Fire pit project

[bhostasa]

Hi everyone. About a month ago I decided that I was going to build a fire pit out by the pond and was on TBN looking for ideas. The weather has started to break (finally!) in Ohio and I've spent the last couple of weekends working on it. I thought I'd share some pictures of the progress. I still have some work to do but should be about finished next weekend.

In pics 1-3, I marked out my area and dug a footer about 6" deep. I put steel (1/4" rebar) throughout the footer and some gravel underneath for drainage.

Picture #4 is a steel ring that I had friend weld for me. It's an 1/8" steel ring (6' ID) with a 2" space (that I'll fill with sand to knock down the heat transfer) and then another 1/8" steel ring. I laid a course of 2" block under the steel ring to get the height that I wanted, about 15". I left four different gaps in the 2" course for drainage and air to get to the fire.

After that, I started cutting my 8" solid block (picture #5). I dry fit everything and numbered it (wife's idea to number every block...I hate it when she's right but it was a big help as every block is cut for a specific place) and then began mortaring everything in. I've got a 4" air space between the outside steel ring and the 8" block all the way around to keep the heat from breaking the mortar.

I'm taking the wife to the builder's supply store on Friday so she can pick out the capstones and exterior stone that she wants. After that, I need to fill the center with river rock for drainage, fill the steel ring space with sand, and cut out the cross bars that are in the ring to help it keep it's shape. I'll use the FEL to peel an area around the fire pit to fill with gravel for chairs.

I'm pretty worn out right now but am happy with the progress so far. Hopefully it turns out okay and the time spent relaxing next to it will outweight the labor to build it.

 

[Western]

Looks good! I'll bring the "dogs"

 

[gibby123]

Wow that is one heck of a fire pit. Great work

 

[Frozen Assets]

Gee, that's really nice. We just dug a depression and lined it with big rocks. I did weld up a nice cooking grate though. We call it the liars pit, as tall tale sometimes get spun out there. You just can't beat a nice fire, some adult beverages, good conversation, and watching the stars come out. We are getting back to it now that our snow is starting to go away.

 

[wedge40]

Very nice pit. I like the welded center rings. I've seen similar at some parks in Michigan. Makes the pit I bought from Box Store not so hot..

Wedge

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

Looks great!

 

[bhostasa]

Gee, that's really nice. We just dug a depression and lined it with big rocks. I did weld up a nice cooking grate though. We call it the liars pit, as tall tale sometimes get spun out there. You just can't beat a nice fire, some adult beverages, good conversation, and watching the stars come out. We are getting back to it now that our snow is starting to go away.

"The liars pit"...that's pretty good. I've been thinking about how I'm going to add a post/grate for cooking. I was thinking about welding a 2" piece of tubing to the steel ring and drilling a hole through it for a set screw. Then I could put my post/grate inside the tubing when I wanted to cook and remove it when it wasn't being used.

Is that similar to your set up?

 

[Brokermike]

pretty awesome dog. I've got an english BD, named Rupert, he's 55 lbs

 

[Frozen Assets]

I just got a 4 foot by 2 foot piece of very heavy expanded metal. (looks like it started out as 3/8 or so) and welded up a frame with legs out of angle. It just sits on the legs. I did it that way so I could carry it to other places if need be.

 

[bhostasa]

pretty awesome dog. I've got an english BD, named Rupert, he's 55 lbs

That's my little brother and his dog in that picture. He just got Ivan a couple of weeks ago. Ivan spent that day laying in the shade watching my two beagles run around like maniacs.

He's a very laid back dog...

 

[jimmyj]

Great job on the pit! Thanks for posting. I've got to make a new pit this year and was going to do some searches for ideas.

Looks like a great spot to relax.

 

[bhostasa]

The weather was awesome here this weekend so I was able to put some more time into the fire pit. As of Sunday, the exterior stone is finished, I filled my 2" steel ring w/ sand, painted the ring, and filled the center w/ river rock for drainage. I also grated out the seating area around the pit and put the chairs out.

The only thing left to do is cut and set the cap stones...hopefully I'll finish that this week.

I had a fire in it on Friday night. I wanted to see how the sand-filled steel ring did in knocking down the heat. It was pretty neat. After a while, the inner steel ring was too hot to touch but the outer ring was cold...you'd never even know there was a fire there. I think that between the sand and 4" air gap, I should be okay.

 

[czechsonofagun]

That's coming out very very nicely, keep it coming

 

[bhostasa]

Hi everyone. I've been kind of busy with all of the summer projects lately but finally got time to take some pictures of the finished fire pit.

We're pretty happy with the way that it turned out. It was my first shot at laying block and I think it went okay. It's definitely become the gathering spot out here.

 

[laen64]

Yes that's real nice. My wife had been mentioning to me that she would like a fire pit. so when I ran across your thread You know I had to call her. she loves it and now I need the full instructions. Thanks

Oh yeah I did point out the nice tractor you needed to carry the blocks, that I don't yet have.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the update. It looks very relaxing. You did a first class job of it and you should be very proud of what you accomplished. I really like the way the gravel goes around the fire pit to create a nice area out of the grass. Makes it easy to mow and keep clean.

Eddie