Sweetie got me a cold smoker for my birthday, but it didn’t come with a vessel to hold the food being smoked — so naturally I got even more excited about the prospect of making one. This is a live edge wood base with routed channels to direct smoke under a glass cloche. Still in the prototype phase after the first attempt taught me that smoke has a mind of its own.
The idea#
We both like to experiment with food and flavors, so a cold smoker was a perfect birthday gift. But it needed a proper base and vessel. Prior to my 55 years of living, I didn’t know the word “cloche” — but after describing what I wanted to my GPT friend, it knew exactly what I was after. The real design challenge was how to route smoke under the cloche. As a kid, I’d made a root beer can lamp with two holes in the base for the cord, and it occurred to me that a similar approach could work here.
What I did#
Birthday night, we headed to Lowe’s. I was thinking butcher’s block for the base, but when we hit the lumber section we found live edge wood — even better. The long piece gave me multiple attempts to get it right, which turned out to be important. That same night I made a quick cut on the rough end and drilled two holes — one on top with a hole saw and one in the side — a super-quick first prototype.
What surprised me#
In my mind, the smoke would travel through the side hole and up into the bowl placed on top. In reality, the smoke went everywhere except into the target bowl. Smoke follows the path of least resistance, and an open channel through porous wood gives it plenty of places to escape.
Result#
The first prototype proved the concept but exposed the smoke routing problem. The next version will include proper piping to reduce resistance, with a side port and top hole that don’t drill all the way through — lined with something to keep smoke from seeping into the wood. I’m also planning to rig up a router jig to cut a channel for the cloche to seat into. Some nice stain and it should look great and function well. For now, still in the prototype phase.
Takeaways#
- Smoke follows the path of least resistance — an unlined hole through wood doesn’t create a directed channel
- A long piece of live edge was a smart buy — multiple attempts built into one board
- Quick birthday-night prototypes are great for validating (or invalidating) assumptions before committing to a finished build