I came up with a list of features I would like it to have:
1. From spending lots of time around campfires in my life, and looking at other fire pit sizes, I knew I wanted the diameter to be about 42". I have no way to roll it, so I was going to have it octagon shaped, with lots of cutouts for airflow, then weld it together.
I knew I wanted 4 sides to have our names in it, Steve, Andrea, Alexa and Alivia, and the other alternating four sides, should have some sort of design incorporating flames somehow.
2. I love roasting marshmallows. I wanted the entire thing lifted off the ground, so when roasting, I could sit in a chair without bending down so much, so it would have to have a bottom, and legs to raise it up.
3. To get a golden brown marshmallow, you need to keep it out of the flames, and use the heat of the coals to get it golden brown. One problem I saw with most fire pit rings with a height of 12-15" is that it's hard to get down to the coals with those kind of heights. One solution was to make the cutout designs large enough to fit an enlarged, wobbly, sticky, marshmallow through, (probably not a great idea) or I could cut some vertical slots to slide the roasting stick down and get to the coals.
Then... I thought... the sides are really just there to keep the wood from rolling out, so why don't I just make the sides about 5" high, and put the letters on top of that. Now the firewood won't roll out, and I'll still be able to bring the roasting stick down all the way to 5" above the bottom. Right where the coals are!
4. I hate pulling a marshmallow off the stick, then carefully leaning the stick against the top ring... only to have it slide along, and off of the ring, right into the dirt or grass, so it would need to have some sort of slots, cutouts, or catches so that even if it was bumped, the waiting roasters wouldn't fall.
5. Where do you store those sticky roasting sticks? Must be close to the firepit, but still be sheltered from the rain so they don't get so rusty. How about underneath!
6. What if I want to grill burgers over the fire? I gotta have a way that I can put a grill rack on, have it be height adjustable, and able to swing in and out of the fire for putting burgers on without burning my precious arm hair.
The main grill is a standard sized, porcelain coated steel rack that is easily replaceable, and just drops onto the welded rack holder I made, I made sure to make the edges high enough so hot dogs wouldn't roll off the rack if things get a little dicey...
The grill rack also needs a storage location when not needed. May not use this thing much, so any poles or hardware for the rack needs to be removable. The pole and gill rack will store underneath with the roaster sticks. Problem solved.
7. Gotta have a warming area to set my graham cracker and chocolate on while roasting. Nothing like biting into a s'more, only to have the chocolate be cold.
8. My daughter wanted a foot rest where she could rest her feet on, without burning the soles of her shoes.
9. We have one of those deck firepit tables with a granite ring, and we like having an area to set stuff like pop, sticks, cups, knives, etc... So a built in table or small shelf of some sort, would be nice to have in it as well. This picture takes care of the warming area, foot rest, and shelf from my list:
I may roll a ring of 1" flat bar and weld it around the base to give it a thicker look, and I still need to drill some drain holes in the bottom, but that's the only changes that I can think of right now. If you can think of any other little touches I might want to add, let me know.
All we need now is a new bag of marshmallows, and a few friends to come over!
