I must be nuts- the vintage kamado resto

mahenryak

@Jeremiah maybe this site could prove helpful...

http://www.kamadobbq.com/blog/2011/04/25/Augie-Talks-Kamado-and-answers-YOUR-questions.aspx

http://www.kamadobbq.com/History---Restoration.html

Smokehouse33

Looking forward to seeing that beauty all fixed up! Good luck!

blasting

@Jeremiah   That is the sort of unconventional project I regularly find myself eyeball deep in.  I don't know much (or anything) about ceramics or clay, but if I lived closer I'd offer my participation in "garage meetings" and make sure your glass was full.

SMITTYtheSMOKER

Be careful, I see quite a few of these around here.  
Too fragile to salvage is the best way to look at this project.   Spending money isn't a real investment-IMO.  Think old terracotta, powderized to the point of falling apart with little to no impact. 

I feel better having warned you.  Good luck in whatever you do.

I have a beautiful old cooker just like it sitting in my backyard, great to look at.

NPHuskerFL

Sounds like a time consuming fun project. It'll be pretty cool with it completely restored. 

Jeremiah

Thanks yall for the comments! Someone has already offered up their clay skills to patch/reglaze it! This project might have legs after all!

Jeremiah

@caliking thanks, I've been reading those exact threads. I might start a thread there as well, but I'm not a member there yet. 

Jeremiah

@mahenryak Thanks I'll check those out!

bettysnephew

Best of luck in your endeavor.

NPHuskerFL

Nuckin Futs but it'll be cool when it's complete Jeremiah. 

HarrisFrampton

Good luck with the project, glad it found a home and didn't end up on the side of the road.

Hotch

@Jeremiah With your skills and attention to detail that you did on your teardrop, I have no doubt that you can bring this one back as good as new.

Richard Fl

Jeremiah said:

@mahenryak Thanks I'll check those out!

Here is the other project I mentioned.  You may have a band diameter problem as I did.  Quik crete was great, just work in small areas at a time.

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1156764&catid=1

Jeremiah

Thanks @Richard Fl I just read through the post. (Boy that site is hard to navigate on a phone) I believe mine is actually in better shape than yours started! I didn't think that could
be possible. How is the quick Crete holding up?  I'm gonna try to salvage the band and hinge as well. I'm hoping a good sandblasting and new handle will do it. 

HeavyG

Nice find!

My dad was career USN and we lived in Japan for a few years in the 1960's and brought a couple of those back with us when we returned stateside. Only one survived the journey but was used for many years.

This site seems kinda dead but may be of some help in leading to more info about restoring one:

http://www.kamadobbq.com/History---Restoration.html

Another kamado site I hang out on has a bit of info that might be helpful: http://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/22891-kamado-imperial-restoration/


Good luck!!

RRP

I asked a dear friend who happens to be a Japanese interpertor for help deciphering that writing on the dome. Here was her reply.

I asked some Japanese to take a look at that mark, and they told me that the characters seemed to indicate perhaps an American Memorial edition of the Imperial “Mushi Kamado” Asia.

In other words, there wasn’t a whole lot to go on.  They even looked up a Japanese forum post somewhere with the same photo, where it explained basically the same non-contextualized meanings in the characters, but little to connect them.

Hope that is of some sort of help.

So...whatever you want to tell people it says would be OK and nobody will challenge you!!! LOL

Jeremiah

Thanks Ron! I was curious what the writing was. Sounds like these things were produced and marketed for Americans to bring back to the states just as this one was. 

RRP

An addendum...
The top four ideograms (characters in a block) appears to indicate this is an American Imperial Kamado that was some sort of memorial edition. Below the "stamp" mark, the characters read Asian "mushi kamado"

DoubleEgger

RRP said:

I asked a dear friend who happens to be a Japanese interpertor for help deciphering that writing on the dome. Here was her reply.

I asked some Japanese to take a look at that mark, and they told me that the characters seemed to indicate perhaps an American Memorial edition of the Imperial “Mushi Kamado” Asia.

In other words, there wasn’t a whole lot to go on.  They even looked up a Japanese forum post somewhere with the same photo, where it explained basically the same non-contextualized meanings in the characters, but little to connect them.

Hope that is of some sort of help.

So...whatever you want to tell people it says would be OK and nobody will challenge you!!! LOL

So basically it's the same thing as those Asian tattoos you see all the time. 

bettysnephew

DoubleEgger said:

  So basically it's the same thing as those Asian tattoos you see all the time. 

Yeah. Snow peas and chicken in a lobster sauce. My wife who is of Chinese descent says that some of the characters often do not indicate what the tattooed person thinks they say. She and some of her friends have burst out laughing at a few.

DaveRichardson

So its a "Tramp Stamp" komado?????

Toxarch

Jeremiah said:

 Also does anyone have any idea of the make? My best Google guess is Imperial Kamado. But I'm just guessing.

Mom met with her friend today who was originally from Okinawa and asked if she could translate the writing. She knows several oriental languages. She said it is not Japanese at all, it's Chinese and these are Xiang symbols. Xiang is one of the many languages spoken in China.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiang_Chinese

The top symbol is a Pattern Registered mark. (I guess like a Patent)
The circular symbol is a Trademark Symbol.
The rest is the brand which says "Kyokuto" which translates to "Far East".

So I would say you have a Kyokuto Kamado.

Jeremiah

Great. So I have a Chinese egg? Lol. Seriously thanks for the investigation. 

On on a side note,
i went by fireside in Augusta today. He has one identical to mine but a large. Same markings and all. Big green egg has dropped him because he's selling joes and promos. All he had left was a medium fire ring. I didn't need to spend the cash today but hated that he spent he time to dig it out, one less
thing to buy I guess. Lol

shadowrider

I don't know if this will work or not but it may be worth doing some homework on.  We used some stuff called POR for painting car frames and sealing fuel tanks.  It was supposed to be porcelaine and was some kind of hard when cured.  You may be able to scrub the loose off the outside and apply a few coats.  It may work. 

Jeremiah

@shadowrider thanks! But @northGAcock has already volunteered his wife's clay/kiln services/knowledge! I will probably use POR 15 on the band assembly though. 

Jeremiah

@RRP A man of his word. Thanks Ron!

johnkitchens

Jeremiah said:

Great. So I have a Chinese egg? Lol. Seriously thanks for the investigation. 

On on a side note,
i went by fireside in Augusta today. He has one identical to mine but a large. Same markings and all. Big green egg has dropped him because he's selling joes and promos. All he had left was a medium fire ring. I didn't need to spend the cash today but hated that he spent he time to dig it out, one less
thing to buy I guess. Lol

I didn't know that Fireside was no longer a dealer. Their commercials first introduced me to the Egg. 

bweekes

Man, this is one thread that I'm really looking forward to following! Great venture, Jeremiah!

Toxarch

Jeremiah said:

Great. So I have a Chinese egg? Lol. Seriously thanks for the investigation. 

On on a side note,
i went by fireside in Augusta today. He has one identical to mine but a large. Same markings and all. Big green egg has dropped him because he's selling joes and promos. All he had left was a medium fire ring. I didn't need to spend the cash today but hated that he spent he time to dig it out, one less
thing to buy I guess. Lol

Chinese egg and you just put in a fire ring made in Mexico.

northGAcock

@Jeremiah How about an update on the resro project?