface, for the pinned type you leave the edge square for taking the pins later.

Once you have your boards cut and prepared you need to work out the poition of the smoker foot is going to sit, I have fitted mine exactly in the centre for asthetics, draw a faint pencil line for easy positioning.

Mark off and drill the two holes to match the foot and then mark off and drill a 8.00mm hole adjacent to where the blow hole is, this is your top board done, the lower one has no holes yet.

For stitched bellows you also need the mark and drill out the 1.50mm stitching holes around the groove, spacing are at 7.00mm.
Once you have drilled all the holes in both boards, sand and seal the boards and semi prepare them with a few coats of danish oil or another finish of your choice.


This os the time to decide if you want pinned or stitched bellows

 

[The Apprentices]

Bellows leather.

Sellect some good quality leather or leatherette about 1.50mm - 2.00mm thick, mine is 1.75mm.

Cut a strip 445.00mm long by 80.00mm at one end and 85.00mm at the other for stitched bellows and an 80.00mm paralell strip for pinned bellows.

At the 80.00mm edge for both stitched or pinned skive or thin the leather to half thickness over 20.00mm so it blends in later, see photo, do don't have to do it but it looks better if you do.

Now glue the two ends together with the 80.00mm end over and on top of the 85.00mm end and overlap by 40.00mm, keep this overlap accurate.

Now sew the overlap in place, I use a Singer 29K33 leather patcher, but you could hand sew in the seam instead.

Prepare the bottom board and leather for gluing together using contact adheasive, let the glue dry first till very tacky, sew the bottom board first, more on this later.

When you apply the leather to the board/s do it on the bottom board first and place the edge of the leather almost flush with the edge of the board as you go.

Start at the join and work your way around, this is where you will see why one end of the leather is wider than the other.

As you turn the leather upwards to form a tube you will see the lower of the two overlapped ends will slightly decrease as it is bent round and upwards.

Trim off any excess at the seam after you have glued the leather in place.

For pinned types simply glue the leather to the square edge of the board.

 

[The Apprentices]

Continued

 

[The Apprentices]

Sewing the bellows is done using a saddle stitch waxed twin thread.

Take 2 fathoms of waxed 1.00mm ready waxed "Tiger Thread", 1 fathom = the distance of an average adult with their arms stretched out on either side.

Wax the thread again this time with beeswax to make sure of a good grip after you pull each crossover tight.

Take a No.2 saddlers needle and thread one on either end of the thread, this is normally called a waxed twin in the leather trade being a needle or a wire is fitted on either end.

Take your bottom bellows board which you glued the leather gusset in place earlier and with the use of a cobblers fine awl prick through the leather adjacent each hole drilled in the board, if your spacings are even you will soon get the instinct of where the holes are.

Now take the thread and push one of the needles through a starting hole, do not start at the seam as it is doubled over and makes starting a tad more difficult there, start to one side of the seam and sew away from it by pushing one needle through the same hole as the previous crossing over on each stitch and pulling tight on every one until you reach where you started, do a search for saddle stitch if your insure, when you reach the starting point, do one more stitch and tie off with both ends of the thread on the leather inside with a double twist knot.

After you have done the bottom board you need to glue the other board and edge of the leather as before, let it tacky off and fit the spring and smoker body to the other board and fasten the board in place as before.

Also make sure the spring sit as near the middle of the board as possible and is touching each board when they are sewn in, you might want to stretch the spring so it fits nicely between the two boards, so when they are done the bellows sit fully open.

Same as the other side make a twin and saddle stitch in place with the seam at the rear.

With everything is sewn together you need to make a paper template for the heat shield, to bend the plate, place the plate the desired distance in the vice and bend the plate using a flat piece of timber and gemtly tapping it down at right angles, drill the holes in the plate and polish her up before fitting ot to the upper board.

When you screw it in place always drill pilot holes for the screws and lube them with some parrafin wax and they will glide into the holes.

And last but not least the hanging hook is fitted and also acts as a finger hook to help grip the bellows firmly.

I hope you have enjoyed the learning curve and how it can be done, all the best, The Apprentice.

Have a go you never know.

 

[The Apprentices]

Continued

 

[The Apprentices]

Final shots

 

[viridens]

Thank you. For your skills, enthusiasm, detailed instructions and excellent photos.
I really enjoyed each installment, and I would certainly call that smoker an apprentice piece.
I no longer have a lathe or gas bottles for brazing/silver soldering, so I would have problems replicating your work. I still try to embrace the self sufficiency ethic and (so she says) spend too much time making do and mending, but sometimes even improving...

Thanks again. Next project??

 

[The Apprentices]

Thank you. For your skills, enthusiasm, detailed instructions and excellent photos.
I really enjoyed each installment, and I would certainly call that smoker an apprentice piece.
I no longer have a lathe or gas bottles for brazing/silver soldering, so I would have problems replicating your work. I still try to embrace the self sufficiency ethic and (so she says) spend too much time making do and mending, but sometimes even improving...

Thanks again. Next project??

Apprentice piece I like that one, thanks

Self sufficiency is our main aim here but we try not to let it become a burden upon us, we are way too busy making things to watch the drivel that the MSM put out.

The next line of thought on our new noblest self sufficiency is angled towards a design of Apidea, with five frames very similar to Dave Cushman's set up with home grown quality at mind.

We have a superb apiary here surround by lots of unspoilt natural ground and no sprays a huge woodland, lime, sycamore and SSSI nature reserves.

Our main aim in our SSMS has bees as a must on the list of things to do for many years now and what ever which way we are very nearly there.

Also a new microscope so I can blow a few cobwebs off of the biology parts of my earlier professional life.

So much to do on earth time and more daylight hours this time of year to get it all done, but we will get there, a hobby it has become not, but a way of doing things just like the venerable Edmund Marriage envisages in his Sumerian type eyes, our long term well being and a diet we can call all call food really depends upon the beekeepers and real gardeners of this world,,,,, So you monowhateverist thinkers of this world beware, the watchers are watching and doing things their way

Riddles over, we will keep you posted, and thanks again.