This is the story of the restoration of a Cookshack Model 15 H/S, built sometime before 1975, and in commercial use for at least 28 years. Cookshack customer service told me that when this one was built, they didn't have any computers, so all the sales records were done by hand. Needless to say, they couldn't tell me exactly when it was built or to whom it was sold, and they even said that they thought it couldn't be restored. That sounded like a challenge to me!
I got the smoker from a restaurant supply store that specialized in used equipment in Star City, Arkansas. The owner completely stripped the shell, and told me that I could have it. As you can see from the photo below, it was just the body, with nothing else except the shelf holders, and was totally encrusted with grease and grime from 28 years of use.
The small black piles next to the cardboard and behind the shell near the bottom of the image are gunk from test scrapings. MUCH more came off as we cleaned it.
Here's a look at the inside. The gunk we ended up scaping off was more than half an inch thick in some places. Most of it was dry and crusted, though. The latches are hanging limp, and everything is covered with slimy grease.
Here's a close up of the inside. You can see the scraping marks, and the small grease drainage hole near the front of the bottom.
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