BoilermakerFan
Well-known member
Ah, that was a good idea. I think I need to pick up one of those when I pick up insulation. Thanks for letting us know it works well enough. Does it use standard T50 staples or smaller ones?
Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT The **** Shack
- Thread starter bdbecker
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
Ah, that was a good idea. I think I need to pick up one of those when I pick up insulation. Thanks for letting us know it works well enough. Does it use standard T50 staples or smaller ones?
Yep, it takes T50's from 1/4" to 9/16" long. I was using 1/4" for the insulation and had to dial the pressure down on the compressor because it was driving them too deeply and tearing right through the paper. Once I got it set it was fine.
BoilermakerFan
Well-known member
Thanks bdbecker! I didn't make it to HD this weekend, but I might head over there next Sunday. Not sure I want to get into the "Black Friday" mess.
I celebrated my 3 year GJ anniversary with some QST today by starting work on Wife's Christmas gift. She's wanted a fire pit since we moved in, but our town is very strict on having wood fires, leaving gas as the only option. If you've shopped for gas fire pits, you quickly realize that you have to spend serious money to get something that's not absolute junk. So I'm making her something that should last for more than a few seasons.
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This is just the start, I'll do a full write up once I get it finished (trying to take plenty of pics as I go). I told myself that I wouldn't start any new projects until I finished the insulation and sheeting of the walls and ceiling of the garage, but am making an exception for this.
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This is just the start, I'll do a full write up once I get it finished (trying to take plenty of pics as I go). I told myself that I wouldn't start any new projects until I finished the insulation and sheeting of the walls and ceiling of the garage, but am making an exception for this.
I got the bottom plate of the pit cut and welded on this week. Now I need to figure out what I want to do for a base.
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This weekend, I finished construction of the fire pit base. I used stringers from all the pallets I tore apart for my pallet wall. One of my main concerns when coming up with a base was that it was stable and heavy enough so that the pit wouldn't tip over if it got bumped. I guesstimate the base alone weighs at least 75lbs. The metal fire box is probably another 30lbs or more, so yeah, this thing is not getting knocked over.
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Perfect feet warming height. Tempted to keep it in the garage for when the temps drop this winter (joking).
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Next, I need to figure out a finish. Probably try to track down some sort of non-solvent based deck stain, if there is such a thing.
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Perfect feet warming height. Tempted to keep it in the garage for when the temps drop this winter (joking).
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Next, I need to figure out a finish. Probably try to track down some sort of non-solvent based deck stain, if there is such a thing.
XJSuperman
Well-known member
Are you at all concerned about the metal plate getting hot on the wood frame touching it?
dwysywd
Well-known member
I really enjoy your updates. I’m going to use your hose reel idea, that was great ingenuity of an expensive part and putting it under the workbench clears up space. As for the magnetic strips, I bought one from Harbor freight to put all those quarter inch drive impact bits for my impact drill driver. I plan to buy five or six more, they worked awesome. Keep the updates coming! Love reading the thread
That is definitely something l am going to keep an eye on, however, I don't think it will be an issue. Most of the heat will go straight up into the air. The burner ring will be several inches away from the sides and will sit even, or slightly above where the metal box contacts the wood base. The only thing that will be in direct contact with the flame will be lava rock (aka scoria), which I don't believe will be a good enough conductor to have much of an effect (if anything, it may absorb/disperse some of the radiant heat before it reaches the steel plate).
If it does get hot enough to burn the wood sides, I'll have to come up with a different design because I don't want the fire box to get hot enough to burn anyone (kids, pets, inoxicated adults, etc.)
Thanks! As far as updates are concerned, I told myself that I'd just to post stuff as it happens instead of waiting for Sunday afternoon - seems to be working so far.
The under-bench mounting of the hose reel is kind of a funny one. I bought that about 8 months before I actually installed it. I was originally going to mount it on the wall by my man door, but decided against it because it wouldn't be conducive to pulling the hose out to the driveway. Sometimes when I stare at a problem long enough, a solution eventually pops up.
Bummer about your water heater, hope you get something resolved soon.
dwysywd
Well-known member
Thanks its the tankless that runs the in-floor radiant heat...needed and much loved system here in Michigan winter. I had a warranty on the unit, so they refunded my money. Now time to figure out what to do about the problem.
XJSuperman
Well-known member
Ok, I forgot about the lava rock stuff in the bottom. Im so used to wood burning I totally spaced on it. Maybe theres a fire retardant spray you can apply to the wood? Something that would help with the possibility.
I like the way yours looks, and being in town is new for me so I have to adjust my burning style if I want to enjoy a fire like you.
Hows the garage heat coming along?
