Time to get Fired Up
I love fires. I get all jazzed up when there is talk of building a fire…. Any kind of fire really, as long as it is controlled, the season doesn’t matter, nor does the location. Whether it is the backyard, the beach, the snow or a nice fireplace fire. I love them all.
I recently found out that the guest rooms at Last Frontier Heli’s Bell 2 lodge have soap stone fireplaces in each room. Each room! Imagine how jazzed up I got about this. I got to thinking about my love of fires and decided to spread this love and let people know how they can make their life better by creating a fire in their backyard.
But first a brief reflection on fires….. your stamp of manhood and competency, the ancient art that stems from our need to survive, without this skill we would have died of cold and sickness from not cooking our meat. But practicality aside, without this tool, we would also be missing the fireside stories, gatherings, merry making and s’mores creation.
Now how are you going to promote this firey goodness in your backyard? With an old washing machine drum that’s how. Yes the same thing that helped wash your clothes, will be the same thing that brings you a delightful glow, drawing friends near and far to your yard to spread the fiery joy.
So basically the toughest part about building this fire pit is getting your washing machine to break down so you can use the drum. Next you will need to strip the drum. Remove all plastic bits including plastic rim and plastic base. Clean off any gunk.
If you want you can get funky, you paint it black or weld some lets lets on to it, or you can run it as it is. The nice thing about the drum is the little holes allow the fire to oxygenate and allow little lights to shine through it. You are now good to go.
Happy fire times!