For my first post here on this platform, I decided to show my wheel rim fire pit that I made earlier this year. I made this from a couple of 15 inch rims that I had scrounged up for the tires a few years ago. The bottom rim was going to be the start of a small forge, but I didn't get very far with that before I decided to use something else to build the forge. I took a few pictures of the fire ring for this post.
This is what the fire ring looks like when it's assembled and the cover is on it. I scrounged the cover from the recycling bin that our town has for people to dump their scrap metals into. I think it's the cover from one of those smoker/ grill units. It fits on the rim well enough to use it. The hole you see in the lower rim is where I was going to put the air pipe for the forge. It makes a decent air vent for the fire ring.
You can also use this as a BBQ grill with wood or charcoal. The grill top is a replacement top for the smaller charcoal grills, I got it at the local hardware store. It fits in the upper rim well enough that it won't fall in.
The 2 rims come apart so that it's easier to move. You could take it with you for camping or take it to your bug out place. As you can see, I cut the center out of the the upper rim to have a hollow ring.
When I was going to use it to build the forge, I took the rim to the local welding shop and had them weld in a plate to cover the center hole of the rim so that I could mortar in the firebricks without the mortar falling through the hole. That turned out to be convenient for keeping the coals in the fire ring, for the most part.
I cut the flange where the tire bead would sit off the lower rim so that the upper rim would fit over the lower rim. That helps the 2 rims stay together when you're using the fire pit. I used a cutting torch to cut the flange off the rim, and then I ground the edges off with the angle grinder. It's not perfect, but it works well enough for the purpose.
I hope my pictures are enough to show you how I made this fire ring, and perhaps it will help if you decide to make one yourself. 16 inch steel rims would be even better for making one of these, if you can get them cheap, or free.
I might add another rim to this pile, I have 1 more that I can use. I've seen videos of these things where they weld the rims together and then cut a big hole in the side to feed the wood through, but that would be less portable, and portability was part of the plan when I made this.
Let me know what you think of this, and if you have any ideas on improvements or variations. Also, I'd appreciate it if you gave this new person's post an upvote if you would.
Thank you for taking the time to look at my post!