This press has worked like a charm for my projects th-cam.com/users/postUgkxajoEbapTfqWaadnqb04h6U576yxXp-FE . I didn't even secure it to my table top, mainly due to the fact that I was using a 15 lbs drill vise. It's not flimsy at all as to what others have claimed it to be. Make sure the locking nuts and levers are secured and there won't be any issues with light pressure and patience. I was able to drill through aluminum, plastic, and steel (steel took a while) with no problems at all. Yeah it took a little longer than a regular drill press, but I don't have the space OR the money for one.The instruction manual was worthless, but luckily assembling the press was intuitive. However, the manual would be good for ordering replacement parts if needed. There is a nice breakdown of the parts that are included in the kit. Before ordering, make sure it is compatible with your unit, it is clearly stated what models the press is compatible with.This was an excellent purchase for $40!!
Former concrete guy here. I did residential construction in Florida and we'd spray our forms with oil to get them to release easier from the slabs. The other little trick is that you can fill screw holes or nail holes with petroleum jelly for exposed surfaces that you don't want to see fasteners. You can also cover seams with clear packing tape and get a smooth finish.
Great tips. For the inner circle, it doesn't matter what you would coat it with because the direction to pull to release the forms is a reverse circle and geometrically doesn't allow it to release. Sort of like the Chinese finger traps.
I was a roadway worker on the I-4 project and then worked on the runways at OIA. You're exactly right. Using form oil, even on wood, will make them fall right off after the concrete dries enough.
After watching the video advert i was still skeptical. But when i finally downloaded the plans th-cam.com/users/postUgkxZF0EMnrujZvqHhGkxiz559uIABJWR9TG i was very impressed. The whole plan was just as you said in the video. Thank you very much. I now have a large and valuable collection for my woodworks. This is great!
I guess the algorithm brought the Genshin players here?? I have no manuel skills what so ever and won't ever make something like that but it was great to watch lol
That's due to all the rain in the Pacific Northwest. Grass grows like crazy here but you can't always find a dry day to cut (mow) the lawn between rainy days. It's always a crapshoot till after the 4th of July!
I’m so glad you researched this. My concrete friend (contractor....he wasn’t made of concrete) made one that was solid concrete on the bottom and it exploded shooting big chunks of concrete 40’ in the air like a cannon. He had his daughters Girl Scout sleep over that night. They called the kids inside for pizza and a few minutes later it blew the bottom out. Some large pieces went over the house and landed out front. Someone was watching over them that night that’s for sure!
Why do you call bullshit Nathan? You do know concrete explodes when extreme heat is consistently applied right? Try google buddy. There’s even videos on YT of it happening.
@@nathansmith22 Of course you do, cause you have no idea what your talking about. Your just talking. Concrete always has water in cavities within the concrete if left outside. It soaks in. That makes steam. What does steam do when it can't get out? Basic science there scooter. You just had to say something though.
It'll be interesting to know later if the concrete form cracks after the first fire. I had a firepit built out of stone with mortar and it cracked not only the mortar joints but the limestone two piece top. My firepit builder used a steel ring insert tight up against the stone and the heat caused the ring to expand, thus cracking the mortar and a couple of stones. My fix was to buy a steel insert that was smaller than the pit diameter by 1.5" all around. I also filled that void with mineral pour insulation to reduce thermal shock. My insert has a large enough lip to cover the void. I think your insert should be at least 1" smaller then your form to prevent contact between the steel insert and the inside of your form to prevent steel expansion from pushing out your form.
@@gabrielh.2506 Or do what I did by not allowing a flush steel ring up against the stone to expand as it gets hot by replacing with a full depth steel insert with a smaller diameter packed with pour mineral insulation in between the insert and stone. Much easier than lining with firebrick after the pit was built. That has worked now for many years.
@@JJ-fd2ob The calculation for a 48" steel ring (my pit) is an expansion of almost 1/2" when the temp rises by 1000F. A 3" ring will expand by 1/3". If a ring is mortared to the brick, stone or concrete, the pit will crack.
@@driver902 If you use a steel ring, which I suppose the purpose of it is to protect the concrete from flaking away, you'd still have expansion of the steel under heat up against concrete whether it be refractory cement or not. The expanded steel will either push out and crack to concrete or just warp if the concrete doesn't give way. Better to insert a slightly small diameter steel ring to allow for the expansion when hot.
Always remember, when using wood for forms, always spray with diesel or form oil. This helps the wood release from cured concrete...in all reality, you did very well. I do this all the time and can say you did better than most. Another hint, is, when it is curing, if it is hot outside, keep everything sprayed down and wet. This gets a better cure that is less likely to "dry out" and crack. Concrete does NOT dry. It cures. The end project is pretty amazing. As for your inside form, you should have burned it out...after all, this is a fire pit...
@MACizera it breaks down concrete compound so the layer touching the Crete will degrade much faster. But the real issue is why not use canola oil. (Form oil works) and not hurt the environment?
Your cleaning operation was impeccable throughout the entire project. Clean as you go, makes the job site so much easier. Beautiful work good sir, I might do this myself. I'll save a double of Woodford for you after I finish mine
When making inner circles for that make one little piece shaped as a V with the V point to the concrete, then you will easily pull it and have some room to pull the rest
It's even easier than that. The one little piece doesn't even need to be v-shaped. He could have done the 3 pieces as he did (or even only 2) but between two of them he could have put in a piece of 2 by 4 (or something similar with two parallel sides) which you can knock out first towards the inside. Then you have some wiggle room to loosen and take out the other pieces. Could even have worked with the whole circle as one piece cut open in one place plus a 2 by 4 or 4 by 4 inserted.
Great job. Just wanted to mention, when looking for filler material for concrete, a good option is gravel. One or two shuvels per bag. Mix together, works great. Diesel is used the most often for keeping the concrete off the forms. Concrete work is unique in the way we have to consider wrecking the forms conveniently. City water drains is a good example.
when you pulled the forms off and smiled back at the camera I let out the biggest smile man. I was so happy for you for all the work put in. We just bought a new house and property this last year and Im anxious to build a firepit area. Getting ideas and found your channel. Subbed!
DUDE SAFETY!! Concrete can detonate when exposed to fire. My sister lost her eye and had three teeth smashed out when the fire that was on a concrete base detonated. It's the trapped water turning to steam, then expanding. Stay safe - do your research on concrete / fire explosive failure, great skills in the video man tho.
@@averystrawn9819 You've never seen concrete explode before, it Doesn't explode by direct contact from fire it explodes from water trapped inside air pockets evaporating causing pressure build up Doesn't have to be direct heat lmao. Concrete can be safe as long as you allow allotted time for it to cure . Me personally would have lined the firebrick the proper way around the inside. It May last 100 years it may cure and then get rained on trapping water and frag, Id rather be safe If I'm investing that much money into a fire pit.
