I'm wondering whether Weber quality has declined or whether - perhaps -
there are a few cheap models being sold. I have a Weber kettle
purchased in the early 80s. A friend just put together a newly
purchased Weber Silver. The top of his kettle seems to be made of MUCH
lighter steel than mine. Moreover, because the top is lighter gauge, it
doesn't fit tightly on the bottom, i.e. it is slightly out of round.
The actual grill (grate) is also made from lighter gauge wire and
doesn't have the same hook-like handles that mine has.

I have noticed that some manufacturers produce lower quality versions of
products for stores like Wal-Mart - products not listed on the
manufacturer's site or available elsewhere. Is it possible Weber is
doing something similar?

"scandal" wrote in message
hlink.net...
I'm wondering whether Weber quality has declined or whether - perhaps -
there are a few cheap models being sold. I have a Weber kettle
purchased in the early 80s. A friend just put together a newly
purchased Weber Silver. The top of his kettle seems to be made of MUCH
lighter steel than mine. Moreover, because the top is lighter gauge, it
doesn't fit tightly on the bottom, i.e. it is slightly out of round.
The actual grill (grate) is also made from lighter gauge wire and
doesn't have the same hook-like handles that mine has.

I have noticed that some manufacturers produce lower quality versions of
products for stores like Wal-Mart - products not listed on the
manufacturer's site or available elsewhere. Is it possible Weber is
doing something similar?

Unfortunately - I think this is a quality slip - certainly for this model,
it's not a function of where it was bought. I received one of these Silver
18.5" Kettles as a "10 year anniversary" gift from my former employer (It
was given 12 years after I started working there, and 5 days after my entire
division was sold off to the Chinese. You go Sam, you're a SuperGenius[TM])

Anyway, I didn't really NEED another outdoor cooking appliance, having a
MECO adjustable square covered grill, a WSM, and a Jenn-Air gasser, but I
figured one can never have enough. Well I was very disappointed in this
one, delivered to my (old) address by the Michael C Fina group. It's got
the cheap and ill-fitting lid as you mention (which transmits way too much
heat to the handle), as well as an ineffective ash catcher assembly. If it
worked, it'd be OK that it pumps out ashes when you adjust the draft, but
since they end up all over my deck, I'd rather they stayed inside until I
was ready to clean them out. I'd not recommend this grill to anyone - and
mine was free.

Notably, when I was first married, (lo these 20something years ago) we had a
weber kettle knockoff - which I believe was by meco. It had a charcoal
grate that hung adjustably from the cooking grate (or laid in teh bottom of
the kettle at it's lowest setting) regular vents like my WSM, and heavy
porcelain enameled steel throughout. Cleaning out the ashes was normally
done by pulling the grate out and scooping with a paper plate, but it didn't
have to be done every cook. This was a far superior grill to todays weber
silver, I wish I still had it.

- Bo