The Fire Pit Thread

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I have a portable fire pit from an old washing machine, never heard of t until my son was in boy scouts.

Have you burned in it yet? I remember when a buddy was burning in one for the first time, after a while there was a loud bang. A ceramic ring around the tub broke, spreading fine metal granules around the tub. it startled everyone.
 
Wife and father in law couple years ago, sitting around firepit On the Manastee river,100 miles or so from the UP in Michigan. 11pm or so, cooking hotdogs, sitting in folding chairs. My wife looked to her side, there sat a red fox waiting for his hotdog. I saw that busy little dude several times that year.
 
This was a COVID build...concrete patio slabs are between four and six inches thick, the 30 inch (1/2" thick steel casing) ring is set through the concrete (onto dirt below) and is about 15 inches tall overall. I think it took four pallets of concrete to pour (using a nearly 100 year old mixer).
 

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Wife and father in law couple years ago, sitting around firepit On the Manastee river,100 miles or so from the UP in Michigan. 11pm or so, cooking hotdogs, sitting in folding chairs. My wife looked to her side, there sat a red fox waiting for his hotdog. I saw that busy little dude several times that year.
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can't make this stuff up! 👍

that's a good one! :)
 
State park campsites in the outfit I retired from used a cast concrete base about 36"x36" x 16" deep with a 12" x 12" hole through the center (picture a square doughnut). On top if this sits a steel fire ring or an old split rim with a section cut out. The hole in the center allowed heat to dissipate through the concrete and into the ground below it. Between campers our staff would remove ashes but not scoop ashes out of the hole in the center. Campers would occasionally scoop the ashes out and dump the ashes on the ground, then struggle trying to get a fire going in the pit they created. We set a welded rebar cage inside the form to help with longevity.These fire pits got heavy use. The concrete pad kept ashes contained rather than staining the surrounding ground black. We learned to mix an air entraining additive to the concrete mix that is supposed to create small air spaces that helps to allow the concrete to deal with heat better. Campers dumping water on the fire and pad in an attempt to please Smoky didn't do any favors for the concrete or the amount of ash and solids left after the flood staff had to remove. Despite the use and the heat/quench cycles fireplace pads we made and installed in 1984 are still in use - barely - The top surface has eroded down several inches.
 

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