Do your research bud concrete takes 42 days to fully cure that means all moisture is gone green concrete is the few hours before it dries to the normal white color and by vibrating your separate cream from aggregate every thing he did ensured proper safety the only thing he could’ve done better would’ve been to mix in fiber
@@jake_god_of_sleep6564 Concrete is most effective and stronger when it still got moister in it, Once it's dried out over time and age it will crack and get rained on if its an outdoor concrete. Concrete even fully cured can soak up more water retaining it. Concrete poured directly on the ground without a barrier can still absorb moisture through the ground. The more you know lmao As I stated before it could last 100 years with a fire or 10 days depends on his climate humidity and so forth. as I myself don't need to do research I come from a family of brick layers and concrete drivers who own a concrete business in VA. I am well versed in the what and what nots of concrete.
I have a small charcoal fired forge. It’s a used helium tank with the top cut out, a piece of 1/2” iron pipe in the side to blow so air and sackrete I bought from Lowe’s. It did not explode and it hasn’t really even pitted with probably 100 hours of use at temps high enough not only to forge but to actually melt steel
@@marciaccalas5799 it's actually more like a vigorous cracking you might lose an eye under the exact wrong circumstances but it isn't the end of the world.
"I don't feel like renting a concrete mixer" A hard lesson is gonna be learned today! I bought a used concrete mixer so I never have to mix concrete by hand ever again.
Great build, been working with forms 25 years, yours was excellent. For future reference there is a product, wiggle board that is made for forming curves.
When making the inner form, use three pieces (as you did) and use wedges of at least 60 degrees in the joints. That way, when you pull out the wedges (from the inside), the three pieces will easily pull straight out from the concrete and can be lifted out. And, they will be re-usable! 🤓👍
Not an expert....but, built a very hot fire in a cement box. Turns out, the cement exploded. Finished cement contains water...expands and explodes. Just sharing.
I strongly recommend oiling the formboards to make them easier to remove afterwards. Also, DO NOT use regular cement for a project like this due to trapped moisture and risk of explosion. Use only refractory cement, which is designed for high temperature use.
You can recommend it all you want, but odds are no one will do that, as refractory cement is expensive. Unless of course you have two grand to spend on twenty bags of refractory cement. He did it the most economical way, and as a concrete guy myself, using wax is perfectly fine. I personally use diesel simply because I can spray it on with a pump up sprayer. But the objective is to get a clean separation, and to protect your forms, so what ever you use is acceptable.
@@thenarrator1984 I've used diesel on my forms for fifty years. It works just fine, and preserve my forms quite nicely. I only use refractory cement in fireplaces. For outside pits, that requires a large volume, I substitute two shovel of sand with two shovel of fire clay. I've never had one crack. And I can't count how many I've poured that way.
@@thebeardedone1225 I'm sure you've used it. Just because you have doesbnot mean it's fine. It's disgusting for.the environment and it makes the cement compound not harden right so the outer layer willl degrade. Seriously. I can't stand people who say 'done it fifty years' So you threw diesel into the gutter for fifty years and it didn't hurt anything. Right. God damn no wonder were in the place we are today with idiots like youm
I have never built a fire pit. But I have poured some manhole collars. On the internal ring we placed wooded wedges Knock the wedges out the internal ring comes right out..
Dude, hilarious video...and masterful work. Instant subscribe. I love that you're clearly a professional in carpentry/wood-working, but you don't take yourself too seriously.
Honestly, this was really well done. Couple things I would have done differently. 1. If you had mitered the edges of your interior forms you'd have much less pressure pushing them together, and would have been able to remove the forms intact. 2. I would have poured a pad first. The weight of that ring will likely have it settling into the dirt over time, especially after rain. The pad would also have made interior form removal easier. Going to implement this in my yard though, great idea 👍
I worked in concrete, asphalt, sand & gravel for my career (the college engineering diploma sits in a box in the closet) and I have to say that was a very nice looking job when finished. The only thing I would have suggested was making the foreman do more work 🤣
For a guy that dont know what he's doing with concrete, you sure made it look good. Would I have done it differently? Parts of it, Yes, but it turned out really nice. Overall, I'd give it a 9.5. Well done.
Honestly, if you've got a steel barrel with a lid which can be attacked and detached, you can dump the concrete in, the water in, the pigments used (if you use; even dirt or ash or crayons can work) put the lid on, place the barrel on a side, and roll it for a while, and you mixed the cement without a "professional" cement mixer. It works better if you add some wood or metal things on the inside, like how a washing machine has (a cement mixer usually has curved ones), to help with the mixing (and adding a few uneven parts to each of those "ribs", to help even more with the mixing), but it works even without that, especially if you add a few rocks (to tumble about and move unevenly, to lead to a more even mixture with less moving). It might need more effort to get the barrel standing upright again, or to place it on the ground without it breaking, but it works better than mixing in a wheelbarrow/cart. By the way, did you know there are folding wheelbarrows (sometimes called portable wheelbarrows) out there? I didn't know, but it makes having spare wheelbarrows *A LOT* easier! Where would you even put the 3rd or 4th wheelbarrow, if it couldn't fold neatly out of the way?
Lol my dad had me out two days in a row mixing and pouring from a wheel barrow. Said he wasn't going to rent a mixer. He said I was taking too long and helped on the third day. Day 4 he bought a mixer. Bastard.
Love the pebbles you used. When you were creating a mini-gabion wall inside the concrete structure I was hoping you'd make a fire pit that was ONLY gabion wall. That would have looked really cool!
That was nice. Dad always sprayed diesel fuel on wood when we made forms, the oil in the diesel prevented the concrete from sticking. There might be a better alternative but we always had diesel on the farm along with pump up sprayers.
If you incorporate 1” spacers between the internal ring joints, you could remove them when its time to take the internal form out, squeeze the now gapped spaced joints together with clamps and remove the internal ring pieces without destroying them. Just an after thought. This is a great video and I will be building my fire pit in the same manner. Thanks for your work.
This looks awesome. Only recommendation I'd make is to put some bricks at the bottom with a layer of expanded metal over that to really allow the air to flow through those holes you made with PVC.
Concrete absorbs moisture like a sponge unless its over 5000 PSI. Concrete gets saturated, fire turns water into steam, concrete explodes. Got a friend missing an eye due to this. And I've seen concrete explode due to water turning to steam and expanding. A very bad idea.
Even stones can explode when used to line a fire pit; they may be OK for years until you get a really hot fire going and then there'a big surprise. Some stones tend to have dry interiors and some do not.
Good comment safety first always the fire brick and steel ring should be adequate to stop the whole thing from cracking/exploding but overtime it will definitely crack.
Use high density foam cut to size of your inner diameter, glue and stack them to height. Pour the concrete and use a multi tool to take the high density foam out after its cured. It's not reusable, but works excellent
My first thought was, keep it simple, make it square. I placed 4x8x16 solid concrete blocks (most of which I had leftover from a previous project) on end in a square and covered with surface bond cement from Quikcrete.
@@wtfdan817 Oh, good idea with the concrete blocks. I was thinking 200 empty aluminum soda cans would eat up some volume nicely ...if ya have 'em laying around.
From someone who's done concrete for over 30 years, you did pretty well. The only thing I might've done differently would've been the inside form. I would have angled them so they slid right out.
