Fire Pit chit chat

I'm lazy. I just picked up a ring from Pilot Rock. I use a fire ring with a swivel grate on top. They make most of the fire rings and BBQs that you will find in public parks, campgrounds, and national parks. Very durable.

 

Those do work awesome! One from a modern agitator-less top load washer would be even gooder.

 

Yes! I realized I don’t have a picture of ours but we had to take down a tree last weekend (the Great Flood of SoCal 2020); we’ll probably do another backyard fire this weekend, in which case I’ll post one. Ultimate red neck fire pit!

 

What is the purpose of the inside lining? Don't you want airflow access to the logs?

I'll take a pic of my makeshift, above ground one tonight. It was from an old garden retaining wall that we redid. They were extras, so it didn't cost me anything to make it, just the initial cost 15y ago.

I'd go for simple and as cheap as possible or free with Kijiji stones. See if it's something you want to sink $$$ into and how much you use it before going all in.

As for cooking, you could also consider one of those tripod things that hover over it, at least for Dutch oven cooking

 

From what I can tell, the lining helps reduce the risk of overheating the brick/rocks which can crack and "explode" under extreme heat, aka heat induced spalling.

 

Ahhhh, that makes sense.

 

Here is mine. Don’t have a before pic it it was basically just rocks placed in a circle. I do have the help of a little Kubota which made this a 1 day project. Going to build up the back wall a bit more this year to throw more heat toward the front and finish the circle on the back side by building a boulder rock retaining wall. You get the idea though.

 

I cheated.... had ours built. It’s more of a drinking fire pit

 

I don't know what your budget is, but I have a Solo Stove Yukon and I'm in love. It was $500 for the pit and another $200 for the spark arrestor. A premium, I know, but it's worth it. Once it gets going it's smokeless and produces a beautiful fire. I have the Bon Fire model as well and it's suitable for 4 or 5 people. You can use them on the grass and it won't get hot enough to kill it. I've used my Bon Fire right on my deck.

 

Classy.

That's a little above budget unfortunately. $300 Canadian pesos is pretty much my max as that's what I can get a full kit for.

 

I second the solo stove. They really are amazing. Haven’t used mine yet it was a gift but I’ve been at a house where it was used. The smokeless fire still amazes me

 

Use this as the liner https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/countyline-3-foot-fire-ring?solr=1&cm_vc=-10005&st=ring and then stack retaining wall blocks around it for aesthetics. The blocks were about $2 a piece so total cost was less than $100.

 

My fires always destroy the retaining wall bricks. They crack and fall apart. Dont know why..

 

Hmm. Mysterious.

 

I had to get rid of the crappy pic i posted..LOL

 

Yeah I think I will eventually get a solo stove ! They look super nice , and not smelling like smoke is a big bonus .

 

A friend of mine on another forum uses the handle Notallthere.

 

What is the max opening on those SoloStoves? I'm seeing 15". Most of my wood wouldn't even fit in that thing.

Here is our DIY, makeshift pit and one of our woodpiles. It's about 36" across and the big stumps in the back are our seats, that were cut from a couple trees we had taken down a couple years ago.

 

I think this is the route I'm going to end up going. I'll leave the stones loose so if I come across a rim big enough, I can put it in as a liner.

 

The Yukon is 24 inches.
The Bon Fire is 18.

I have no problem fitting precut wood from campgrounds and stores in the Bob Fire.

 

This is the Yukon I think it’s there biggest .

 

I’m debating getting the Yukon, how easy are they to clean out and how often? I’ve heard they get pretty hot and burn everything into a fine ash.

 

This is true. I almost always get a complete burn with maybe a few coals left. I just turn it upside down in my garden and dump it out, maybe whack the bottom a few times. It's mostly fine ash. The Yukon is a bit cumbersome due to size and weight. I clean them out before every burn just because it's so easy. You could probably get away with every 3 burns before you have to worry about obstructing the airflow.

 

Thanks for the info on the Solo Stove. I've never heard of them. They aren't cheap but do look interesting.

https://youtu.be/4smhXsq3uWI

 

I'm going to start looking for a rim now, after you pointed out the cracking or explosion.

We will probably have a bunch more fires this year as our grass is now fully seeded and mature and if the Covid camping ban is in effect for provincial parks, we won't be doing any trailer camping. I'm going go have it going every weekend.

 

Thanks. Did you also get the weather cover, if so, how heavy duty is it?

 

Sweet, let me know if you find something at a regular retailer. Until you find a rim, keep your fires small and you should be fine. That's my plan anyways.

 

No cover. Bon Fire goes inside the Yukon which goes inside my shed. I've never had good luck with covers so I quit buying them. Tarps and bungees for me. It doesn't look pretty but they work, and they're cheap.

 

Sonofabitch. So I figured out I could build the firepit for half what they kit cost by buying the materials separately. Apparently though, I neglected to double check the radius of the kit bricks which is 8". The bricks I bought are 7". This means that the angles are different and I can't get the same size with the same number of bricks. I'm 10 bricks short now.