A loss

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wg_bent

Minister of Fire
Nov 19, 2005
2,248
Poughkeepsie, NY
I'ts been almost a week since I've had a fire going, and I'm kinda missing the stove. Yeah, it's warm in here and the wood pile is growing at a rate I never dreamed of, but the cheery glow of the fire is missing. I think I may have to build an outside fire place. Any plans or Ideas anyone can point me to? Are those chimenea's worth anything?
 
Hi Warren,

Check out this bad boy! http://www.ibiblio.org/lineback/bbq/wdh.htm

I want to build that someday, has a fireplace to make coals for the barbecue side.
You can enjoy a nice fire while making some outstanding food.

A couple friends of mine have chimneas and I must admit I have enjoyed a "few beers" by them but I don't know how long they will last.


Craig
 
Clay chimeneas are fine as long as you put some sand in the bottem and take them inside during winter. The moister will get trapped sometimes and crack the chimenea. The have cast ones that work well. At one time i had a jotul 118 on the back porch with a little single wall on it and it kept my nice and tosty. Kinda hillibilly though. I think a open type, like a big steel bowl works the best, well it works like a campfire anyway.
 
I feel the same why Warren. But after spending most of the day working on a large walk-in freezer that we use to store fish for the polar bears and seals at work today I just could not get warm so I had to fire one up! Best Ive felt all day. I have a chimenea that we use in the late summer and fall around the swimming pool and we really enjoy it. I also built a simple fire pit on the side of the house we use allot. I used paver bricks and some Michigan field stone. I even put one of those Dimplex electric fireplaces in our sun-room that we use in the winter. That think has the most realistic looking flame you have ever seen out of this type of heater. I have even gone as far as setting a few candle's inside the stove just for that warm look. If it looks warm some times you feel warm, (the mind is a powerful thing) sometimes. tee hee.
 

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I dont know if you can even the the elec. fireplace yet alone the deer outside the window.
 

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If you skate in the pond behind you better keep your head up as tree do not move when you run into them
Yea Bambi looks cute till he destroys your garden
Me I would build a stone or brick fireplace but thats me

When I stop burning that means golf season
 
I built my own chimera out of a large truck brake drum. Actually, it was intended as a rustic garden planter (I weld a lot of ecclectic garden stuff) but one recent warm day I needed a way to burn some old love letters (no joke) outside. I put a screen in the bottom and and a screen on top and incinerated them!
 

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wahoowad put a heavy grate on top and a nice bed of apple and cherry coals with a nice steak on top. that drum will hold in alot of heat. that's the perfect grill.

wingnut that's a very nice fire pit. i might have to copy your idea.
now if i can just get rid of the mosquitos.
 
believe it or not mosquito's were more of a problem where I used to live. (In the city) I'm not sure if its the bat houses I built in the woods. (natures best and most efficient bug sappers) Or the chlorine from the pool. We set up on top of a hill with the water below us. Don't get me wrong if you walk down to the swamp in the summer the squetos will Carry you back up the hill. As for the deer no garden no problem plus we think they are delicious not cute.
 
i have a small fire pit but can't use it for more than burning the yard cleanup stuff in the spring. if i step of my deck which is 8 feet above the ground to the yard i get eatin alive. even on my deck i get bitten while trying to use the grill. if i had my way i'd hire a plane to come over my house once a day and fog the street. but you know that can't happen. is it easy to build those bat houses. if so i think i'll have to make a bat apartment complex or condo complex.
 
The bat houses are easy to build I am sure you can find plans online. The only hard part is installing them 20+ feet onto a tree. or pole. also it can take a few years before they get established but after that one bat will eat up to 600 in an hour! not to bad and you don't even have to plug it in! They will fly tree top height over the pool and patio each evening. There cool to watch. And no they dont fly into your hair.
 
Dylan said:
wahoowad said:
I built my own chimera out of a large truck brake drum. Actually, it was intended as a rustic garden planter (I weld a lot of ecclectic garden stuff) but one recent warm day I needed a way to burn some old love letters (no joke) outside. I put a screen in the bottom and and a screen on top and incinerated them!



WHAT??? You didn't try to sell those love letters on Ebay, first??

Seriously, tho. My fire 'pit' is a truck RIM, supported on a couple pieces of angle iron laying horizontally, with half of the 'cage' of a crapped Patton air handler wedged into the ID to keep the fuel and coals elevated....great draft....clean-burning fires. I can roll the thang to different places in the yard just by turning it on its edgeand giving it a shove. I'm looking for some sort of lid to control the burn-rate and maybe do some cooking....I do have a grill for it, already. During the warm season, I can/do disgiuse the not-all-that-bad-anyway appearance of it by resting a large potted Christmas cactus within it.

Add some benches and a guitar or two and we have a grand ol' time.

I'm not much for going to the store and buying what everybody else seems to be buying, but I don't wanna sound judgemental. I have a creative spirit that (I hope!!) never leaves me.


Very creative, very good post Dylan. I thinks you my try a holz hausen in the future. If anyone can build a better mouse trap my monies are on you.
 

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wahoowad said:
Dylan, put some THICK rebar legs on it!

I make a lot of similar stuff and am a packrat at my local metal scrapyard. I sell some of the stuff I make - here are some pics - http://www.earlysvilleironworks.com/other.php

Good thing you aren't close by here.....my wife would be picking that stuff up big time!
 
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