During Downtime, Oklahoma Steel Workers Build Custom Smokers

What does a steel fabrication shop, that's accustomed to supporting the oil business, do when oil is $30 a barrel? They get creative.

They’re still working, just shifted focus to commercial and residential work.

According to David Smith, they’d normally be making, “Drilling rig equipment, air-cooled heat exchangers, gas compressor skids," you know, stuff to support getting oil out of the ground and onto market.

He's been at that for 35 years, but, during some downtime last fall, they build a gigantic smoker with space for wood storage, the fire box, and three smoking compartments labeled chicken, beef and ribs.

"What we did was by pure accident," Smith said. "It's drawing it underneath it, so it's bringing all the heat evenly."

Well, somebody came through the shop and saw the smoker and said, “can you make me one?” And now, all of the sudden, they’re in the smoker business.

Smith said, "We're probably up to about 20 since October of last year."

They've got several different styles and sizes - and they aren’t your typical backyard smoker or grill.

And while smokers are great, they really want to be in the oil business. But, until it comes back, they'll just keep grinding away.

You can find Roy's Custom Smokers on Facebook.