Accessories

Love This Grill!
Got my Lodge Sportsman Grill recently. Arrived fast even a few days before tracking said I was supposed to. I got it for $49.99 with free shipping so it's a really good deal if you keep checking Amazon for one offered for that. Love it! Worth every penny to spring for this piece of equipment. I highly recommend for couples and singles. Perfect for grilling in small spaces like little decks or apartment balconies. Just darned handy and economical to fire up a small amount of charcoal and grill up a couple of hamburgers or steaks or kabobs or chicken pieces. Doesn't waste a ton of charcoal and lighter fluid like firing up a family size grill. Much sturdier than a little personal or tabletop grill. Grates are made of cast iron and not wire so you can treat the whole apparatus just like your favorite cast iron griddles and skillets and it will last for years and years. Pre-seasoned, but after a grilling soak the grates in a sink of soapy water for a minute or so to loosen the burned on barbeque sauce and food bits. Open-air design burns the charcoal (either briquettes or lump type) cleanly and completely. Of course you have to wait until it all burns and probably clean it in the morning after it has all cooled down. Dump the ashes that are leftover, give it a quick rinse and look for more burned on bits and remove them. The fire bowl and legs are small enough for me to rinse in my kitchen sink but that part is quite heavy. Be sure not to neglect it though. It's no more unwieldy or heavier than my big 15 1/4 " Lodge Skillet and I use that all the time. Dry with paper towels as much as possible and let it finish drying in the air for a while. Just like your cast iron pans, to keep it from rusting, every time, at first, and periodically after that, give it an all over spray of PAM spray oil. Be sure and get the underneath and all the grate edges. Store out of the weather. Bring it inside if you can designate a spot. I have a junky old family size gas grill that someone gave me and I spent $20 rebuilding the burner part only to find that I really don't care for gas grilling. It was plenty clean enough inside and the hood was large enough to completely house and cover my Sportsman Grill. They do have a cover for the Sportsman but I didn't get it. I think while grill covers, in general, are nice at first. They tend to get left outside and the covers eventually fall apart. I'm not convinced that even the nicest covers keep the weather completely out in bad rains and such. I highly recommend finding a storage spot. Also when moving it, it is heavy. It does have a heavy wire bail type handle but the bail handle is easy to slip on and off the hooks for it. I gave it up after the first couple of uses. Moving it on the tilty bail is dicey with hot coals in it and if you are going to let it cool down anyway it's easier just to lift it by the sides of the body. I even move mine by the body with the hot coals in it into the gas grill storage by using some big thick hot mitts I have. I fire it up on the side utility shelf of the gas grill and only have to move it about a foot back into its "garage." That way it never gets rained on overnight either. By the way note in it's instructions, before you throw them out, that Lodge tells you that since the legs and everything are all cast iron it, of course, ALL gets very hot. My old cheapie Hibachi had wood feet but the cast iron legs can scorch or burn a deck or table or even a wood utility shelf. I had a leftover 1 ft. ceramic tile that I laid on top of my utility shelf to prevent burning. It's perfect. I also live in the country but have a dirt road that's only about 20 feet from my deck where I grill. The gas grill garage keeps the dusty dirt from settling on the sticky oiled surface for one thing, but there's one more thought. Living in the country there are a lot of hunters and sportsman types that run up and down that dirt road. Many of them frequent Academy Sports Outdoors and Bass Pro Shops and such and it's not unlikely they might recognize this little grill as a fairly expensive piece of equipment. I wouldn't want any larcenist minds finding mine pretty easy to lift when I wasn't home. It's also nice to have it stored and housed out of sight.

darbman7
This is a excellent grill for a small picnic or camping . It is very user friendly other than the item is heavy .Definitely a quality product which is great for outdoor use where you are driving to a spot for camping or a day trip.

Good idea, poor design
I'm a big fan of cast iron cookware but this product has some serious flaws. For one, if you use hard wood charcoal or wood you will end up destroying the seasoning on the grill surface with the higher heat those fuels generate. That is what happened to mine, even though I grease the rack before and after using it. Also, the body of the grill quickly loses its seasoning for the same reason. At this point it rusts and looks like hell unless you paint the thing with high temperature spraypaint. I did that, but it doesn't look great and I can only hope it's not adding spray paint toxins to my grilled meals.

Also, the air inlet system is poorly thought out in this. You regulate air intake by shifting around a little cast iron widget that gets hot as blazes during use. If you forget to handle it with gloves you will receive an unwelcome branding.

Another problem: the design is such that any fat and juices from the grill end up pooling where the legs of the grill surface connect with the main body. This means that you will inevitably get cold grease on you handling the grill before or after cooking. The grease should drip in the fire and/or drip down to the bottom of the cooking surface to keep the thing seasoned but in my experience most of it pools by the legs.

I am all in favor of an American made cast iron grill, but the design really needs to be rethought on this model. I'd suggest they consider nickel plating the body and redesign the air intake and grill surface. There is a lot of potential for improvement here.

Broke on first use
The cast iron stove/grill cracked on the first use. Pour casting I guess.
The meal was good but expensive!

Nice 'Lil Grill
This is a really nice grill. Perfect for those times when all you want to do is grill up some dogs or a quick steak without having to fire up the Big Daddy grill. Also a nice grill to throw in the back of the truck for outings.

The cast iron construction holds and distributes heat VERY well, I seared a 3/5" porterhouse in minutes and had room to put on a few dogs for the kid. Now I see that this grill is often priced for over 80 bucks, I got mine for 50. At that price it was a good deal, but the 80 price seems a bit steep to me.

The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars was because it doesn't come fully assembled. It's not very difficult at all to piece it together, but I was totally expecting to open the box, load coals and get to cookin'. I sure there is a good reason that Lodge ships it this way, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

If you need something small for the backyard, camping or tailgating this one will do well. Don't forget to buy yourself a chimney starter as well, it's the only way I start my coals now and I swear by 'em.

Enjoy!