Before & After
Welcome
to my
Fire Pit Project
Page
Started: 5-21-2007
Last Modified: 7-24-2007
Before &
After
Some time in the 2006-2007 winter months. . .
What the hell was I thinking? I had extra block left over
and I thought that this would be a good way to use it up. My small
projects always seem to turn into major problem solving projects. Since
high heat is involved here, I can't just use the composite wall block. I
wrote to the manufacture, and they did not support the idea either. To bad
. . .
I'll build the wall, and worry about the insides later. . .
Here is an AutoCAD and a PDF Drawing of the Fire Pit dimensions.
I have laid out most of this project with Auto Cad so I have a good idea what I need. Somewhere along the design path, I screwed up and now the fire pit has to be larger that originally contemplated. I was originally gonna have enough single sided block, but since the size was increased, now I will not. Instead of giving up, I decided to use as much of the extra double sided block that I could under the ground level and as many as possible single sided blocks that were malformed.
Here you can see that I laid out the block to double check that I can form the radius I am after.
Sometime around the beginning of May, 2007.
I removed the remnants of the old fire pit, and pounded a pipe into the ground . This will represent the center of my fire pit and all measurements will be from this pipe. And did the usual paint can and string to draw the circle that will define my digging location.
A few days later . . .
I finally reached China. Well, it sure feels that way! I hit a lot of clay on the way down, and some hard stone/clay stuff that required a pick-axe to penetrate. Next step is to pour 6" of stone on the bottom and level it out. This isn't the normal stone I use. My buddy had a sink hole open up in the middle of his yard, and this is what he used to fill it. He had a few ton left over so I grubbed it up. It seemed to work OK. I do not know what the technical name for the composition that he received. It had some larger stones as well as some powdery type stuff in it.
Note: This fire pit is on a very steep slope.
I thought it would be good if I used a solid indicator instead of just a string, so I simply drilled a large hole in a 2x4 and brought the other end to a point at the proper radius. This actually worked out really well, and I would suggest doing the same for your project. I could easy put my knee on it to hold it in place when I positioning the blocks.
5-21-2007
I have a lot of double sided block which is 10" wide rather
that the 8" for the single sided stone. I have used a lot of this in
the rear of the pit as this will be covered with stone. You may ask why I
went down so far if this is going to be covered any way? Well I do not
know how I was going to do the center, and by going all the way down to the base
gives me a good base, and edge guide when I get to the top.
Because of the tight radius, it is very difficult to use the wide stones. The manufacture suggests a minimum radius of 48" to the back of the block (56 outside), but my actual measurement is 44" to the outside. So I have already made it much harder on myself. I had to cut a lot of the blocks so they could form such a tight radius. This greatly increases your build time.
I have one half of the over all height of the fire pit completed. I am dangerously running short on block, and I am not sure if I can achieve the 24" height that I was originally after. I may have to settle for 18", but I'd rather prefer at least 21". Another day and I should have the block laying completed.
5-23-2007
Took a break from it all . . . All I need is Tea (The drink of
champions!) and my
work horse and brick cutter. I could not find a cheap brick cutter so I
purchased a diamond blade for my radial arm saw. Makes a lot (and I mean a
lot) of air borne dust. So don't breath and cut at the same time! I
ordered this diamond blade off the internet, as the piece of shit blades that
the local big chain stores sell are absolute garbage compared to professional
grade blades. The blade I have costs over $150, but it cuts through like
butter. I used this blade on the Driveway Retaining Wall project, the Shed
Wall project, the Herb Garden project, and now the Fire Pit project, and
the blade still has plenty of life left in it. I did have to jumper the
overload button on my radial arm motor, as it did go bad. The extra load
from cutting brick wasn't healthy for it.