@@SVW1976 burn fresh concrete? It hasn't set yet. It takes at least 3 weeks but the thickness of this will take a lot longer. Burning the forms out can damage the concrete.
In order for the interior form to be pulled out easily, you'd need to angle the seams away from each other, and also use a cross brace to bridge the gap screwed in to keep them positioned. This way, you could pull them away from one another to the inside of the radius without locking themselves into place.
@@boppernostopper8598 You need hard 45's at every seam where the three sides meet- leaving no inner material to butt up on when you try to pull it inward.
the rebar you put in extended into the ground. over time moisture will climb that bar and rust it out. always make sure your rebar is completely encased in the concrete.
Very nicely done! Looks great! A little safety suggestion for you. I suggest wearing a dust mask when mixing bagged concrete. I’ve mixed a good bit of it over the years on projects, and actually got a respiratory infection once from breathing in the fine dust. You’re a lot of fun to watch and I’ve used a lot of your expertise on some of my projects. Thanks for that. Blessings!!
When I saw you make that inner form, and even cut it in three, thinking you would just split them apart like the outer form, I smiled. Gave me more reason to watch the rest of the video...
Your voice is supper soothing! I’ve spent lots of days covered in diesel while putting together foundation forms… because that used to be a thing! you can put most anything on it that’s slippery. Also if you ever plan to try this again you can probably tack together the inside part with just brads because all the pressure is focused inwards. I have cheated many times using little tiny bread nails on two by fours that all get compressed by concrete. Then you just whack them out, it’s pretty awesome. I love your video and the fire pit is amazing good job.
Imagine if masons poured foundations this way? We need basement walls, so first we will build a house out of wood, then build a smaller house inside of it. Then fill it with concrete and then throw away the house :) Instead of just hammering some pins in the ground lining it with plywood and fixing the final product with a finish coat of cement/stucco. This was so zen to watch, and totally the way I would do it if i could afford to do it that way.
I bought some column tubes from a specialty hardware store, they laughed when I said I needed two feet of the different diameters! I was like, it's for a fire pit, and they were like, that's genius. The tubes are typically used for pouring freeway bridges or something.
I tried using a concrete firepit and it ended up spliting and falling apart. Metal or fire bricks are much better for high heat. A washing machine that has a steel basket with holes works great!
Really dude, your voice over voice! Set em on disk and start a selling point for people with sleeping problems. I mean this in the most positive way! It is soooo soothing! That timbre and that caaaaalllm pace. I like your work. Can you imagine how hard I have to concentrate to prevent dozing off? Oh boy. After a video... I'm just too mellow for the rest of the day. Go figure.
Hi was thinking the same thing we could have him break out the Bible and start reading the genealogy straight through and put that on disk because that always has put me to sleep
Spray some oil (used) on the inside of the forms that meets the concrete prior to pour. It’ll make removing the forms a lot easier. Doesn’t effect outcome - as oil and water does not mix 👍🏻
Love it!!! Family has wanted some sort of fire pit for some time. Yours is the first that I can get excited about. Already have the mixer for other small projects so I may add this to the list.Thanks
Shoot, if you lived in my area and needed a hand, I actually secretly love working concrete. Just not for fences. I hate setting posts and the like. Though that's mainly with a wishy-washy type contractor.
I work as a technical designer at a factory in Denmark (Ambercon, Genner) that makes precast concrete elements (columns, beams, stairs, interior walls, etc.). When we were building a new administration building a couple of years ago, the walls for the main hall were cast with wood grain texture using real boards as a bottom in the forms. All other walls are painted white, but these walls are raw and untreated. It looks real purty. :) I have that very same Bosch reciprocating saw myself by the way (GSA 18 V-Li)...
Turned out great. I have a solo stove and wanted to make a square table with a cement table top that the stove would fit inside and this helped me figure out a good way to approach the circle in the middle of my square form!
Very Impressed, You Kept Me Intrigued With Your Work & Your Personality Makes The Tube Worth Watching. I Absolutely Love Your Firepit. Thanx 4 Sharing.....
Worked for a forming and shoring company WAY back in the day. We used a mix of Diesel Fuel and Automatic Transmission Fluid sprayed on concrete forms as a release agent.
@@erlycuyler wouldn't have made a difference, with the screws being proud of the melamine the only way it could have ever even had a chance of coming apart would be to slide a piece toward the center and because of how he cut the 3 pieces that was impossible, if he cut one piece "keyed" the opposite direction it might have worked, I knew (from experience) he had no chance of getting the inner ring out due to the cut angle he chose.
Beautiful! I was kinda hoping I was going to see something I could actually accomplish but dude that's a lot of work! However, if I did enjoy work you pretty much nailed it in terms of explaining how one might accomplish the same. Even better, I like the creative process you went through - an enjoyable 1/2 hour even for those not wanting to actually build a firepit.
He did it the “right way”. But there are other ways to do it to get the same results. Anything round with sturdy sides will work as a form. Think plastic drum you cut a 1/3 off and bottom out of with a jigsaw. Then find anything smaller in diameter to use as your center. (Example : 5 gallon bucket you also stake around the circumference/ or possibly just fill with water to make it stay in place. You can be creative with what you use for a form just lock it in place with stakes. Then you’re just left with pouring the Crete.
Before watching the video, I gotta say: Having the air intake being slightly angled would help stabilize the flame a bit more, and reduce the smoke by a fair bit more, by creating a cyclone around the fire, to ensure more of the fuel in the smoke gets burned, by mixing it with fresh air. You can google "fire vortex stove" and"fire cyclone stove", to get a better idea of what I'm talking about, and maybe to learn how it works and why it works that way. The current end product looks great. And if the defects bother you, repeat this to yourself: "Good enough for government work." Also, oil the cement, after a month or two, to make it waterproof, and to partially prevent unintended staining. If you want to, you can use a whitewash before that, to give it a nice color. Most paints would start smoking, if used for a fireplace. Honestly, if you've got a steel barrel with a lid which can be attacked and detached, you can dump the concrete in, the water in, the pigments used (if you use; even dirt or ash or crayons can work) put the lid on, place the barrel on a side, and roll it for a while, and you mixed the cement without a "professional" cement mixer. It works better if you add some wood or metal things on the inside, like how a washing machine has (a cement mixer usually has curved ones), to help with the mixing (and adding a few uneven parts to each of those "ribs", to help even more with the mixing), but it works even without that, especially if you add a few rocks (to tumble about and move unevenly, to lead to a more even mixture with less moving). It might need more effort to get the barrel standing upright again, or to place it on the ground without it breaking, but it works better than mixing in a wheelbarrow/cart. By the way, did you know there are folding wheelbarrows (sometimes called portable wheelbarrows) out there? I didn't know, but it makes having spare wheelbarrows *A LOT* easier! Where would you even put the 3rd or 4th wheelbarrow, if it couldn't fold neatly out of the way? Would be fun seeing you try to make a homemade folding wheelbarrow.
