Check out part 2 of our Rusty Fire Pit Rebuild where I finally get it mostly finished and get to have a fire in it!

I often get questions like “Why would you fix that instead of just tossing it and getting a new one?” Well my answer is because 1. I am a tightwad and 2. Even a new one is the same crappy quality as the one right here that only lasted 5 years. Not only can I fix it, but at the same time I can also make it into exactly what I want and make it last longer.

Remember this from Rusty Fire Pit Rebuild Part 1?

Before:

After 5 years, the thin steel insert on my store bought fire pit had completely rusted through.

After Part 1:

So part 1 left off with a completed frame and sliding ash tray. I was really excited about the sliding ash try because removing the ashes from the fire pit is the worst part of using a fire pit.

Next step is to fill in the sides of the frame with four pieces of trapezoid shaped steel. To do this, I took a large piece of cardboard and cut it down to fit the four holes with scissors and a box knife.

Four cardboard templates cut out and in place.

I then took the templates and traced them onto a piece of 18 gauge sheet metal with soapstone. If you aren’t real good with judging sheet metal thicknesses you can buy gauges for super cheap on Amazon. Handy to have around if you tend to use a lot of scraps (like me) and would like to know what you are working with.

Tracing around my template with soapstone.

I then turned the piece of sheet metal around so all of the areas to be cut were off of my table and used my plasma cutter to cut it. No fear if you don’t have a plasma cutter, an angle grinder works just fine (it just takes longer).

Arranging the sheet metal so I can cut it without cutting into my table.

Got the welder and the plasma out for this job! (Did I mention I love tools??)

Inserting the pieces and tack welding them to the frame.

You will notice that I am not welding ALL the way around. 18 gauge is pretty sturdy sheet metal especially in small pieces like this. So in combination with the frame I built there is no need to go overboard welding everything together.

Final product ready for paint

Stripped down, removed marble inserts, ready for paint!

I used some brown rustoleum, not that it matters much because I plan on burning it all off 🙂

It turns out that painting this thing did come in handy. I finished this thing up August of 2015 and finally got a chance to use it May of 2016!!

FIRE!!

When we finally got a chance to use the pit, I realized I hadn’t built a cover for it yet. So I quick and dirtily (is that a word?) bent up a scrap piece of expanded steel to make do until I get a chance to build a proper cover.

My number one pet peeve (because I am lazy) was cleaning out the fire pit after I was done with it, which is also part of the reason it rusted out.

So now I get to try out my new sliding ash tray mechanism.

Insert box.

Pull out ash tray.

Remove box.

DONE!

There you have it. I got the satisfaction of spending 5 hours re-building a fire pit, so I could save myself 5 minutes while cleaning it!

Totally makes sense right????

Gertrude agrees with me…

Don’t judge me, just go out and build something for yourself. As long as you are happy with it, that is all that matters.