DIY Gel Fire Pits: Easy & Cheap Sizzle for Table Tops!
$50
6 Hours
Easy
It's getting chilly at night and I thought about making a fire pit. But it's not allowed by our town.
So I decided to make a table top fire pit using gel fuel, a custom cement bowl, and lava rock.
This is so easy.
And it doesn't brake the bank. Once you have the plastic bowls and some simple tools you can make more of these, all you'll need is the cement.
I decided to use Quikrete quick setting cement. It comes in a small bucket which costs about $12. It's not heavy and anyone can handle it.
The gel fuel can be purchased at Lowe's in the garden section.
And the fire safe lava rocks can be found at a fireplace store. I recommend them over other rocks since lava rocks won't explode in fire.
For all the details check out my blog post cause it also has the complete video tutorial :D
Cheers,
Jeff
So I decided to make a table top fire pit using gel fuel, a custom cement bowl, and lava rock.
This is so easy.
And it doesn't brake the bank. Once you have the plastic bowls and some simple tools you can make more of these, all you'll need is the cement.
I decided to use Quikrete quick setting cement. It comes in a small bucket which costs about $12. It's not heavy and anyone can handle it.
The gel fuel can be purchased at Lowe's in the garden section.
And the fire safe lava rocks can be found at a fireplace store. I recommend them over other rocks since lava rocks won't explode in fire.
For all the details check out my blog post cause it also has the complete video tutorial :D
Cheers,
Jeff
Build your own table top fire pit in one day!!!
Table top fire pit
Grab two plastic bowls.
Spray the inside of the large bowl and outside surface of the small bowl with Pam.
Mix the cement to a milkshake consistency. Pour the cement into the large bowl.
Insert the small bowl into the large bowl and compress the cement.
Use an orbital sander to vibrate the large bowl and eliminate air pockets in the cement.
Wait 6 hours and you'll have custom cement bowl.
Comments
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I did make my own fire pit bowl last week. At Lowe's, I bought a box of terra cotta dye, right next to cement. It comes in powder form. A couple of table spoons need to be stirred into water before adding it to the wet cement, For this I just used a 16 oz can from my recycle bin. Other colors are available. It looks great. Now I just need to find proper gel. Tiki oil, which was recommended on other site doesn't burn.
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This is cool.......well......heat and light! Great idea. I like it and may try it......thank you!
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Looks like a great idea without spending huge amounts of money. It would seem from the comments that many besides myself would like more detail about :
!) what you've used for fuel an a few examples of what to look or ask for when shopping for supplies.
2) What type of materials are safe to used over the fuel & inside the concrete bowl? Would hate to use something that shattered when heated by the fuel!
3) What was used to prevent the ? gravel?lava-rock from falling into the gel fuel?
4) If kids wanted to "roast" a marshmallow over gel fuel is that Safe????
With this additional information I would then want to give this a go!!!!
What size bowls did you use for this project? Also, I’m not familiar with the gel you mentioned, so could you explain a little better? What is the official name for this gel? Thanks
I cant wait to try this !! My question is can I use bigger bowls to make bigger fire pits ??