Those "Kerf" cuts were so satisfying! btw thats how the concrete guys on the job do it when they need to form curb radii or what have you....only they use Echo Cut-Off Saws
So, for your safety, I wouldn't recommend using concrete for a fire pit, there is a specific product designed for this application called "castable refractory cement" it is specially formulated to handle the heat of a fire and not cause a safety issue...
@@thisguy59 if there is any, and I do mean any, amount of moisture in the concrete it can explode when heated to the boiling point of said moisture (typically water).
You got it, there is no right way to make a fire pit out of concrete. Concrete has air pockets that will explode when super heated. Better title: how to make a back yard bomb. Wonder when we will see the follow up video of the Emergency Room visit?
Are you guys trying to melt iron in a BBQ? I get normal concrete is unsuitable to high temp and can crack or will have very poor durability. Personally I also don't like how this looks, the basic stones from before looked better than this. But predicting it will explode, sb's going to emergency room, this being a safety hazard?
Man made his geometry teacher proud.
This press has worked like a charm for my projects th-cam.com/users/postUgkxajoEbapTfqWaadnqb04h6U576yxXp-FE . I didn't even secure it to my table top, mainly due to the fact that I was using a 15 lbs drill vise. It's not flimsy at all as to what others have claimed it to be. Make sure the locking nuts and levers are secured and there won't be any issues with light pressure and patience. I was able to drill through aluminum, plastic, and steel (steel took a while) with no problems at all. Yeah it took a little longer than a regular drill press, but I don't have the space OR the money for one.The instruction manual was worthless, but luckily assembling the press was intuitive. However, the manual would be good for ordering replacement parts if needed. There is a nice breakdown of the parts that are included in the kit. Before ordering, make sure it is compatible with your unit, it is clearly stated what models the press is compatible with.This was an excellent purchase for $40!!
Former concrete guy here. I did residential construction in Florida and we'd spray our forms with oil to get them to release easier from the slabs. The other little trick is that you can fill screw holes or nail holes with petroleum jelly for exposed surfaces that you don't want to see fasteners. You can also cover seams with clear packing tape and get a smooth finish.
Wonder if its still there.
Great tips. For the inner circle, it doesn't matter what you would coat it with because the direction to pull to release the forms is a reverse circle and geometrically doesn't allow it to release. Sort of like the Chinese finger traps.
What was the company? I am in orlando and would love to hire someone to do this
@@garrettsanford5683 Carpenter Contractors of America.
I was a roadway worker on the I-4 project and then worked on the runways at OIA. You're exactly right. Using form oil, even on wood, will make them fall right off after the concrete dries enough.
After watching the video advert i was still skeptical. But when i finally downloaded the plans th-cam.com/users/postUgkxZF0EMnrujZvqHhGkxiz559uIABJWR9TG i was very impressed. The whole plan was just as you said in the video. Thank you very much. I now have a large and valuable collection for my woodworks. This is great!
damn, when he put the premade fire ring insert in, it went straight from a 6 to a 10.
i agree. pretty interesting to see a little detail make a big difference.
Ohh mogawty
I guess the algorithm brought the Genshin players here?? I have no manuel skills what so ever and won't ever make something like that but it was great to watch lol
I’m just jealous of the grass
How did the grass look so good during the complete build. ????????
That's due to all the rain in the Pacific Northwest. Grass grows like crazy here but you can't always find a dry day to cut (mow) the lawn between rainy days. It's always a crapshoot till after the 4th of July!
@@BigHeinen That sir is a true story. The last couple months have been fair to great for a mow in between sun and rain lol
@@BigHeinen And then it all turns brown until it starts raining again
Unless it’s Astro ?
I’m so glad you researched this. My concrete friend (contractor....he wasn’t made of concrete) made one that was solid concrete on the bottom and it exploded shooting big chunks of concrete 40’ in the air like a cannon. He had his daughters Girl Scout sleep over that night. They called the kids inside for pizza and a few minutes later it blew the bottom out. Some large pieces went over the house and landed out front. Someone was watching over them that night that’s for sure!
I call bullshit.
This happened to me as well. nobody got burned but a few chairs had holes put in them.
Why do you call bullshit Nathan? You do know concrete explodes when extreme heat is consistently applied right? Try google buddy. There’s even videos on YT of it happening.
@@nathansmith22 Of course you do, cause you have no idea what your talking about. Your just talking. Concrete always has water in cavities within the concrete if left outside. It soaks in. That makes steam. What does steam do when it can't get out? Basic science there scooter. You just had to say something though.
Yes all concrete has air in it exterior concrete has at least 2 to 3 times more air into the mix so when it heats up it will explode
As this was a DiY project, a follow up on how it's holding up in a few years would be great.
He just did an update video
It'll be interesting to know later if the concrete form cracks after the first fire. I had a firepit built out of stone with mortar and it cracked not only the mortar joints but the limestone two piece top. My firepit builder used a steel ring insert tight up against the stone and the heat caused the ring to expand, thus cracking the mortar and a couple of stones. My fix was to buy a steel insert that was smaller than the pit diameter by 1.5" all around. I also filled that void with mineral pour insulation to reduce thermal shock. My insert has a large enough lip to cover the void. I think your insert should be at least 1" smaller then your form to prevent contact between the steel insert and the inside of your form to prevent steel expansion from pushing out your form.
This right here is a great point - should be voted up
@@gabrielh.2506 Or do what I did by not allowing a flush steel ring up against the stone to expand as it gets hot by replacing with a full depth steel insert with a smaller diameter packed with pour mineral insulation in between the insert and stone. Much easier than lining with firebrick after the pit was built. That has worked now for many years.
@@JJ-fd2ob The calculation for a 48" steel ring (my pit) is an expansion of almost 1/2" when the temp rises by 1000F. A 3" ring will expand by 1/3". If a ring is mortared to the brick, stone or concrete, the pit will crack.
@@bobbray9666 what about using a fire rated mortar instead of concrete. Like what they'd use for chimneys?
@@driver902 If you use a steel ring, which I suppose the purpose of it is to protect the concrete from flaking away, you'd still have expansion of the steel under heat up against concrete whether it be refractory cement or not. The expanded steel will either push out and crack to concrete or just warp if the concrete doesn't give way. Better to insert a slightly small diameter steel ring to allow for the expansion when hot.
The interior part, I would not have bothered removing.... just light a fire in it and let it burn 😂
I was thinking the same thing
Exactly what I was thinking
I think he just said, “Dooooooooh!”
Thats what we did. Worked like a charm
Same !!!
Always remember, when using wood for forms, always spray with diesel or form oil. This helps the wood release from cured concrete...in all reality, you did very well. I do this all the time and can say you did better than most. Another hint, is, when it is curing, if it is hot outside, keep everything sprayed down and wet. This gets a better cure that is less likely to "dry out" and crack. Concrete does NOT dry. It cures. The end project is pretty amazing. As for your inside form, you should have burned it out...after all, this is a fire pit...
Came to the comments to see if I was the only one thinking he should have just burned it out. Lol
Never spray with diesel
Use any oil. Even vegetable.
