Fire Pans, NO MORE RINGS!

[cruisertoy]

Hats off to you and especially to your young scouts! What a great lesson for them! What a super teacher you are!:wings:


I look forward to seeing one of your fire rings one of these days! They sound exactly like what I’d like to make for myself. I have a plasma cutter, etc so I think I’ll blast one out!

Thanks so much for your message!
Bob

I've got one in my back yard we use for my kids to roast hotdogs and shmellows on the saturdays. I'll have to take a picture. I basically cut a drum into thirds along the ridges in the can. I'd have the kids draw pictures on them and then I would plasma the lines. None of mine had bottoms. Have fun with it.

Sorry for the bad photo.

 

[dumolebob]

There ya got it Cruisertoy! Look how that thing "glows"! Bet the kids absolutely LOVE helping with the drawings and then seeing it in action! I've go 12 grandids an I'm involving them!

Oddly enough yours looks like it was made a thousand years ago!:wings:

 

[Ford Prefect]

You can get them, as said above, at walmart for practically nothing.

I got a really nice one at Cabellas for $40.00 It was typically about 80 but I got it in the area where things are crushed or what have you, so, no box for me. Big deal, who needs the box anyhow?

What I got wand just a ring, but if you took a sheet of tin or some light weight metal you could easily weld on points where the ring can sit down in it, and even points where you could strap the thing to your roof if you wanted to.

Just look into the pre-fab versions, they are everywhere.

Heck for that matter just go to your local Smiths, King Supers, City Market etc (kroger stores) or even the Albertsons/ walgreens. They always have those fire pits you can buy for darn near nothing.

Besides this way you do not end up with the waiste of the rest of the 55G drum.

 

[762X39]

I salvaged a charcoal pan from an old rusty smoker that someone was throwing out.I love having a fire but hate it when I see 30 fire rings along a 2km section of trail that I am hunting .What's really nice is that because the charcoal pan is about 1/3 of a metre around limits how much firewood it can handle at one time.This allows me the comfort and good vibes of a campfire but reduces the amount of skids I need to cut up or carry with me.As a rule I don't gather firewood when I'm camping but carry it in.

 

[dumolebob]

Propane Tank Fire Pan

Has anyone expeirience or know what's involved in cutting the end out of an EMPTY propane tank to make a fire pan?

 

[Terawanderer]

Is anyone going to answer me??? What is so wrong with fire rings ??? Educate me please....if you can

 

[frgtwn]

Well, Tw. I read your post, and thought that after 10 question marks, (Yes, I counted.), you were expressing an opinion, not really looking for answers. Now, that you have backed off to only 3 question marks, I guess that you really want to know.

The way I understand the OP is that he was just fed up with way too many firerings, and, out of frustration of the ugliness of it all, he wanted to change things. What followed was a perhaps circuitous discussion of alternatives.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with firerings. They have their place, and used and maintained correctly, they can be wonderful. But multiples in one small area can be annoying at best, and downright ugly at worst.

Firerings are not legal, or permitted everywhere. This brings on the discussion of the many attractive and creative alternatives. This discussion leads as well to the idea, or practice of hauling out your ashes, which can be a good thing for all user areas. Not always required, but always a good thing.

Hope this helps.

Dale

 

[pygmyowl]

Nearly all of the rivers I float require fire pans and the hauling out of ashes. Geez if they didn't, there would be multiple fire rings and some get huge. On the S fork of the Nahannia in NWT where there is no requirement (at least when I floated it), you would see fire pits get as high as several feet, then the outfitters would just move over and create another one.

I made one out of a aluminum Desert Storm medical kit. I had Partner Steel weld me up some steel legs that supports some expanded mesh steel to let air in under your fuel and it works great - hardly leaves any ash. My first box lasted about 15 years until some guys at a party I had loaded her up with too much Juniper and it melted the side, but I have several of them in back up.

 

[Hafwit]

The Pit-2-Go is a great unit and I can't recommend it more. It is about the only thing I can think of that is both off the ground and compact (since it folds up). Plus it can be used both as a fire pit and barbecue.

Cheers,
Greg

 

[matt s]

Has anyone expeirience or know what's involved in cutting the end out of an EMPTY propane tank to make a fire pan?

They are never really empty. The gas permeates the steel. I nearly lost a friend (a very experienced welder, who had researched how to do it) who was trying to do this. The tank was full of water and being pumped with inert gas into and over the cutting area. It still popped. This was a very large propane tank like what you find at the gas station and it blew the half inch steel open about 5 inches and sent my friend flying. Luckily he was unharmed, but he will never cut anything like it again.

i.e. don't try this at home.

I swore I posted about this in this thread, but maybe I only thought about it. Hmmm. Getting older I guess.

 

[Terawanderer]

Thank you Dale.....I see. Most places where I camp have few if any fire rings.....I like remote areas and don't have problems the few rings I find. I agree too many fire rings are unnecessary and unsightly. Sorry if the question marks offended anyone.....but I appreciate an answer.......

 

[john101477]

Wow this thread is funny. First I do not care if someone likes fire pans or a ring if rocks. I prefer a ring but have been in areas that frown on it so I go with the flow. I have built washing machine pits for people living in south west oregon and they like them.
I disagree with destroying fire rings for the heck of it. if there are to many consolidate them to one or if it is maybe being used for a GROUP camp site maybe 2 with in 15-20 ft of each other, or build a bigger ring, which I am sure would be frowned upon.
Not so sure why people are hauling out the ashes, this is actually pretty stupid. As one poster stated ash makes great fertilizer and leaches out very quickly if spread thin. just make sure that what you take out is ash and not small chunks of un-burnt wood. also make sure that there are not copenhagen lids or glass in it as you go.

I applaud the scout leader for making the kids clean up before and after. one of my big pet peeves is finding glass bottle and aluminum cans. The only thing worse is finding un buried human waste with the tp sitting on top. bury or pack it out, does not matter to me.

 

[Lynn]

Has anyone expeirience or know what's involved in cutting the end out of an EMPTY propane tank to make a fire pan?

They are never really empty. The gas permeates the steel. I nearly lost a friend...

Just a thought, but if you are looking at doing something like this you might look for a condemned freon can. HVAC guys use some that are almost as large as propane tanks, and I'm guessing it wouldn't explode like an old propane tank. If you really want to you could probably find other tanks of this size that were used for non-explosive gasses.

I used to have a small charcoal grill that was made from a freon tank. Worked great.

 

[nwoods]

Quick question for those with traveling fire contraptions. How do you stow it? What do you do with the remains? How do you prevent soot from getting everwhere in your rig or trailer? I've looked at the Partner steel sliding firebox with interest, but haven't resolved the travel-cleanliness issue.

 

[cnynrat]

That's why I like the Pit-2-Go so much. It folds in on itself and becomes a very compact package, and comes with a heavy duty nylon cover that wraps around the whole affair and keeps it from getting everything nearby dirty.

Pit-2-Go in use:

Pit-2-Go packed for transport:

As far as packing out fire remains, where that is required I use an old metal ammo can.

Unfortunately, I think Pit-2-Go is no longer in business (possibly a victim of the implosion in the RV market, which was their primary focus), but someone earlier in this thread said they were able to find one on eBay. They are really well made, so as long as it was cared for reasonably well I would have few concerns about buying a used one.