I like the way yours looks, and being in town is new for me so I have to adjust my burning style if I want to enjoy a fire like you.
Hows the garage heat coming along?
Nothing beats a real wood fire. I had it in the back of my mind when I was building the fire box that it could be used for a wood fire one day (different base of course).
The box from Amazon with ~$100 worth of goodies for the pit should be showing up tomorrow. The goal is to get everything put together and tested this weekend while Wife is out of town. If everything goes to plan, I'll start on the finishing touches. If it does end up getting too hot, I've got a solution in mind.
No progress on the garage insulation/heat since I started working on the fire pit, but I'll circle back to it soon. I did stumble across my old coffee mug warmer in an odd box last week and put it back into use. Much less aggressive than the kerosene heater method I've been using.
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The box from Amazon with ~$100 worth of goodies for the pit should be showing up tomorrow. The goal is to get everything put together and tested this weekend while Wife is out of town. If everything goes to plan, I'll start on the finishing touches. If it does end up getting too hot, I've got a solution in mind.
No progress on the garage insulation/heat since I started working on the fire pit, but I'll circle back to it soon. I did stumble across my old coffee mug warmer in an odd box last week and put it back into use. Much less aggressive than the kerosene heater method I've been using.
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rattle_snake
Well-known member
Beer on a hot plate. That just doesn't look right.
So, does it get cold enough inside the 'shack to freeze your beers?
To be honest I've finally resorted to heating my shop this year. Instead of parking my truck outside until late at night to cool off, I just pull it right inside. Free heat, but still need to run the beer fridge to keep bevs chilled.
So, does it get cold enough inside the 'shack to freeze your beers?
To be honest I've finally resorted to heating my shop this year. Instead of parking my truck outside until late at night to cool off, I just pull it right inside. Free heat, but still need to run the beer fridge to keep bevs chilled.
Yeah, it definitely gets cold enough to freeze beer. I only fire up the heater when I'm working out there the temp gets down to ~20 or so, otherwise its totally unconditioned. Someday I'd like to have a NG heater on a thermostat to keep it above freezing in there during the winter months, but that is (at best) a few years away. Until then, I'll just have to preheat my steel before welding and my beer before drinking.
JustinS
Well-known member
I scavenged an identical trike for our 3 year old. She prefers it over the plastic **** one she had before. She rips around corners on two wheels!
It was hit or miss with Stinker this summer. One minute it was the biggest smile ever, the next it was tears and pushing it over when she couldn't figure out how to get moving again. Its probably our fault, she was probably a little too young for it this year (just turned 3 a few months ago). Next year, I'm guessing the tears will be from wrecks and not frustration.
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Thanks! I think this might be the best one yet. I don't think Wife has any idea that this is what she's getting. She knows that I am building her something because I had to tell her to stay out of the garage (I didn't want her to accidentally ruin the surprise by popping in unannounced). But other than that, I've only provided abstract misdirection when she's pressed me for hints.
As far as finishes go, I'm thinking wire brush or DA to bare metal and then give it a wipe down with linseed oil to darken it up. I want the steel to have a darker black/brown rusty patina instead of the brighter red/orange you'd get with bare steel. Researching the use of BLO on a fire pit is nearly impossible because all you get is safety warnings about oil soaked rags starting fires, but I was able to find one place that actually recommends its use (https://www.stahlfirepit.com/faq).
As far as the wood goes, I was looking through my paint and stain collection and found that I already had a gallon jug of Wolman RainCoat water based sealer that I used on a project years ago. I'm doing some test pieces right now to make sure that whatever I use to stain the wood will work with the sealer.
We have fire!
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Don't worry, that burner is sitting a little crooked in fire box - I need to revise the plumbing slightly. I want to lower the burner a few inches and come up with a fix for my pass through for the gas line through the side of the pit, but overall I'm pretty excited. I had the burner on probably 2/3 of max for a good 45 minutes. The fire box sides did get hotter than I expected, but seemed to max out around 175 degrees, which is way below any risk for charring the wood base. The bottom plate maxed out at 120 degrees.
Norma Jean knows what to do when there's a fire...
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And since this has become a bit of a running joke on this thread...
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Don't worry, that burner is sitting a little crooked in fire box - I need to revise the plumbing slightly. I want to lower the burner a few inches and come up with a fix for my pass through for the gas line through the side of the pit, but overall I'm pretty excited. I had the burner on probably 2/3 of max for a good 45 minutes. The fire box sides did get hotter than I expected, but seemed to max out around 175 degrees, which is way below any risk for charring the wood base. The bottom plate maxed out at 120 degrees.
Norma Jean knows what to do when there's a fire...
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And since this has become a bit of a running joke on this thread...
