Kono IV

I wasn't intending to do another Kono post this week, but what the hell. Getting tiresome now, for a bodge, ain't it?

Chopped the uneven top off - by God it was hard - the stuff has set like, well, concrete. Hard as nails.

Took me about half an hour with a bloody big angle grinder. I was surprised.

I then put a layer of fire cement in the bottom, using water on my hands to create a slip so as to smooth it - there was no way I was going to use a trowel.

Finally, the same technique for a skim on the sides. OK, so it's buff and not white, but it's not a work of art.

Once dry, which may take a few days, I'll apply a final coat of fire cement and a final (smoother) exterior coat of ordinary white cement, and then set to on gouging out some handles at each end. I did try with a small angle grinder, but it hardly made a dent in the perlcrete.

Sister-in-law, next door, is a ceramicist and has a kiln. I may bake the fire cement on prior to firing the grill up in anger. It will allow me to fill in any cracks that may appear and at a higher temperature than a charcoal fire can produce - and in a controlled manner.

I could easily have made the walls thinner and the whole thing lighter, I reckon by at least half. I haven't weighted it yet, but I will. I'm not yet sure whether this will be the final product, or whether to make another using the knowledge I've gained on this one, which can be relegated to garden BBQ use. If I want to take one with us in the van for use when touring, I'll certainly need one that's much lighter and possibly a tad smaller. Getting the mould box sizes right will be a pain though - might have to resort to using bits of wood for shuttering.

I also need to find a decent cooking grate to place on the top. Something relatively beefy - I can angle grind grooves into the top edges for it to slot into to stop it sliding off. The draught holes need to be drilled too and I haven't yet decided on the mechanism for controlling the draught, although it will have to some form of sliding mechanism.