DIY Project! Make a wicked awesome cedar fire pit & firewood organizer

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Hi, and welcome to fire pit season. Crackling weather with cool nights perfect for snugging up to the fire.

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Octagons of awesome for the fire pit organizer!

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.

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Each board is cut with a 22 1/2 – degree angle on each end.

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!

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Trick: I used a 2-inch Spax to snug the pieces.

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.

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Make the connectors—aka mending plates. Bevel the table saw blade 22 1/2-degrees.

It looks like a little roof. Check out this video: how to make a post cap.

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Cutting cool stuff is cool. Always work safely.

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.

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Measuring for the shelves.

Fastening shelves from the outside face.

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Installing the filler shelves against the full-length shelves.

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.

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Feet are 20-inches long. An opening in the middle enables cleaning underneath and an air gap.

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.

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I make sure to square the feet before blowing in some screws.

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!

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Angled screws secure the fire pit organizer to the feet.

Totally staged beauty shot. No one keeps firewood in the driveway.

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EX-ellent!

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