Feb 1, 2010: Fire Pit

Not just a plain fire pit, but an enclosed outdoor fire pit for story telling, group sings and after the kids go to bed... well, use your imagination.

Verry Cool

Boy I love a good fire-pit and this is outrageous!

Woody Woodpecker?

Gorgeous. Do they sell them on Amazon? I'm after a free shipping deal

Pretty freaking cool, but if it's just bare pine that sits out there in the rain, you can't expect it to last much longer than an unpainted fence. Probably less, since the slats are horizontal instead of vertical. Picture an untreated pine deck. I give it 4 years before it's rotted.

Not arguing that it's got relatively little time to live without being treated, but... I thought vertical slats would get ruined faster than horizontal ones, because the cut edge of the grain is exposed to the downward-flowing water? That's why people put those little metal caps on the top of their fenceposts.

Good point. I'm not sure which rots faster. Certainly, exposed end grain is bad, and ground contact is bad, but a horizontal board will allow water to pool on the surface, and that's bad too.

I agree with both of you. Untreated pine is bad, either horizontal or vertical.

Then again when this thing start to look really bad or deteriorate, you just let it implode upon itself and have a good old fashioned bonfire.

Just built the fire up against one of the inside walls, instead of in the center, and that takes care of that.

It would be cool made out of pavers or flagstone. Actually, now that I think of it, I'm not sure how safe I'd feel inside of one if it was made out of piled up stones. It would be kind of like the Trullo roofs in Italy.

Reminds me of a Hershey's kiss.

Me want, although I'm pretty sure that since my lease says I can't barbecue on my porch, I can't have one of those, either.

Can't? With all those gun ports, who says can't?

very pretty, but --a fire pit made out of wood?

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt I give it 4 years before it's rotted.

It's a beauty, but I don't like the higher portion still having the rough side on the inside.

Bits of this and that will collect in those little ledges, and may catch an ember.

With smooth sides you'd be OK, - consider how similar it is to a teepee. Like a teepee, it needs some cooler air to vent in near the bottom, but you don't want or need air to vent in near the top - that just short-circuits the draft you are trying to create for the smoke to exhaust well.

I guess Scandinavian architects don't chat with Plains Indian tribesmen, on the finer points of teepee design.

Quote:

Originally Posted by monster Gorgeous. Do they sell them on Amazon? I'm after a free shipping deal