@MACizera it breaks down concrete compound so the layer touching the Crete will degrade much faster.
But the real issue is why not use canola oil. (Form oil works) and not hurt the environment?
@MACizera form oil is mineral oil.
You can just buy that it's best.
@@thenarrator1984 Totally agree.
Bro... Your commentary was on point. You could narrate other people's videos and I would binge watch it.
Can't wait to see it burning for the first time. Hope the supervisor lets you sit and enjoy it with a Bourbon !! Keep up the great content
@6:13 Jason: “I bought $2M worth of 2x4s”
Scrap 2x4s in the corner: “Do we mean nothing to you?”
Would have only been $1M worth in 2019...
He broke my heart pulling that stunt..and he call himself a wood worker lol
A single 2x4x8 is $8.50 at my local Lowe's right now
@@johnettipio 10.97 up here in canada.
I'm glad that I'm not the only person to see that. So I came to the comments to check, and here we are.
The foreman is adorable bud, you are doing it right. Teaching the youngins skills is what will keep this world going around.
....it’ll start to crack after not many fires and need replaced. The youngins aren’t being taught right with this and no foresight.
Your cleaning operation was impeccable throughout the entire project. Clean as you go, makes the job site so much easier. Beautiful work good sir, I might do this myself. I'll save a double of Woodford for you after I finish mine
"im not renting a concrete mixer" said by everyone... once! lol
Until you mix concrete by hand, everyone says that!
@@multidinero I had to use a shovel and wheelbarrow for the whole time I was doing fences and decks lol .
@@ramsaybolton9151 as a Finish Carpenter, I watch those guys from inside and ask the age old question.....
“Where’s that guy’s mixer?”
@@multidinero You should ask " Who's the mixer " instead lmao
@@ramsaybolton9151 Same. I am both cheap and a glutton for punishment.
20:15 Pam. The cooking spray. Works on River tables too!
When making inner circles for that make one little piece shaped as a V with the V point to the concrete, then you will easily pull it and have some room to pull the rest
It's even easier than that. The one little piece doesn't even need to be v-shaped. He could have done the 3 pieces as he did (or even only 2) but between two of them he could have put in a piece of 2 by 4 (or something similar with two parallel sides) which you can knock out first towards the inside. Then you have some wiggle room to loosen and take out the other pieces. Could even have worked with the whole circle as one piece cut open in one place plus a 2 by 4 or 4 by 4 inserted.
@@TheBackdrafter80 well you just crushed my two years of overthinking and overdoing simple stuff :D
@@samuelsilva8364 you're welcome. 😀
He's such a big kid. I love your video because it was funny and informative. This is the kind of video I like watching
Great job. Just wanted to mention, when looking for filler material for concrete, a good option is gravel. One or two shuvels per bag. Mix together, works great. Diesel is used the most often for keeping the concrete off the forms. Concrete work is unique in the way we have to consider wrecking the forms conveniently. City water drains is a good example.
Great job Jason, and your foreman did a good job also! The metal ring turned it into an elegant project instead of just acceptably good.
“Like the moron I am, I just persevered” A statement I can sadly relate to.
when you pulled the forms off and smiled back at the camera I let out the biggest smile man. I was so happy for you for all the work put in. We just bought a new house and property this last year and Im anxious to build a firepit area. Getting ideas and found your channel. Subbed!
We're a pretty large company but its always fun to watch these DIYs that anyone can do without a large scale crew or heavy equipment !
That's Big.
That's big.
DUDE SAFETY!! Concrete can detonate when exposed to fire. My sister lost her eye and had three teeth smashed out when the fire that was on a concrete base detonated. It's the trapped water turning to steam, then expanding. Stay safe - do your research on concrete / fire explosive failure, great skills in the video man tho.
Thats why he put in the fire brick on the interior part of the concrete
Dude... You didn't watch the video did you?
@@averystrawn9819 You've never seen concrete explode before, it Doesn't explode by direct contact from fire it explodes from water trapped inside air pockets evaporating causing pressure build up Doesn't have to be direct heat lmao.
Concrete can be safe as long as you allow allotted time for it to cure . Me personally would have lined the firebrick the proper way around the inside.
It May last 100 years it may cure and then get rained on trapping water and frag, Id rather be safe If I'm investing that much money into a fire pit.
Do your research bud concrete takes 42 days to fully cure that means all moisture is gone green concrete is the few hours before it dries to the normal white color and by vibrating your separate cream from aggregate every thing he did ensured proper safety the only thing he could’ve done better would’ve been to mix in fiber
@@jake_god_of_sleep6564 Concrete is most effective and stronger when it still got moister in it, Once it's dried out over time and age it will crack and get rained on if its an outdoor concrete.
Concrete even fully cured can soak up more water retaining it. Concrete poured directly on the ground without a barrier can still absorb moisture through the ground.
The more you know lmao
As I stated before it could last 100 years with a fire or 10 days depends on his climate humidity and so forth. as I myself don't need to do research I come from a family of brick layers and concrete drivers who own a concrete business in VA. I am well versed in the what and what nots of concrete.
I’ve done this same concept before and I can confirm it defiantly explodes
Gotta be the right mix brother
Wouldn't be an explosion of if it was meek. It has to be defiant.
I have a small charcoal fired forge. It’s a used helium tank with the top cut out, a piece of 1/2” iron pipe in the side to blow so air and sackrete I bought from Lowe’s. It did not explode and it hasn’t really even pitted with probably 100 hours of use at temps high enough not only to forge but to actually melt steel
That's really dangerous, the concrete explodes. Doing this is not safe at all.
@@marciaccalas5799 it's actually more like a vigorous cracking you might lose an eye under the exact wrong circumstances but it isn't the end of the world.
You have been given a "bloke in his shed " award. It hold's a lot of value in Britain, kudos to you and for going for it.
"I don't feel like renting a concrete mixer"
A hard lesson is gonna be learned today!
I bought a used concrete mixer so I never have to mix concrete by hand ever again.
I bought a used one to do a project with the idea I could sell it when I was done, getting back most if not all the cost.
Surprised you deconstructed the inner form instead of just lighting a fire in the pit! Turned out great!
I was thinking the same thing when I was watching it will all eventually burn away.
Great build, been working with forms 25 years, yours was excellent. For future reference there is a product, wiggle board that is made for forming curves.
He could have just used hardboard also, cheap and comes in 4 x 8' sheets.
Phew! What preparation! The effort and the energy seemed so much more than the value of the fireplace could ever be. The workshop is a marvel.
When making the inner form, use three pieces (as you did) and use wedges of at least 60 degrees in the joints. That way, when you pull out the wedges (from the inside), the three pieces will easily pull straight out from the concrete and can be lifted out. And, they will be re-usable! 🤓👍
Thought the same thing. Would have saved a lot of pain and aggravation.
Or coulda started the bon fire early
Should just burn the inner Ring
I’m a certified cement mason, and I gotta say. You did a good job. A tip to separate the wood from the cement, you can use diesel gas. Works fine.
