Fire pit

My bloganonymous daughter rang to say that she was trying to make a fire pit out of an old tumble-drier drum.

No really. That's a sentence I never expected to write, and it sounds vaguely like a refugee from an English-Martian phrase book. 

She explained that these old drums sell well on e-Bay and are sought after as fire pits. It was just that she was having trouble getting the drum separated from the rest of the tumble-drier, and did I know how to do it ? 

This sounded like an urban myth to me, but I agreed to have a go.

I told her that my fire pit is a ring of stones where the bonfire goes, but no, that would not do.

So.

There must be a fire pit in here somewhere

I discovered two things. First off, tumble-driers are surprisingly well made, and second, there is a seriously good reason why you can't even bribe anybody to fit new bearings in washing machines.

Getting the thing out of its plastic surround was slightly Homeric, but eventually the drum came out, but with the bearing still attached.

Fire pit bearing

Fire pits need bearings like bikes need walruses. Obviously. Doh !

There was no way to attack this, as the shaft had been taken off with an angle grinder before I got the thing. In the end, I took off the mounting and ended up with a surprisingly clean fire pit. 

Annoying but beautifully engineered monting and bearing

Where the mounting for the drive went

Side view

Fire pit

The drum itself looks pretty good. Being stainless it will resist the weather well and should keep its shine.  Stand it on four bricks and you are good to go. Can't wait to see how it works back at BA daughter's. I can imagine sitting by a warm glow on cool summer evenings......

I will let you know.