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The hobo, Americas last great nomad. Whether its jumping onto boxcars or strutting around city streets hobos have always been true wanderers, and what stereotypical image of a hobo would be complete without a shopping cart.
The average grocery store shopping cart is the perfect accessory for todays hobo on the go. It contains just the right amount of space for all of their possessions. The shopping cart has ample room for bottles/cans, dirty blankets (for those extra nippy nights on the streets), random treasures found while scavenging, and even enough room for relics from a broken former life; however, there comes a time in every hobos life, when they will ask, if this amazing creation called a shopping cart, is capable of more than just storage?"
Today, ladies and gentleman, I finally have an answer for them...
... allow me to present to you, the perfect modification for the perfect hobo accessory ...
The Hobobeque!
Forged from scavenged parts, in true hobo style, the Hobobeque provides a great alternative to those unfashionable 40 gallon drum fires. You'll be the most popular hobo on the street, strutting around with your new Hobobeque. You can use it to cook, provide warmth (replace those dirty old blankets, with FIRE!), or for self defense (teach that other hobo trying to move into your alley a lesson by rolling a flaming shopping cart at him, I'm sure he wont be back), yes the Hobobeque does it all!
So ladies, gentlemen, bums, tramps, and (most importantly) hobos, allow me to take you on a journey through the process of building this amazing device. Many of us will laugh a little, some of us may cry a little, and some others may even die little (does that count as a disclaimer?).
The hobo, Americas last great nomad. Whether its jumping onto boxcars or strutting around city streets hobos have always been true wanderers, and what stereotypical image of a hobo would be complete without a shopping cart.
The average grocery store shopping cart is the perfect accessory for todays hobo on the go. It contains just the right amount of space for all of their possessions. The shopping cart has ample room for bottles/cans, dirty blankets (for those extra nippy nights on the streets), random treasures found while scavenging, and even enough room for relics from a broken former life; however, there comes a time in every hobos life, when they will ask, if this amazing creation called a shopping cart, is capable of more than just storage?"
Today, ladies and gentleman, I finally have an answer for them...
... allow me to present to you, the perfect modification for the perfect hobo accessory ...
The Hobobeque!
Forged from scavenged parts, in true hobo style, the Hobobeque provides a great alternative to those unfashionable 40 gallon drum fires. You'll be the most popular hobo on the street, strutting around with your new Hobobeque. You can use it to cook, provide warmth (replace those dirty old blankets, with FIRE!), or for self defense (teach that other hobo trying to move into your alley a lesson by rolling a flaming shopping cart at him, I'm sure he wont be back), yes the Hobobeque does it all!
So ladies, gentlemen, bums, tramps, and (most importantly) hobos, allow me to take you on a journey through the process of building this amazing device. Many of us will laugh a little, some of us may cry a little, and some others may even die little (does that count as a disclaimer?).
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Signing UpStep 1Acquiring a shopping cart (and other supplies)
Shopping cart:
So the first challenge we are faced with is deciding where to find a shopping cart. Many of you will initially be tempted to steal it from a chain store like Stop and Shop or Walgreens because you think "Hey, they're a big faceless corporation, they can afford it". Well smartass, not only is stealing from a large company wrong, its also illegal.
Stealing from a large company like that is wrong because the shopping cart will contain none of the hobo freshness. Thats right, for my Hobobeques I use nothing but the freshest shopping carts plucked from actual homeless people, and construct them within 48 hours, to seal in that authentic hobo flavor.
Grill surface & sheet metal:
The actual cooking surface is not made from the shopping cart, and you will be required to hunt for a grill elsewhere. You're looking for a metal grill that roughly fits the shape and size of the top of your particular shopping cart. In authentic scavenger style I was able to find a perfect sized grill near an old 40 gallon drum barbecue, discarded on the side of the road.
A piece of sheet metal is also needed to prevent the coals from falling through the grills when they burn. I was lucky enough to find some behind a shipping container, but sheet metal shouldn't be too hard to come by. If you must, you can probably find some large metal object being disposed of that you could scrap.
Welder & other tools:
A welder (MIG, TIG, or Oxyacetylene it doesn't really matter) is required to attach the grill and sheet metal to the cart. If you don't own or have access to a welder this project shouldn't be too hard to complete using a less cool method of joining metal.
Various other metal working tools are also required like snips strong enough to cut through the shopping cart metal, or wrenches and pliers to bend the metal, etc.
So the first challenge we are faced with is deciding where to find a shopping cart. Many of you will initially be tempted to steal it from a chain store like Stop and Shop or Walgreens because you think "Hey, they're a big faceless corporation, they can afford it". Well smartass, not only is stealing from a large company wrong, its also illegal.
Stealing from a large company like that is wrong because the shopping cart will contain none of the hobo freshness. Thats right, for my Hobobeques I use nothing but the freshest shopping carts plucked from actual homeless people, and construct them within 48 hours, to seal in that authentic hobo flavor.
Grill surface & sheet metal:
The actual cooking surface is not made from the shopping cart, and you will be required to hunt for a grill elsewhere. You're looking for a metal grill that roughly fits the shape and size of the top of your particular shopping cart. In authentic scavenger style I was able to find a perfect sized grill near an old 40 gallon drum barbecue, discarded on the side of the road.
A piece of sheet metal is also needed to prevent the coals from falling through the grills when they burn. I was lucky enough to find some behind a shipping container, but sheet metal shouldn't be too hard to come by. If you must, you can probably find some large metal object being disposed of that you could scrap.
Welder & other tools:
A welder (MIG, TIG, or Oxyacetylene it doesn't really matter) is required to attach the grill and sheet metal to the cart. If you don't own or have access to a welder this project shouldn't be too hard to complete using a less cool method of joining metal.
Various other metal working tools are also required like snips strong enough to cut through the shopping cart metal, or wrenches and pliers to bend the metal, etc.
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We just recently saw a couple of guys doing some cooking in the bus stop structure that's right across from Instructables HQ on Folsom St. in San Francisco.
First, we saw steam rising from a group of guys huddled around a shopping cart.
Then, we saw hot food being being passed around that seemed to be coming from the shopping cart itself.
Upon further investigation, I learned that they guys were using the shopping cart as a mobile kitchen and were cooking up some tasty beef tacos. They told me that they had been doing this for a long time and that it was quite common.
It wasn't quite a hobobeque exactly because they were using a propane catering stove instead of a charcoal grill like we had, but they did have a similar setup of heat source on top and food supplies down below.
There were literally hundreds of carts along the railroad rockbed, some of where were arranged into creative sculptures assumingly by urban wanderers.
These carts looked to be older models, maybe ten or more years old, discarded, lost, an urban graveyard. some were rusted but others looked to be in good shape.
I think the strip mall just kept ordering new carts instead of looking around to see the carts had been pushed down below....
Ok i'm getting to my point here. Just be adventuresome, and look for strip malls that meet this criteria- they are near and above train tracks, byways, creeks, etc. These places seem to collect abandoned urban remnants
They are stolen. That is not cool...
DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON! The wire used to put shopping carts and the like together is chrome vanadium steel. It is then plated generally with cadmium. Using this type of material for food prep will shorten your life and put the rest of us in the position of supporting you in a nursing home. Heavy metal poisoning is nothing to play with. Lets be careful kids
Or - maybe just tack some hangers on it and when finished cooking, use it for armor-plating the cart to defend against unfriendly hobo raids.