Can confirm diesel works beautifully and would use plastic form boards for bending its way easier
I was just going to form oil or diesel
Not an expert....but, built a very hot fire in a cement box. Turns out, the cement exploded. Finished cement contains water...expands and explodes. Just sharing.
@@patandsandytrierweiler2440 I've heard that before too! Scary.
@@patandsandytrierweiler2440
Watch at 20:21
You said you did not know anything about building a Boat and you rocked that out, so I'm going to bet this will rock too. (Let's watch and find out )
Perfect timing. I literally have to build a fire pit this weekend.
Probably cheaper to get his old form mailed to ya than buying all the materials lol
Look into the type of concrete you actually want. Regular concrete cracks and breaks down in heat.
I strongly recommend oiling the formboards to make them easier to remove afterwards. Also, DO NOT use regular cement for a project like this due to trapped moisture and risk of explosion. Use only refractory cement, which is designed for high temperature use.
You can recommend it all you want, but odds are no one will do that, as refractory cement is expensive. Unless of course you have two grand to spend on twenty bags of refractory cement. He did it the most economical way, and as a concrete guy myself, using wax is perfectly fine. I personally use diesel simply because I can spray it on with a pump up sprayer. But the objective is to get a clean separation, and to protect your forms, so what ever you use is acceptable.
@@thebeardedone1225 expensive but will break if you don't use.
You should also never use diesel to spray.
Not a risk. It will happen.
@@thenarrator1984 I've used diesel on my forms for fifty years. It works just fine, and preserve my forms quite nicely. I only use refractory cement in fireplaces. For outside pits, that requires a large volume, I substitute two shovel of sand with two shovel of fire clay. I've never had one crack. And I can't count how many I've poured that way.
@@thebeardedone1225 I'm sure you've used it.
Just because you have doesbnot mean it's fine.
It's disgusting for.the environment and it makes the cement compound not harden right so the outer layer willl degrade.
Seriously. I can't stand people who say 'done it fifty years'
So you threw diesel into the gutter for fifty years and it didn't hurt anything. Right.
God damn no wonder were in the place we are today with idiots like youm
I have never built a fire pit. But I have poured some manhole collars. On the internal ring we placed wooded wedges Knock the wedges out the internal ring comes right out..
Dude, hilarious video...and masterful work. Instant subscribe. I love that you're clearly a professional in carpentry/wood-working, but you don't take yourself too seriously.
lol, thought the same
I subscribed for the skillfully executed projects. I watch for the soothing, dulcet narrations.
You forgot the epic opening scenes lol
@@lechatbotte. Well of course, he performs his own stunts.
@@bradleypayne2495 I know very impressive too!
Honestly, this was really well done. Couple things I would have done differently.
1. If you had mitered the edges of your interior forms you'd have much less pressure pushing them together, and would have been able to remove the forms intact.
2. I would have poured a pad first. The weight of that ring will likely have it settling into the dirt over time, especially after rain. The pad would also have made interior form removal easier.
Going to implement this in my yard though, great idea 👍
I worked in concrete, asphalt, sand & gravel for my career (the college engineering diploma sits in a box in the closet) and I have to say that was a very nice looking job when finished. The only thing I would have suggested was making the foreman do more work 🤣
For a guy that dont know what he's doing with concrete, you sure made it look good. Would I have done it differently? Parts of it, Yes, but it turned out really nice. Overall, I'd give it a 9.5. Well done.
Do you work with concrete regularly? If so, what would you have done differently?
would have added sand and small pebbles to the concrete mix for starters.. makes it a lot more durable and less brittle..
When doing a inside form, I cut angles 45-Degrees so the inside round form can spiral right out. But you did a good job!
I loved these forms. He did such a stellar job, especially on the first try, and you can't stop concrete from shrinking but your idea is awesome.
After it cures you can stain it a wood color to make it look like actual wood. That would trip some humans out.
"humans"
Was thinking the same thing, it'd look awesome stained.
That would trip the termites out!
So are we all just gonna ignore his supernatural ability to raise the garage door without touching it? Dude.
This is the advanced version of opening the grocery store door by waving your hand at it
I absolutely love your interactions with your foreman. He's a cute kid. And you seems like a pretty cool dad.
"Im not gong to rent a concrete mixer" Nobody has ever said twice......
All facts 👀
I'm wrecked I'll clean the concrete mixer tomorrow. Is also one.
Honestly, if you've got a steel barrel with a lid which can be attacked and detached, you can dump the concrete in, the water in, the pigments used (if you use; even dirt or ash or crayons can work) put the lid on, place the barrel on a side, and roll it for a while, and you mixed the cement without a "professional" cement mixer. It works better if you add some wood or metal things on the inside, like how a washing machine has (a cement mixer usually has curved ones), to help with the mixing (and adding a few uneven parts to each of those "ribs", to help even more with the mixing), but it works even without that, especially if you add a few rocks (to tumble about and move unevenly, to lead to a more even mixture with less moving). It might need more effort to get the barrel standing upright again, or to place it on the ground without it breaking, but it works better than mixing in a wheelbarrow/cart. By the way, did you know there are folding wheelbarrows (sometimes called portable wheelbarrows) out there? I didn't know, but it makes having spare wheelbarrows *A LOT* easier! Where would you even put the 3rd or 4th wheelbarrow, if it couldn't fold neatly out of the way?
Lol my dad had me out two days in a row mixing and pouring from a wheel barrow. Said he wasn't going to rent a mixer.
He said I was taking too long and helped on the third day. Day 4 he bought a mixer.
Bastard.
Also, he could have mixed the cement right next to his pit for a bit more efficiency
Love the pebbles you used. When you were creating a mini-gabion wall inside the concrete structure I was hoping you'd make a fire pit that was ONLY gabion wall. That would have looked really cool!
Love the way you and the shop foreman do projects.... He’s the star of the channel...
Love your humor. Also appreciate you taking your time to explain how you did things. It was easy to follow. Thank you!
That was nice. Dad always sprayed diesel fuel on wood when we made forms, the oil in the diesel prevented the concrete from sticking. There might be a better alternative but we always had diesel on the farm along with pump up sprayers.
8
😮😮😮
Still use diesel on commercial precast plants, though they are moving to water based release agents
@@alisdairherd9501 I've never given it a lot of thought but I bet Thompson's water seal would work also just not as economical.
We use diesel fuel professionally also, in a big metal sprayer
If you incorporate 1” spacers between the internal ring joints, you could remove them when its time to take the internal form out, squeeze the now gapped spaced joints together with clamps and remove the internal ring pieces without destroying them. Just an after thought. This is a great video and I will be building my fire pit in the same manner. Thanks for your work.
Wish I had read the comments before completing this project. SMH.
This looks awesome. Only recommendation I'd make is to put some bricks at the bottom with a layer of expanded metal over that to really allow the air to flow through those holes you made with PVC.
You took a lot of time and effort and money to build that and it's awesome! Congratulations on your new fire pit!
That was an amazing watch! You're so much fun and so talented.
