Hi, and welcome to fire pit season. Crackling weather with cool nights perfect for snugging up to the fire.
For the fire, you need firewood. And firewood needs a home, right?
I think so. So I made this firewood organizer with off-the-shelf lumber. Here’s how:
I used Real Cedar 2x6x12. I wanted everything in this to be off the shelf and totally make-able at home. All the angles are 22 1/2-degrees. The octagon is made of eight pieces (duh): The shorts are 12-inches, the longs are 20-inches.
On as flat a surface as possible, arrange the pieces and assemble. To hold everything in place, I use a smaller, 2-inch Spax Multi-Material Screw to snug the pieces up, before bombing in a #10, 3-inch Spax HCR-X. Great trick. I wish I thought of this years ago!
Next, I make what I call the ‘mending plates’. On the table saw, I raise the blade to the top height. I set the fence 3/8-inch away from the blade then send a 2×6 block at least 8-inches long through.
It looks like a little roof. Check out this video: how to make a post cap.
Oh-my-Molly how I love sweet miter joints. The 2×6 cedar mending plates we made above are perfect for connecting both layers of this fire pit fantastic-OH!
For the cross-pieces, I ran full-length pieces in a cross-hairs, then filled in with shorts.
Fastening shelves from the outside face.
The feet are 2-ply. The gap on the bottom (these are upside down) enables you to get a blower in there or otherwise clean as needed.
Because the carpenter in me is part woodworker, I like things to be primo, so I square the feet up and make sure they’re even with each other before I fasten them.
Screws driven in on an angle are called toe-nails. No joke. It’s a good trick to know how to drive screws at an angle for the best bite!
Totally staged beauty shot. No one keeps firewood in the driveway.
