Outdoor BBQ

[biziedizie]

  K this is what I'm thinking of building.
  I want to build a 4' in diameter BBQ pit with 1 and a half foot walls around it.
  I want a tee-pee style three legged thingy to hold a  cauldron so that I can cook stew and things like that.
  I want the tee-pee legs to be made out of wood and I don't want them to burn. I will not use metal as I want everything to match my backyard. I also want to tie the top of the three legged thingy with heavy rope for looks.
  This is something that I've been thinking about for a very long time and now that my son is old enough and smart enough to understand the dangers of fire and what not I think it's time to build one.
  I have a lift of cinder blocks and a lift of standard bricks that I can use.
  I need some advice as to how to build this puppy and I only want to do it once.
  Do I need a fire screen? How far from the house do I need to put this? Do any of you guys put the fire out at night or do you let it burn?
  Pics would be very cool!

   Steve

[Mark M]

Hi Steve

I used to have a fire ring at my place in MN. It was a rim off a semi. This is a lot smaller than what you have in mind but it worked well (take the tire off before you build your first fire ;) ). You might be able to find an old tractor rim or maybe a manhole or something to use for a liner.

Ours was about 40 feet from the house and pretty close to my garden where I kept a hose handy. We usually let it burn down low and then gave it a good soaking with the hose before we went to bed.

As for wood poles as long as they aren't too close it shouldn't be a problem. Get some long ones so they go up at a steeper angle and are farther away from the fire. If you can put your hand on the poles when the fire is going then they aren't too close.

Good luck and let me know when it is done so I can come a roast some wieners.

Mark

[Tillaway]

Steve,
I think  would use steel... I caught a big oak on fire once about 30' up.  Of course it was a pile of manzanita I was burning.  

Its that time of year around here where I don't BBQ.  One spark blows off my patio and I will burn down the whole neighborhood.  Someone on the next road over burned down a barn and two acres the other day...exhaust spark.  Its a bit disconcerting when you se a big cloud of smoke next door and air tanker circling overhead.  Yesterday I had two CDF D6 cats race by on the way to a fire near me.  CDF has lowbeds and tractors painted up like fire engines complete with red lights and sirens.  Its kind of fun watching them roll through downtown Redding ...running stop lights sirens wailing. 8)

[biziedizie]

  Mark I was thinking about getting some old sail boat masts as they would make great poles as they are old and hard. I'm thinking about hanging a grill from the top of the pole as well.
  Wieners are made of pork and I will not eat pork after the fridge incident. :D A nice steak will be good though. Just bring some BBQ sauce.

  Tillaway we can only burn in the month of April other then that it's a taboo to burn. At the cabin on the island you can't burn at all. Very dry over there all year long.

   Steve

[DanG]

Coupla ideas fer ya, Diz.  Don't use the cinder blocks. The fire will cause them to crumble after about a year or so.  The brick will be ok if you use the right kind of mortar.
Instead of the tripod, why not build a gantry from the sailboat mast. If ya have access to the hardware from the mast, you can use the boom to suspend the pot from a pair of wooden blocks, so ya can lower it into the pit, then lift it out and swing it clear. Thataway, ya could have it out of the way of the flames til yer fire burns down to cookin' coals, then heave it into place, savin' yer boom and lanyards from burnin' up.  Ya wouldn't have that ugly ol' tripod in yer yard all th' time, neither.

[biziedizie]

  DanG now that's a pretty cool idea 8) I could just cement that sucker into the ground and never worry about it burning up.
  The bricks will be what I will use but I did have another idea.
  Was walking along the river this morning and I got to thinking about useing river rock for the walls for the pit. They look heavy but I'm sure two guys could pull them out of there.
  There's prabably some law that says that I can't take the rock but I'm sure nobody would see me as I'm down there about 4am.