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Craptain
Well-known member
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
rattle_snake
Well-known member
Nice job on the pit Sir. Multi functional.
When I moved into my current place I found an odd looking steering wheel thing. Turns out it was a burner like you used. Came out of the fountain, it was to have fire on the water surface. The install was done poorly and everything was corroded beyond repair and abandoned. There is also a gas fire pit which can empty a propane tank quick.
When I moved into my current place I found an odd looking steering wheel thing. Turns out it was a burner like you used. Came out of the fountain, it was to have fire on the water surface. The install was done poorly and everything was corroded beyond repair and abandoned. There is also a gas fire pit which can empty a propane tank quick.
Funny story about Norma Jean... she was actually named Norman for a few days. I got her on a Thursday night, it wasn't until I was watching her take a leak on the following Saturday that I realized it was coming out of a different spot than one would expect. I took a closer look and sure enough, no bits. When I picked her out, she somehow got mixed in with the males. The folks I got her from called the next day when they realized the count wasn't right and asked if I wanted to swap her for a male. By that point we'd already bonded, so I ended up changing her name to Norma Jean and the rest is history. She turns 9 on Friday, we'll celebrate with her annual birthday steak.
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The first thing Stinker did when she saw the burner was to grab it and start making car sounds as she ran around the house. I know I'm doing something right as a parent!
Gas use is no joke with these things. When I first started researching how to make one, I was astounded by the fuel consumption on some of the larger pits. Even making a small pit, I was a little concerned before I did this test run. My burner didn't have a BTU rating listed, but most of the other 12" rings I looked at had a max rating of around 90k BTU - that's nearly a gallon of propane per hour if you use it at full blast! My main worry was that I'd need to run at near-max level to achieve a decent flame. Those 20lb Blue Rhino tanks only have about 4 gallons of propane in them, which means it could cost over $4/hour to run.
I was happy to find that this will not be the case. I think running it at 30-50% of max will be the sweet spot. That puts the cost of operation to around $2/hour (or less) off exchange tanks. A little cheaper if I find a place nearby to get refills. Basically, it should be inexpensive enough that I will actually enjoy using it instead of thinking about all the money that is (literally) going up in flames.
(BTW - I can't wait for a calm day to really crank her up - I think it'll do at least a 3' tall flame.)
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Finally, I feel a little talk about alcohol and shop safety might be in order in case any younger folks might come across this build thread one day. Sure, its fun to come about new and interesting ways to thaw frozen cans of beer, and yes it is true that I may enjoy a beer or two while tinkering around in the garage. However, I am well aware of my limits and have a healthy respect for the dangers of the projects I work on. If dangerous equipment is being used (power tools, saws, etc,) or I'm doing something that could have dangerous consequences if done incorrectly (like plumbing gas pipe for a fire pit), I keep the beer in the fridge until the work is done. It is just way too easy to make a small mistake that could have catastrophic consequences should you try to work while impaired.
Toothaker
Well-known member
greyghost18t
Well-known member
Great Thread and builds. Great inspiration and things i can look forward to with my 17 month old.
greyghost18t
Well-known member
Unfortunately it is not.. With the Job and the little nugget I sent my bike out to a local shop to get finished. He is just finishing up the wheels right now with changing to 18 front and back, powder coated rim gloss black and powder coated hubs matte black, polished rear brake rotor, new Buchanan spokes, and then early next year all of the motogadet stuff going on and full rewire of the bike and new seat hoop and seat being mounted.. I wish i had the shop you do to build a work table and do this all myself.
Finished the fire box today. Hit the whole thing with a wire brush to knock the rust off. I then DA'd the outside of the box, and then sanded the metal in a line to give it a grain look. Once that was done I used my kerosene heater to heat it up to around 150 degrees and rubbed the sides with danish oil. I also painted the baseplate with high temp paint to give it a good rust preventative coating (I didn't oil the baseplate). All in all it turned out better than I could have hoped for. I'll have to take some pics with the DSLR to do the finish justice.
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Here's a close up of the outside. You can kind of see the grain in the pic, it's much darker in person.
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Here's a close up of the outside. You can kind of see the grain in the pic, it's much darker in person.
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Got the outside of the base stained today. I ended up using a PPG deck stain and sealant. The jug of sealer I had on hand didn't really work with the different stains I tried. I'm very happy with how this is turning out.
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Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
That's nice, good job! 
Trust me, I know exactly how it goes. My bike is still apart from how long ago? The more I dug into it, the more work I've found that needs to be done. At this point, I'll probably end up going through the whole thing. Before I go down that rabbit hole, I need to get some other stuff knocked off the "to-do" list. As I have hinted at a few times, once this fire pit is done, I am making finishing the walls and ceiling my main focus this winter - no more projects until it is done (saying it publicly to keep myself accountable).
