What is ye' ol OB recommendations, aside from buying new (gotta save face with the wife), to fixing a hole in a firebox of a smoker?

Looking at sheet metal (bent in the general curvature of the firebox) and some high temp JB weld and self tapping screws to cover it fully and then placing a charcoal box in it to keep the logs off of the metal as much as possible

Am I totally out of place thinking this will work for a while?

Dont see why it wouldnt work if you got it to install the way you described

I patched a small hole in my pit just using metal flashing and rivets.

Friend did some farm welding on an old pit we had, worked for a few years. Depending on the size of the hole, just shove tin foil in there. Did this for a few years before the welding. I'm betting you can squeeze a lot cooks out of your old smoker!

AgySkeet06 said:

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Dont see why it wouldnt work if you got it to install the way you described

I patched a small hole in my pit just using metal flashing and rivets.

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ooohhh rivets, thats a good idea. An excuse to buy a new tool too

Rivets would be a lot better than squirting a bunch of JB in there and hoping for the best. Plus, are you sure you want JB cooking alongside the stuff you plan to eat? And you need to use black iron sheet, not galvanized, because again, do you want high heat + Galvanized cooking next to your food?

the high temp JB weld or similar is non-toxic and made for car/automotive repair initially but also fireboxes. If I can do the rivets correctly, I will fire it up and see the loss of heat/smoke and then add if needed.

Here is what I ordered, not JB Weld exactly but the same premise...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HABA3O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

How big is the hole? If smaller than an inch or so some large stainless washers, bolt and nut would do the trick.

about 1.5in in diameter but not symmetrical in the slightest. Not sure how big it would be if I started pulling away more rust

I've been using cheap sheet pans as a firebox bottom since my ash drawer rusted out. When the sheet tray rusts away I just toss another one in there. Never worried about fastening it down