Concrete absorbs moisture like a sponge unless its over 5000 PSI. Concrete gets saturated, fire turns water into steam, concrete explodes. Got a friend missing an eye due to this. And I've seen concrete explode due to water turning to steam and expanding. A very bad idea.
One look at this video and you can tell this guy isnt a "thinker", he may be a doer, but he def isnt a thinker.
Even stones can explode when used to line a fire pit; they may be OK for years until you get a really hot fire going and then there'a big surprise. Some stones tend to have dry interiors and some do not.
@thatguy 00 😂😂
Good comment safety first always the fire brick and steel ring should be adequate to stop the whole thing from cracking/exploding but overtime it will definitely crack.
He used fire bricks
I was really unsure about that wood texture, but seeing it now, it really looks awesome. Nice job!
I’ve never watched any of your videos before, I’m 11 seconds in and already best intro I’ve ever seen.
Use high density foam cut to size of your inner diameter, glue and stack them to height. Pour the concrete and use a multi tool to take the high density foam out after its cured. It's not reusable, but works excellent
I was thinking the same.
Or burn the foam?
@@BaDiLi2L as long as you don’t burn the pvc pipe it’ll be over quick
@@MrRockitt3 😂
All the real credit for this goes to the foreman, what a guy, kept that lazy beardy dude on track, brilliant. :]
This has to be the most complicated concreted tire fire-pit i have ever witnessed being constructed
The exact same thing I was thinking, but I watched the whole video. Lol
And maybe the most expensive lol
My first thought was, keep it simple, make it square. I placed 4x8x16 solid concrete blocks (most of which I had leftover from a previous project) on end in a square and covered with surface bond cement from Quikcrete.
@@wtfdan817 Oh, good idea with the concrete blocks. I was thinking 200 empty aluminum soda cans would eat up some volume nicely ...if ya have 'em laying around.
From someone who's done concrete for over 30 years, you did pretty well. The only thing I might've done differently would've been the inside form. I would have angled them so they slid right out.
or just light a fire and burn it for a few years!!
Nah just burn it. I agree though . :)
@@SVW1976 burn fresh concrete? It hasn't set yet. It takes at least 3 weeks but the thickness of this will take a lot longer. Burning the forms out can damage the concrete.
When you said, "I didn't know what I was doing", I thought that was pretty obvious earlier when you said, "I didn't want to rent a mixer.
In order for the interior form to be pulled out easily, you'd need to angle the seams away from each other, and also use a cross brace to bridge the gap screwed in to keep them positioned. This way, you could pull them away from one another to the inside of the radius without locking themselves into place.
what? angle the seams away from eachother what does that even mean?
In order to pull out the interior mould it should have been taperd: basically a truncated cone instead of a cylinder.
@@prevalle i guess its just hard to visualize. Can one of you guys upload an example? Or a link?
@@boppernostopper8598 Just cut a paper circle like he did, you can't pull it inwards. Only outwards. And in this case it was blocked by cement.
@@boppernostopper8598 You need hard 45's at every seam where the three sides meet- leaving no inner material to butt up on when you try to pull it inward.
Damn, that lawn looks like a tank rolled over it.
😂😂😂😂😂
20 Years I poured concrete and as Im watching his Im thinking damn this is really over engineered. Boy was I wrong. Well worth the effort. Nice Job!
the rebar you put in extended into the ground. over time moisture will climb that bar and rust it out. always make sure your rebar is completely encased in the concrete.
Very nicely done! Looks great! A little safety suggestion for you. I suggest wearing a dust mask when mixing bagged concrete. I’ve mixed a good bit of it over the years on projects, and actually got a respiratory infection once from breathing in the fine dust. You’re a lot of fun to watch and I’ve used a lot of your expertise on some of my projects. Thanks for that. Blessings!!
you breath that shit in it's never leaving your lungs.
Always come for the intro and stay for the un-ending entertainment and craftsmanship.
When I saw you make that inner form, and even cut it in three, thinking you would just split them apart like the outer form, I smiled. Gave me more reason to watch the rest of the video...
6:20 watching you cut up new 2x4s into small blocks talking about cost, wondering why the scrap barrel in the corner wasn’t raided for them…
EXACTLY what I was thinking HAHAHAH!
I'm pretty sure it was cause it needed to accommodate that ring he inserted in the end, but I like the way you think.
I'd have just used the barrel for the fire pit
Thank you “skill share”!
I would burn the internal form away :)
That’s exactly what I was thinking 👍
That's what I was thinking ... but then , concrete needs to cure for a month. Why ruin all that hard work.
@@F-J. light the fire a month later and have steaks ready.
@@F-J. Good thinking. The result was super. I like the wood pattern on the concrete. :)
Thinking the same light that inside form up
"only one things to do"
Me: Light the internal form on fire? it is wood and that is a fireplace.
I thought the same thing😂
Came into the comments to look for this.
Exactly
Biggest issue there is that the concrete hadn't finished curing yet. If he had lit a fire, the concrete would have cracked and degraded reallllly bad.
If you made the joins for the inner form at an angle of 45 degrees instead of 90 degrees they should pop out easier.
Your voice is supper soothing!
I’ve spent lots of days covered in diesel while putting together foundation forms… because that used to be a thing! you can put most anything on it that’s slippery.
Also if you ever plan to try this again you can probably tack together the inside part with just brads because all the pressure is focused inwards.
I have cheated many times using little tiny bread nails on two by fours that all get compressed by concrete. Then you just whack them out, it’s pretty awesome.
I love your video and the fire pit is amazing good job.
Imagine if masons poured foundations this way? We need basement walls, so first we will build a house out of wood, then build a smaller house inside of it. Then fill it with concrete and then throw away the house :) Instead of just hammering some pins in the ground lining it with plywood and fixing the final product with a finish coat of cement/stucco.
This was so zen to watch, and totally the way I would do it if i could afford to do it that way.
I bought some column tubes from a specialty hardware store, they laughed when I said I needed two feet of the different diameters! I was like, it's for a fire pit, and they were like, that's genius. The tubes are typically used for pouring freeway bridges or something.
How did that end up working?
They actually sold short Pieces?
This is the correct way to pour a firepit! no need to trace a circle
I tried using a concrete firepit and it ended up spliting and falling apart. Metal or fire bricks are much better for high heat. A washing machine that has a steel basket with holes works great!
Juat add three legs and the washing machine drum is ready. We have two of those. Really efective btw since it gets air fairly well from the holes.
Biggest smile on my face when “The Foreman” showed up lol 😂
Me too lol
Whose kid is that?
@@INT_MAX Jason's adopted son ...also featured in the lawnmower-tank vid, the office millwork vid, etc.
Now that was something. It may have even proven to be empowering, on a positive note.
I loved the ''once again the foreman made me do all the heavy lifting"
Love the idea of the wood grain and dont forgotten the helper always need help like that thank for the video
Watching this just confirmed that yanking that old wringer washer tub out of the metal dump and setting it up as my fire pit was the right decision! 😂
I used an old tractor rim and cut the center hub out...
Its so wide that i can throw 3 entire wood pallets in it!
