Bingo BBQ

The bronze bow shackle arrived yesterday - just need a 12mm bronze one now for the smaller end of the link. I also ordered a longer and thicker bell rope..

The neodymium magnet handles arrived yesterday morning too.

Why use one handle when 6 will do? Flashed the kono up at midday with a thin layer of charcoal and a bit of kindling.

It didn't take long to get going and the digital vent worked like a dream.

It worked brilliantly, enough to cook some bacon.

It retains the heat far more efficiently than a metal BBQ and directs it upward, where it's needed. Hay also boiled a kettle on it. Here's a video of it working.

The griddle is a tad too flimsy, so I had an idea to use the griddle from our flatpack, steel firepit, which is far more beefy.

It's slightly too large, but adequate. It has a couple of lugs at each end, which help keep it on the kono  in the lateral direction and it's only a couple of mm too wide in the fore and aft. OK, it adds to the weight, but robustness is required in this case.

I contacted the guy in Honiton who made the firepit and enquired whether he did the griddles separately. Unfortunately he doesn't do them in stainless steel for our size of firepit, but the mild steel ones are only £25 plus £5 postage, so well worth getting one. Hay wouldn't be too keen on me using the one from the firepit anyway, as that's her baby. I will probably shave a couple of mm off the sides to get a 100% fit within the longer, aluminium cage rails. Hay's also ordering one of his pokers to use on the kono and the firepit. Oh, and a small, stainless steel firepit was ordered, as it transpires, for use when walking, although I wouldn't like to be the one lugging the logs. We'll soon have more BBQs and firepits than an American at this rate.

It was still belting out a fair amount of heat by 6pm - 6 hours after lighting it. I tipped the ash out to see what, if any, damage had been done to the interior, but beyond a bit of discolouration of the stainless insert, which was expected, it was pristine.

This project has triggered an interest in metal bending and folding equipment and I now have a hankering for a metal die set and a sheet metal brake. I guess that's going to have to be for my next birthday after the one in 2 weeks.

The kono has cost me, in total, £270, which is a bit less than a bought one, but I'd have to pay postage from Japan or the USA for one of those. However, given the savings I know I can make by not ordering double quantities and knowing exactly what parts I do need, or can adapt, I reckon I could make another for that price and turn a decent profit in the process.

Today I'm hoping to test the Neolithic kono.