Cost, Time, and Skills: This project took me a couple of afternoons, primarily because several coats of paint had to dry. Total cost for this project was about 20 bucks because the cart was found and the cedar lumber was left over from a cedar fence I built for a friend. I needed an angle grinder with a metal cutting disk, a power drill/driver, a jigsaw, and spray paint. Your cost will go up if you’ve got to purchase any of those things.
The cart had many years of rust and flaking paint when I brought it home.
The Story: I originally brought this cart home as a storage place for stacking records to go with our newly rebuilt stereo console and growing vinyl collection. I rolled it into the dining room and Christy was thoroughly unimpressed. It’s entirely too large for our dining room and the rust and flaking paint is just not that homely. After getting shot down by the lady of the house, I took the cart outside and it sat there for a while. In the rain. Getting more rusty. Then, quite haphazardly, I rolled it next to the Big Green Egg which was sitting nicely in it’s nest and my wheels started turning.
Here’s a photo I posted to Instagram the day my wheels started turning on this project. It’s obvious when you look at them together like this.
Instructions: My very first job was to clean the cart up a bit. I used an angle grinder with a wire brush to remove the large flakes of paint and worst rust from the top of the cart.
I drew a large chalk circle by tying a piece of string to a nail I tapped through a hole I drilled in the center of the cart. Be sure to use safety goggles and ear protection.
After the cart was a bit cleaner, I needed to cut the hole for the Big Green Egg. We’ve got a large egg, so I looked up the instructions on their website for building a cart. They’ve got full plans for building a wooden cart, so I took the circle diameter from those instructions. I traced the circle by tying a piece of string to a nail I tapped through the center. Finding out where to tap the nail took a minute. The egg would need to squeeze into the frame of the cart, so I measured strait over from the edge by one radius. I measured again from a different point on the cart so that I could draw a line through the center of the circle. By repeating this process on the perpendicular side of the cart, I had a nice X where the center of the egg should go. I then drilled a hole and tapped in the nail. From there, tying the string and wrapping it around a piece of chalk was easy.
Cutting the hole was honestly quite fun. Sparks flying everywhere. Power tools. Safety equipment. Manly stuff.
After the circle was traced in chalk, I attached a metal cutting disk onto the angle grinder and put on all of my safety equipment. Cutting metal with a grinder sends sparks and debris everywhere with incredible speed. Long sleeves, closed-toe shoes, goggles, gloves, and ear protection. Cutting the hole didn’t take that long, but it sure was fun.
Cutting holes in things is fun!
Once the hole was cut, I attached a metal grinding disk and ground down the sharp edges around the hole. I didn’t want to cut myself, or the egg, on those edges. That just wouldn’t do.
Wear a mask when removing paint from any surface, especially if you’re using power tools.
After smoothing the edges around the hole, I reattached the wire brush and cleaned as much of the rest of the paint and rust off of the cart as was possible.
Primer, Paint, and Clear Coat – All for metal surfaces
With the cart stripped down, I vacuumed all of the dust and hosed it down to remove all of the old mess. After letting that dry, I sprayed on a coat of primer, two coats of red paint, and two coats of clear enamel, following the paint manufacturer’s instructions for drying time.
This is how the cart looked after paint and clear coat finish. I used two 12 inch tiles leftover from the chicken coop for a heat barrier between the cart and the bottom of the egg.
Moving a big green egg is not a small task, especially by yourself. In order to accomplish this task, I took everything apart. The lid of the grill is held on using several small bolts and is very heavy by itself. Be careful when lowering it to the ground. The ceramic inserts are easier to remove, but will crack easily if you drop them. Be very careful, but if you break your plate setter, you can fix it.
Big Green Eggs come apart pretty easily. Be very careful handling the parts. The ceramic will crack very easily.
The Big Green Egg fit nicely in its new home.
The only thing missing from the cart at this point was a little space to work. It just needed a cedar tabletop, so that’s what I did. I had recently built a cedar fence for a friend and she let me keep the extra lumber, which amounted to a couple of 2×4’s and 1×6’s. I cut the 2×4’s just a little longer than the cart and the 1×6’s just a little wider than the 2×4’s and cart together.
After cutting the cedar boards to length, I held them with clamps until I could screw them together with decking screws.
It was a little precarious at first, but I held the boards together with clamps. Once they were held together straight, I used decking screws to bind them permanently.
Holding everything together with clamps until I could screw it together.
For the boards in front of and behind the egg, I had to use the jigsaw to remove a bit of each board so they would fit around the egg. Once those boards were attached, I just needed to sand the boards and apply a few coats of sealant.
The table top is finished. It just needs a few coats of clear coat.
Cedar boards make amazing outdoor table tops.
This cart is just a little higher than standard BGE carts, but I’ve really enjoyed using this cart so far. The large casters allow the cart to be moved with relative ease. I can roll it into the corner when I’m not using it and into the center of the patio when we need it. If you’re building a custom cart, make sure to get large casters instead of smaller ones. Check the weight rating as well. If you have any questions or comments, leave one below or email us at oldhousecrazy@gmail.com. Thanks for reading. -Robby
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