Back Yard Fire Pit

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Tremendous amount of enjoyment out of this one.  I tend to burn my construction & wood shop scrap in it, but quite a few face cords of real juniper logs have gone thru it too.  They smell a LOT nicer!  Built in 2000, originally rattlecanned bbq black when it was shiny & new.  A decade of back yard use and sitting outside year round in the grass and lawn sprinklers left it looking like this.  Material mostly 1-1/4x1/8 angle which was free readily available “leftover” flange braces from metal buildings.  Square tube is 1”x11ga drop.  Axles ½”x5” bolts.  “Space ship landing feet” are 2 ½” hole saw drops ¼” thick. Welded up with borrowed SP-100, .035 Lincoln flux core from Home Depot, probably 2nd highest setting since steel was 1/8, wire speed as slow as possible.6” wheels leftover from ???  18ga heat shield on bottom collects some ash and prevents grass from scorching.  Firebrick was ‘borrowed’ from the stove [next post] which is temporarily not being used.  This is a “free” project.  Sized for 4.5x9x1.25 ‘thin’ fire brick.  Most enjoyable shape was a low profile square fully visible while sitting in directors chairs [which are low] about 12” high.  I thought an inverted pyramid configuration with low sides would radiate the most heat back out, keep the ash in, and be easiest to handle.  The refractory properties of firebrick tended to stay hot enough to [usually] burn all wood to a fine ash.  No drawings except the carpenter’s “hip rise” calculation for the diagonal length, just hold the brick up to the steel, mark, cut, tack, repeat.Pic#1 has a full moon!  Looks fuller in person The removable Tee handle from this project is now being used for two other tools – see the More Mobility post.  Thanks for looking! Attached Images
Reply:This is washed out to show the draft holes.  If I were to do it again, I would make it about the same size, and use firebrick, BUT I would make it out of 1/4" plate and use 5/8" rod for the feet and axles.  Same removable handle though.The last pic is the poker.  An old lawn sprinkler valve wrench welded to a 14ga x about 3” triangle cut from the rolled corner of a scrap of purlin.  The point grabs, the flat side “hoes”.  This one just “feels” good. Attached Images
Reply:I like the concept. Always been thinking about a project for an outside brazier, have generally cut a 44 gal. drum in half and used that. Much to the wife's annoyance, might be able to win 'her' over with that idea.Don't mind if I steal the idea?
Reply:@reccymech  ... Not at all.  I like the "low" fire rather than the barrel style because my favorite habitation is a directors chair!   But - that was a freebie.  I'd do it with 1/4" sheet next time!  Like this:http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=39407Post 4 Pic# 4 thru 8.  Love those roastin' gears! That one was HOT.  But stuck in one place!
Reply:I like it !Onlt thing I would change would be tyre that are not likely to melt eg. metal. Otherwise a great concept to move the fire around where you need it, and if the winds cuts up you can get rid of it all together. No bending or lifting makes like a breeze as well.
Reply:@cyclops6Thanks!  But keep in mind it's been roarin' fire off & on for 11 years!  Ain't melted, softened, blackened or smoked yet!  That's a little fire.  Gets scary when it gets to be roof height [13'] Last edited by Fabn4Fun; 11-23-2011 at 10:54 PM.Reason: scary
Reply:Cheers mate,Just checked out that link, excellent work and some thought into the projects. Going to show the missus. We're building a new home - her 'dream' home end of next year and I reckon she'd go for some of the projects.