My youngest son is going to turn 12 this Saturday. Holy crap, time flies fast. Anyway, his mother and I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday and what he wanted for dinner. Of all things, he said that he wanted us to help him build a fire pit in the yard (we just have a small bonfire area, not an actual fire pit) and cook campfire meals on the pit on Saturday night. He's also going to use the pit and the cooking as part of a merit badge requirement for the Boy Scouts. Luckily our property has literally tons of rocks and stones available, so the materials are not an issue. I've convinced him he wants to do a keystone pit so he can have that area to cook on. Are there any special tips and tricks for building one? Anybody have one that they wish they had done something different? I know it's just a small stone wall in its' basic form but everybody has ideas for improvement.
Happy early birthday to your excellent young man of a son Jon_E Gooder on him for his birthday wish Wake up Scotty Overkill.....
Jon_E , sounds like you have a fine young man in the makings there! My son is actually in the pre-planning stages of his Eagle Scout project. Ad for the keyhole pit, we have one for many years and cook on it several times a week, the food cannot be beat! Let me dig up some pics, I'll do that an dost a little later on. I recommend digging the pit into the ground, it makes for an overall cleaner and more efficient install IMO. Thanks for the wake up call, Eric VW!
I would suggest some sort of air holes underneath to feed the fire. Don't know if it's really needed or not.
Well, we built it. Took about six hours, including collecting rocks from all over the property. I told him it was like putting together a puzzle that didn't have a solution. Turned out pretty well, we cooked 'hobo meals' and also did an apple crisp (more like a dump cake) in a dutch oven, for dessert. Pit is bigger than it looks, it's almost 48" across on the inside and the square end of the keyhole is 24 x 24.
