Fire Pit Coffee Table

I fell in love with the concept of having a little gas space heater on my screened in porch. I looked around and noticed a lot of different styles and shapes. But none quite fit my level of DIYness. So, I do the only logical thing. See how they built theirs, copy and paste. I hope that you can learn from my build and have some luck building one for yourself if you want to.

This table didn't cost me much out of pocket money. But I was lucky to have a lot of wood scraps, a good friend who has a metal working shop, and an old grill for inspiration and a gas regulator hose.

80# bag of quickrete

20# bag of lava rock

$10

Scrap 2x10's

$free

Scrap angle iron

$free

Tools

Bandsaw

Miter saw

table saw

nail gun

grinder

welder

band aids

planer

Aspirin

This is a complicated build for my skills. I'll try and make it easily duplicated but if yyou have any questions just ask away.

The table top is 44"x21". This is made to fit my porch area. I start out with a piece of plywood and set 1.5x1.5 boards as a boarder. The middle is a piece of MDF that is the void for the burner. It is cut to taper on all four sides. This will make it easy to remove once the concrete is cured. Half way through the pour, I put a piece of chicken wire in and then continue pouring concrete. Once it is all layed in the form I tamp(vibrate) all the outside boards to get a good coverage of concrete in the edges. I leave it in these forms for one week to let it properly cure.

I worked in reverse mode to make this go together.

Firstly the burner and pan had to be removable. This way in the summer months I can take out the fire and add a Zen garden or a dill garden. The south doesn't need a space heater in July. So there is a 1/4" angle iron that is the flange that sits in the center of the table. Then I made a 1.5x1.5 angle thin angle iron stock to make a hanging basket that holds the burner and tray. It's all piece milled from small stuff that my friend had laying around his scrap pile. "

The burner is made of 3/4" rigid pipe with 1/16" holes drilled every 3/8". I welded a piece of 1/2" coupling on for the adapter to a gas grill LP tank. Then had to reduce that to 3/8" and a 1/4" to 3/8" adapter for the final piece.

The general plan was to make the table look like a loose stack of lumber with very petite looking pointy legs.

I used mostly scrap 2x10's for this. I had a pile of lumber that consisted of 4' yellow pine 2x10's. The legs are cut square 1.5" and the ends are tapered to a point with a bandsaw, plane, and sander.

I made the sides up first. All of the boards are cut to slightly different lengths, widths, and heights. Then glued and brad nailed to the legs. The ends are made of a bunch of chopped up boards to match the height of the side board. The style is random. So, when I worked this lumber, I didn't use a tape measure. I just sited everything together. I glued up all of my end pieces and then glued them together like a cutting board. Then glued them to a piece of luan plywood. One side is glued and brad nailed to the table. The other side is hinged at the bottom with a piano hinge. Held in place by a 3/8" dowel at the top corner which blends in very well.

Added in a little bit of lava rock that I bought from lowes for about $4. and going to enjoy the last bit of chilly nights and any brisk mornings with a cup of coffee.