Small Fire Pit

I wanted a small fire pit for burning wood scraps that could be easily tucked away in my garage when it wasn't being used.

I started with three 1'x1' sheets of 16 gauge steel that I grabbed from Home Depot. I wanted the sides to taper, so I cut the bottom plate to be 10"x10" and cut the side plates so that they'd be 10" at the bottom and 12" at the top.

I used a cut-off wheel on my angle grinder to make all the cuts. I clamped a scrap piece of 2x2 to my bench to use as a guide.

I used this sheet metal shield to avoid setting my wood storage on fire or blinding my neighbors.

It is made out of some galvanized sheet metal, scarp aluminum tubing for a bottom structure, and piano hinges so the walls can be folded down. The whole things is held together with pop-rivets.

This was my first major project after getting a welder so my welds weren't super pretty, but that is what grinders are for.

I bent steel rod in my vice to make some simple hairpin legs, and tacked them onto the bottom.

The first test: it did what it was supposed to do, it contained the fire. Although there wasn't enough air flow, and the fire would die out if you didn't keep an eye on it. By the end of the night, we had made a pit full of charcoal.

So I welded some steel strips on their edge to create a sort of grate and allow air to flow under the wood. I also ground some slots and drilled holes in the bottom and sides to let more air in and feed the flame. It looks a bit less clean, but works a whole lot better now.
I can easily burn through a 5 gallon bucket of wood scraps in an evening now.

View project on Instagram.

This project was finished June 17, 2018.