5-24-2007
I was originally gonna pour a concrete center, but now I have
discovered that I can not find high temp concrete. I called the QuickRete
help line, and they don't make any such stuff. Plan "B", find a
stainless teal insert. I called the local sheet metal shop, and they
wanted $415.00 for a 3' diameter by 2' deep 16ga pipe, and it would have two
welds. I told them I'll have to shop around at that price. A buddy
from work found a Mennonite guy that got me exactly what I wanted, with a single
weld and his price was $200. It pays to shop around. (Thanks Dale.)
Since the formula for circumference is C = Pie * D, then a diameter of 3' has a circumference
of 9.42'. That means, you need a 10' sheet of sheet metal to start with.
6-2-2007
The ring of stone (my precious) is complete. I had enough stone
to make it the full 24" height that I was originally after. I
centered the stainless steal ring the best I can, and leveled it with the top of
my walls. Then Back filled with 1/2" stone. Still short on
stone, so I will have to go for more later.
6-4-2007
Mean while, I have been working on the mold for the caps. I
purchased a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" birch plywood. I used birch because it
is very strong and has a very, very smooth finish. (Expensive stuff
though.) I cut it in half, and transferred my measurements onto the
board. This has to be perfect, since any error will be multiplied as I lay
8 cap stones together. The compass shown in this drawing was a toy compass
I found with a much shorter shaft many years ago. I had made a longer
shaft for some other project, and it worked perfect for this project also.
I had to use Plexiglas for the inner arc as I could not bend the wood tight
enough without breakage. I read somewhere to use motor oil as a mold
release agent, so I buttered it up like a good old cast iron pan. My son
helped me mix up the concrete, and I poured away. I am not a concrete
expert, and that is OK, since I do not need a smooth surface. Actually, I
thought about rounding the edges to give the caps a tumbled rock look after it
is extracted.
The left picture shows how I drew things up. The middle is the mold
after making 8 caps. I was surprised that it lasted through this many, and
I do not see any signs of stress. It can be used to make many more.
The last picture shows a mold in the workings.
6-6-2007
This size mold takes almost two full 80 lb bags which worked out just
well. Waste was minimized. I'm guessing the weight is around 150 lbs
per cap stone. I waited two days to allow the concrete to harden enough
before I tried to extract it from the mold. . . and lord behold, it
worked! Now I have to duplicate this 7 more times. I hope the mold
is strong enough for this much abuse.
6-8-2007
I popped out my 2nd cap. No problem. This time, I only
let it setup for one day before trying to extract it from the mold, and I did
not have any problems. This will cut my cap manufacturing down to about 1
week.
6-16-2007
Today we put the last cap in place. They still all need to be shuffled
around a little since the center ring is slightly egged. My buddy says he
has a tool that I can use that will take the sharp edge off concrete. I
would still like to do that, and maybe even knock some of the edges completely
off so it has that tumbled rock appearance similar to the building blocks
below. I still did not backfill with dirt, but that is on the way.
If you look close, my wife and kids put hand prints in the one capstone.
(As well as a paw print from our cat.)
6-16-2007
I put the first fire in it today. It can devour 3 wheel barrow
loads with no problem. And does it ever throw the heat. This is an
incredible step up from the old tire rim fire pit. The stainless steal
gives off a nice reflective glow, which also seems to reflect the heat very,
very well. The coals left over were some of the best I have ever
seen. We cooked S'mores over them.
As I said earlier, the building stone were left over from some of my larger projects. I am only estimating this price. The back fill stone, I picked up my self, so no delivery charge here.
Block
1,000 (Guesstiment)
Stainless Steel Ring 3'dx2'h 200
Stone - 1.5
ton
45
$ 1,045
This project turned out very well. This project was mostly made up as I went along since I could not find anything even remotely close to this on the internet. (So this is my story for the world to see!) I waited a week for the concrete to cure before I rounded off the edges.
If I could, I would have built this on level ground. 18" or so off the ground would have been sufficient, with the fire pit area dug out below grade. This would allow you to sit around and still be able to look down into the fire.
If you have some questions on this project, send me an e-mail. 
Later
-Shins