    Steve

[Mark M]

That mast idea is pretty neat, you could hoist the weenie flag when the hotdogs are ready. 8) I myself prefer beef wieners and refuse to eat chicken or turkey wieners. I only eat wieners from animals that have one. :D
 
Whoops - can I say that?

Mark

[DanG]

 :D :D :D :D

That reminds me of the one about the Chinese guy at the Hot Dog stand. ;D

[Tom]

Careful-l-l  

[Bibbyman]

Be careful with your choice of rocks.  I hear they could explode if exposed to heat.  (I'm not sure which ones - flint rock comes to mind).

Don't know about turkey wieners but I hear they have fries. ;)

[biziedizie]

  Good point Bibby, very good point. 8)

  DanG I don't think I have ever heard that one, can ya post it for a few mins then delete it??? :D

  Mark hate to tell you this but chickens and turkeys do have peckers :D :D And I'm not talking about the ones inbetween their eyes. :D :D


    Steve

[DanG]

Diz, I clicked on a new member's profile this morning(Hatchet),  and followed a link to his website. In there was a good article on building masonry fireplaces. The rest of the site is worth a look, too.

Here's the article:  

http://www.construction-resource.com/firebox_mortar.php

[DanG]

DanG I'm glad you said that, Bibbyman!  We only gots two kind of rock around here...limestone and flint.  While we was kicking around Diz's bbq and Mark's weenies, I got to thinkin' that flint would make a bbq pit.  Guess I'll give it some more thought. :P

[DanG]

 :D :D
If I posted that one, I wouldn't have to delete it. That would be taken care of. :D  Just use your imagination.

[biziedizie]

  Interesting site DanG, I see they use LOGIX or as I call them Lego blocks to build houses. It's the up and coming way to build and if you wanna build a house fast this is the way to go.

   Steve

[Haytrader]

Hey all,

What can a rooster do that a man can't?

 ;D

(I ain't tellin the answer)

 ;)

[Mark M]

Well I tink dey can fly can't dey?

[ohsoloco]

I don't know the "complete list" of rocks that you shouldn't use around fires, but my old scout master always said not to use sandstone for a fire ring, cuz there's moisture inside of em, and they could explode or something nasty like that

[Tom]

Not being in the part of the USA where real rocks are plentiful, I use concrete.  I happened to luck up on a few pieces of 10" concrete slab cut from a warehouse floor.  These have made good sides for my cooking fire even though they start to deteriorate after 8 or 10 years.  The heat from the fire causes the concrete to flake off and sometimes the corners to crack.  It still holds a grill though.  I've never bothered to build a hanger for a pot. I put my coffee on the grill while the fire is being burned down.  The tall fire fixes coffee pretty quick.  Meat goes directly on the grill as well as a big iron skillett if I need it.

I would be more concerned with a way to adjust the height of the grill than a way to hang a pot.

I had a brainstorm tor you fellows that have it so dry.  Why don't you build a 5 sided cube of hardware cloth to put over your fire until it has burned to cooking size.  A small mesh would keep all but the smallest sparks under control and those real small ones usually cool within a few inches of the fire pit.

It's not fancy:

But it sure cooks a good piece of meat.

[biziedizie]

  Hey guys I just had a secret conversation with Jeff and he said he was too busy to let you guys know but he said to tell you direct from the top that it's ok to finish the jokes. 8)
  Said that he looked and there were no under age trees flashing at the moment. :D :D :D



     Steve

[Mark M]

Tom - doesn't that fire burn when it goes up your nose like that? :D

[Tom]

yeah, but it keeps the nose hairs short. :D

[Neil_B]

Hey Biz,
why don't you get some of that really wet wood from deadheader for your poles. That stuff shouldn't burn up for a while.

[Tom]

You could tack some roof valley metal to it for insulation.  Just keep an inch of nothing between it and the pole

Mark.............
.............................and the coiffure, and the ear hair, and the mustache and the beard and the eye-brows and the hair on the back of my hand and................................. :-/

[Mark M]

What the heck is a coiffure Tom?