😆 🤣 😂
@@garyhaber333 hell yeah!!!! I love me some good ole southern ingenuity/engineering
Thanks for the video! I followed your lead but connected to gas instead. I’m really happy how it turned out thanks for this content!
Really dude, your voice over voice! Set em on disk and start a selling point for people with sleeping problems. I mean this in the most positive way! It is soooo soothing! That timbre and that caaaaalllm pace. I like your work. Can you imagine how hard I have to concentrate to prevent dozing off? Oh boy. After a video... I'm just too mellow for the rest of the day. Go figure.
Hi was thinking the same thing we could have him break out the Bible and start reading the genealogy straight through and put that on disk because that always has put me to sleep
your dry sense of humor made this video even more so a work of art!
Spray some oil (used) on the inside of the forms that meets the concrete prior to pour.
It’ll make removing the forms a lot easier.
Doesn’t effect outcome - as oil and water does not mix 👍🏻
Love it!!! Family has wanted some sort of fire pit for some time. Yours is the first that I can get excited about. Already have the mixer for other small projects so I may add this to the list.Thanks
Shoot, if you lived in my area and needed a hand, I actually secretly love working concrete. Just not for fences. I hate setting posts and the like. Though that's mainly with a wishy-washy type contractor.
The outer mold looks like they would make great benches to go around the fire pit.
I work as a technical designer at a factory in Denmark (Ambercon, Genner) that makes precast concrete elements (columns, beams, stairs, interior walls, etc.).
When we were building a new administration building a couple of years ago, the walls for the main hall were cast with wood grain texture using real boards as a bottom in the forms. All other walls are painted white, but these walls are raw and untreated. It looks real purty. :)
I have that very same Bosch reciprocating saw myself by the way (GSA 18 V-Li)...
Turned out great. I have a solo stove and wanted to make a square table with a cement table top that the stove would fit inside and this helped me figure out a good way to approach the circle in the middle of my square form!
I'm sure you've considered it, but remembered that ample airflow is the whole point of a solo stove
Concrete can and will blow up with fire don't do it ...
What an awesome project! It turned out incredible. I need one of those in my backyard.
Very Impressed, You Kept Me Intrigued With Your Work & Your Personality Makes The Tube Worth Watching. I Absolutely Love Your Firepit. Thanx 4 Sharing.....
Me at 1:06: Who the heck is “Jason?” oh well, let’s just keep watching and see what Bourbon is doing in this video
Worked for a forming and shoring company WAY back in the day. We used a mix of Diesel Fuel and Automatic Transmission Fluid sprayed on concrete forms as a release agent.
You spent a lot of time digging that internal form out of there. I probably would have just lit a fire.
Should have sprayed old motor oil on it before pouring.
@@erlycuyler wouldn't have made a difference, with the screws being proud of the melamine the only way it could have ever even had a chance of coming apart would be to slide a piece toward the center and because of how he cut the 3 pieces that was impossible, if he cut one piece "keyed" the opposite direction it might have worked, I knew (from experience) he had no chance of getting the inner ring out due to the cut angle he chose.
@@erlycuyler tra lhy
@@DanielRichards644 You doubt the power of a properly employed mini sledge lol
@@JamesGrim08 a sledge isn't getting it out and having it reusable.
Beautiful! I was kinda hoping I was going to see something I could actually accomplish but dude that's a lot of work! However, if I did enjoy work you pretty much nailed it in terms of explaining how one might accomplish the same. Even better, I like the creative process you went through - an enjoyable 1/2 hour even for those not wanting to actually build a firepit.
He did it the “right way”. But there are other ways to do it to get the same results. Anything round with sturdy sides will work as a form. Think plastic drum you cut a 1/3 off and bottom out of with a jigsaw. Then find anything smaller in diameter to use as your center. (Example : 5 gallon bucket you also stake around the circumference/ or possibly just fill with water to make it stay in place. You can be creative with what you use for a form just lock it in place with stakes. Then you’re just left with pouring the Crete.
Before watching the video, I gotta say: Having the air intake being slightly angled would help stabilize the flame a bit more, and reduce the smoke by a fair bit more, by creating a cyclone around the fire, to ensure more of the fuel in the smoke gets burned, by mixing it with fresh air. You can google "fire vortex stove" and"fire cyclone stove", to get a better idea of what I'm talking about, and maybe to learn how it works and why it works that way. The current end product looks great. And if the defects bother you, repeat this to yourself: "Good enough for government work." Also, oil the cement, after a month or two, to make it waterproof, and to partially prevent unintended staining. If you want to, you can use a whitewash before that, to give it a nice color. Most paints would start smoking, if used for a fireplace.
Honestly, if you've got a steel barrel with a lid which can be attacked and detached, you can dump the concrete in, the water in, the pigments used (if you use; even dirt or ash or crayons can work) put the lid on, place the barrel on a side, and roll it for a while, and you mixed the cement without a "professional" cement mixer. It works better if you add some wood or metal things on the inside, like how a washing machine has (a cement mixer usually has curved ones), to help with the mixing (and adding a few uneven parts to each of those "ribs", to help even more with the mixing), but it works even without that, especially if you add a few rocks (to tumble about and move unevenly, to lead to a more even mixture with less moving). It might need more effort to get the barrel standing upright again, or to place it on the ground without it breaking, but it works better than mixing in a wheelbarrow/cart. By the way, did you know there are folding wheelbarrows (sometimes called portable wheelbarrows) out there? I didn't know, but it makes having spare wheelbarrows *A LOT* easier! Where would you even put the 3rd or 4th wheelbarrow, if it couldn't fold neatly out of the way? Would be fun seeing you try to make a homemade folding wheelbarrow.
Make your own video.
Those "Kerf" cuts were so satisfying! btw thats how the concrete guys on the job do it when they need to form curb radii or what have you....only they use Echo Cut-Off Saws
So, for your safety, I wouldn't recommend using concrete for a fire pit, there is a specific product designed for this application called "castable refractory cement" it is specially formulated to handle the heat of a fire and not cause a safety issue...
I was wondering about that. I’ve always heard if there is an air pocket in the concrete it can explode
@@thisguy59 if there is any, and I do mean any, amount of moisture in the concrete it can explode when heated to the boiling point of said moisture (typically water).
I was wondering ho was going to mention it. He Should have gotten a mason to build him one out of fire brick.
You got it, there is no right way to make a fire pit out of concrete. Concrete has air pockets that will explode when super heated. Better title: how to make a back yard bomb. Wonder when we will see the follow up video of the Emergency Room visit?
Are you guys trying to melt iron in a BBQ? I get normal concrete is unsuitable to high temp and can crack or will have very poor durability. Personally I also don't like how this looks, the basic stones from before looked better than this. But predicting it will explode, sb's going to emergency room, this being a safety hazard?
“If you like it you better put a ring on it.” - that’s funny. 😂🤣😂🤣😂
Jack be nimble, jack be quick, Jack jumped over the fire pit.
My first view of the channel and that was one of the best video intros possible. 👏