Homemade Charcoal or Wood Grill from Hot Water Tank

This week I made a grill from an old hot water tank (not galvanized). I also used parts from lawnmowers and training wheel frames. We had a grate from an old stove and I had some scrap steel pieces lying around.  I still plan to paint it but we used it for cooking dinner last night over wood. It worked great!

Seasoning and Cooking with Old Cast Iron Pans

Rusty Old Cast Iron Skillets

Sandblasting the old cast iron skillets 

All cleaned up and seasoned

Three of the Skillets in our kitchen

Getting the fire ready for cooking

Bacon, Egg and Toast Breakfast

Bacon Cheeseburger Dinner

This project started when I  read an article in the current Countryside magazine called "Rusty Gold."  It was an article about rescuing old cast iron pans. We happened to have six old skillets lying around.  My friend gave me a set of three skillets and my parents had given me a set of three skillets the same size as the other set. So with six pans and a sand blaster, I went to work.  Some sources say not to use a sandblaster because it may decrease the value of the pans...but we aren't selling them. We are going to use them.  After sandblasting them down to the metal, they were coated with lard, and baked at 450 degrees for 45 minutes.  I  used a stove that is in my garage to do this so there would be no smoke in the house.  After the pans cooled for an hour, they were coated with vegetable shortening and baked again.  At this point they had a nice black shiny coating. We have decided to use one set in the house and one for outdoor fire cooking. I made a set of hooks to hang them on so that they are handy to get to and add a little touch of country to our kitchen decor. It is recommended to cook high fat foods the first few times they are used until they get a really good seasoning on them.  We used two of them on the open fire to cook breakfast this morning and then used one again to make bacon cheeseburgers for dinner. We hope to do this often.