Great suggestions! I shall help direct the efforts. I think we should take her for a test drive when done.

Here is the grill guard he made. Yes, a bit ridiculous on a Pilot unless your 17! The way I look at is it a) more protection b) adds weight so makes the vehicle slower c) something he built.

He ground down his weld beads. For his first time I think it was good. Plenty of room for improvement but the only way to get better is to keep doing it with instruction. Next year he is taking a welding class at school. Hopefully that will help along the way.

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That grill guard will do a number on a pedestrian. Better keep him making BBQ grills! ;)

G

What about cutting up beer kegs for a smoker?

Mad Max!

I have posted many a Thread about a Klose BBQ that I bought in 05. It features 1/4 inch oil pipe for the smoker and 1/2 inch plate for the fire box. All for better heat retention and thus long term heat stability. Also many of the suggestions posted here are the fine tunings incorporated in to the Klose BBQ. There is more to them then first meets the eye.

I have used a 35 gal Drum unit in the past. It was a very good unit but eventually I wanted something a bit more sophisticated. In the Klose BBQ I like to use Oak as the primary wood backed up with a fruit wood for flavor, even usiing Orange wood. Yes there is a bit of a learning curve associated with these unit's as there is with using anything worthwhile doing.

Hmmm what is more useful doing at this kids age welding and fabricating or building model airplanes. A few years later I designed and built a 4 inch dredge out of T6061 Aluminum. I took a machine shop class at a JC. I especially liked the Bridgeport verticle milling machines. Since the JC shop did not have a metal break machine nor Helioarc the Prof did that part for me at his day job. The drawback on the unit I built was the weight of the Sluice box at 60lbs. It is bullet proof though.

He was only into the small stuff when he was really young, by 8 he really had an interest in bigger metal and never looked back. It is funny, as a sort of strange punishment once for a bad set of grades back in 6th grade, I bought him a small model of the Cutty Sark to put together. He looked at it and said, "Dad, make me build a boat I can sail, I really don't wanna do this, its useless!" All the more reason - its was an exercise in focus.

He is about the bigger items that are usable verse the models.

Just because I think about **** like this all the time, what is the potential liability issue if some soccer mom pulls in front of him and he can't stop in time and part of that guard snaps at a weld and impales a kid in the back seat?

Not trying to be negative, squash Max's enthusiasm or be a Debbie downer, just a thought to consider.

If the top of the firebox is flat, it is a handy spot to heat water, which is nice for cleaning up if you are in the middle of BFE Texas in the piney woods. Also gives a place to set a cast iron skillet/dutch oven for bacon, biscuits and what not.

That hitch connection is the place to test and see how much penetration he has...see if he can pull any parent material when it fails in tension...

I would emphasize to the kid that welding is a skill. I bring this up because if he sells something and the weld does not stick, then he can be sued.

Start with a high setting, using heavy guage cord. Gradually back down to the proper heat, but start out too hot with low wire feed speed. You can't have too much heat in a weld joint. Maybe take a welding class at the local JC adult school.

A neighbor a few blocks away came by and asked me to use my forklift to load a BBQ that he just made. That thing seriously weighed over 2,000 lbs. I was so nervous loading it on his spindly trailer, I told him that he can drive the forklift and load it himself, which he did very happily.

This is a good point. It is also important to learn enough to know when you are 'welding' and when you are applying 'filler'.

Discerning between the two is a skill your son will learn when he takes a course and has to cut/etch his welds or do destructive testing.

I applaud his efforts, I just want to make sure he is safe.

I applaud his initiative. I wish I'd taken more technical things like auto shop in school. My son did a half day his whole senior year at the local tech college in their auto mechanics program and graduated on time. He's miles ahead of me in being willing to tackle projects. His most recent one was bringing an old 4Runner back from the dead while he was stationed at Ft. Benning for training. He sold it on somewhat reluctantly when he was transferred.

Guys - thank you so much for your insights and suggestions!

It begs the question the real deal bonafied stuff of course.
But then as far a capability you can take a look on the recent Thread on frugality and see the construction project I completed.

I have no idea what your talking about but reserve your right to say it again at a later date...