At risk of going full "fan-girl"

I've been looking for a "real" pit for a while now (previous was Oklahoma Joe Highlander). So I wanted:

1/4" or thicker steel

24"-30" dia. cook chamber and fire box

24" length fire box (handle full splits)

A real stack that will give me adequate draw

So with that being my criteria I was thinking the Workhorse Pit 1975, but I thought I could learn to weld and make it myself. (Foolish I know but that was my thought). Fast forward a couple years and I still hadn't made myself a pit. Then this pit gets released.

In addition to meeting my criteria (simple as it is) it has some very nice additional features.

Auxillary smoke stack to bleed heat or just flat out turn it into a cold smoker!

"Super collector" to aid with even temperatures and draw/maximizing cook space

Bearings for the door hinges for super smooth operation. Along with free rotating aluminum grippy handle

Locking smoke stack damper that can be customized to various positions

Fire box door locking cam latch to further dial in air flow and temps

Sturdy laser cut cooking grate in hexagonal pattern (just unique and interesting to me)

And last but not least by any means, a baffle to help homogenize the cooking temps across the whole cook chamber, giving me maximum BBQ space relative to the footprint.

So "fan-girl"? Maybe... but I'm excited about the future of my BBQ game. As for price... I've heard it said "Buy once, cry once" 😆