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Thanks Burger.
No progress to report on the insulation - I've been focused on this fire pit and a couple of little house projects the last few weeks. After the holidays, I plan to dig back in.
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That's nice, good job!
Thanks! I'm actually really happy about how closely the finishes match what I had in my mind.
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cdsloop
Well-known member
I stumbled upon your thread again today, and read it front to back. I say "again" because, after reading the first few pages, I remembered that I had started reading it a year or so ago and had gotten to the point of you replacing the shingles. Thank you for giving me some much needed inspiration. I too suffer from analysis paralysis. But upon reading it through, it is comforting to know that I am not the only one, which is confirmed many times by others throughout the thread. It is strange reading here, (which also kept me reading) because my own journey in GJ parallels yours in so many ways. In the past few months, I have finally jumped in on finishing my own shop area, and I am now about half way through in finishing out my very small "shop room" of my barn. I'm putting insulation in the walls, and finishing it with OSB. I had started collecting pallets to break down to do the lower section of the walls, but I abandoned that a year or so ago when I too learned that breaking down pallets is not an easy task. When that is done, I plan to paint the OSB, then insulate and sheet the ceiling with used 5-V tin for a rustic look. I hope to end up with a useable space that I can call my own. So far I have finished the electrical upgrades to the room, updated the lighting to new LED fixtures, and gotten one wall insulated and sheeted. I have also insulated and sheeted half of two of other walls. I hope to finish one of those walls tonight, and start a build thread of my own to hopefully keep myself accountable in the coming year. The finishing of this room was the start of overcoming my analysis paralysis. I have 2 major unfinished projects that I hope to complete in 2019: an air compressor restoration that I started 2 years ago, and a 1974 Honda TL125 restoration. Both projects are currently in boxes scattered around the barn, and both hold some major sentimental value. Stay tuned for a new thread that I intend to start tonight. And thanks again for giving me some much needed inspiration....
Thanks!
I honestly hadn't thought about a date or message, but its not a bad idea.
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That's awesome! Glad to hear you're knocking it out. Please post a link to your build thread once you get it posted, I'd love to see your shop.
Will S.
Well-known member
bd, I ran across this thread only yesterday, and sat for hours, reading and enjoying it all; from your "long intro", to your last post today. Fantastic job, and what a really nice shop you have turned your "**** Shack" into.
A few pages back, you mentioned something about not caring so much for the hitch receiver-mounts for vises, grinders, and such, due to the play. I agree, and when I built my "welding desk", I incorporated 3 hitch receivers in the design.
I am sure you have already considered this, and discarded the idea for reason, but this is what I did:
Not original; I'm sure I grabbed it from somewhere, probably right here on GJ. I welded a large nut centered over a hole drilled in the side of the receiver. Then threaded an appropriate sized bolt such that it can be tightened against the hitch, locking it in place, and removing any play. Not wanting to fetch a wrench every time I switched the hitch, simply weld a 3 or 4" piece of 1/4" rod to the bolt head. Quick twist of the wrist, and you're good to go.
A few pages back, you mentioned something about not caring so much for the hitch receiver-mounts for vises, grinders, and such, due to the play. I agree, and when I built my "welding desk", I incorporated 3 hitch receivers in the design.
I am sure you have already considered this, and discarded the idea for reason, but this is what I did:
Not original; I'm sure I grabbed it from somewhere, probably right here on GJ. I welded a large nut centered over a hole drilled in the side of the receiver. Then threaded an appropriate sized bolt such that it can be tightened against the hitch, locking it in place, and removing any play. Not wanting to fetch a wrench every time I switched the hitch, simply weld a 3 or 4" piece of 1/4" rod to the bolt head. Quick twist of the wrist, and you're good to go.
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XJSuperman
Well-known member
Wow that burner looks **** all finished. Im currently doing a rush job wood project for a christmas gift and I already wish it was steel instead...
Thank you for the kind words Will.
I really like that idea of having a handle on a tensioning bolt, I'll probably give that a shot. So far, the loose fit hasn't bothered me too much using the vise. I haven't really done much on the bench grinder yet, but that is where I'm most worried about the wobble.
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Oh man, I feel your pain. This year was the first time I've been decently proactive and gave myself plenty of time to work on a project. Normally, my modus operandi involves a few late nights in the garage, box fans and heat guns cranked on high to get stain or paint to dry, and last minute runs to the hardware store.
Now that I'm typing this, I just had a wave of anxiety wash over me. I totally spaced off that I told Wife I'd make a coat hook for Stinker so she'd have a spot to hang her princess costume dresses. Guess I will need to make that last minute run to the hardware store after all...