Background:

A smokeless pit works by air coming in from the bottom and feeding the fire. Some air gets trapped in between a metal ring and the stone blocks. It gets heated and forced up, which shoots it out of holes in the top of the ring for “secondary combustion”, burning off the smoke.

Materials:

A. 34 curved wall tumbler blocks ($2.28 each)

B. 3 bags of gravel ($6.00 each)

C. Fire pit ring ($100)

D. Landscaping fabric ($30)

E. Landscaping edging ($28)

Optional:

A. Cement caulk or quick set ($10)

B. 36 misshapen blend pavers ($.78 each)

C. A bag of decorative stone for the border

D. Polymeric sand ($30)

Tools:

A. Shovel

B. Tape measurer

C. Wheelbarrow

D. Drill

E. Metal borer drill bit 1/2 - 1 in. diameter

Steps:

1. Buy supplies

2. lay out the stone in the spot you want it

3. Dig a circle 1-2 inches wider than the stone line

4. Remove the stone and dig out ground

5. Tamp it down and level it, slightly away from your foundation

6. Lay landscaping fabric

7. Lay landscaping retaining wall

8. Lay 1-2 bags of gravel. Level and tamp

9. Lay ring again and border around the ring. Polymeric sand the border if you would like.

10. Stack the stone blocks. Remove 1-2 (I changed my mind from 1 to 2) blocks from the bottom row for air intake

11. (Optional) cement caulk or quick set gaps in the top rows

12. Assemble the metal fire pit ring

13. Drill holes in the top of the ring, about 2” from the top lip. I did 1/2” diameter holes every 2 inches. I’m not sure if that is too few of holes. We’ll see.

Conclusions:

We’ll see if I have enough holes in the ring. I think that it will burn fairly cleanly from the big holes in the bottom and the less holes will help shoot the air further into the center of the fire.

I don’t believe I made enough of a gap between the ring and the stones but time will tell.

Overall I like how it turned out!