My family and I spend a lot of time outdoors especially in the summer & spring months. I wanted an outdoor firepit that would not only make my deck look good but also live up to my expectations for the money I was spending. All the ones I've seen look so generic so I decided to look online to find one that suited my needs. I found a few but it didnt seem like they were the right choice seeing as how they looked more ornamental then anything else. The fire pit that I chose looked amazing. moderator's note: removed website link, see point 1.1 of usage rules
Hi Sarah and welcome to the Stew. We have a fire pit out in our yard that was here when we moved in. I hate to be one that throws water on ones fire pit. But did you know that it is very bad for your health to breath in wood smoke or fumes. After reading the articles we hardly ever us our pit. You can do a google search to read up on it for yourself. If you are going to go with a fake type fire pit say one that is fueled by bottle gas you might have quite a few choices. I do love the look of a fire pit at night. I don't know if they make a corn pellet burning fire pit. That would be a good idea.
Hubby got one of those round wok-looking ones for free from the dump. It is in like-new condition. It'll get lots of use around here... I bet he'll burn it up within a couple of years.
My Mom has one of those giant wok-on-legs ones. It works pretty well. We found that putting 2 bricks in the bottom under the grate helps keep the fire from running out of air, the little holes in the bottom aren't enough to do that after you get some coals and ashes going in there. DH made one in our yard with an old round pot grill that lost its' legs to rust. Dug a hole contoured to fit but sticking up a few inches. Just pick it up to get a clean mow around it, or to empty the ashes. Easy to fill the hole if you change your mind about it later. Handy to be able to close the lid and smother it when the s'mores are finished and it's time to go inside. The combination of the lower and upper grate make it easy to get a roaring fire going even if it's pretty windy, fill the bottom part with balled newspaper and sticks. Tooty, if the wind shifts, I just move. No doubt you shouldn't sit or stand downwind of the smoke. After sunset, winds usually calm down. I totally agree with burning what you have, if one wants to burn something. Our pecan and oak trees throw wood in the yard constantly that's too big to compost (within a year.)
Perhaps you could try Fire Glass, it uses gas rather than wood. I saw quite a few displays of it at our local Flower and Patio show, looked very neat!
