Solo Stove Hates Me For Showing You This!

Recently, I found the absolute coolest smokeless outdoor fire pit, and it was made of nothing but styrofoam and concrete. Well, today we're going to attempt to build it. Let's get into it. Recently, I built this giant paper pad in my backyard that's perfect for the fire pit. Now, Smokeless Fire Pit have some science to them, making sure that they work properly, and we'll make sure we cross that bridge when we get there. But first, let's start building our concrete forms. So, I found a video that Haxman did about a year ago of the smokeless fire pit making it out of concrete, and I fell in love with it because it was something different than everybody else has done. Everybody's using these cobblestones with the insert kit that you could find at your local hardware store, but this thing was a be. and I have some great ideas to make it somewhat a little bit better or different for my build here. One of the first things we're going to need to do is basically create a circle within a circle so we can pour concrete inside of it. Let's hit up our friends at Chad GBT. Hey Chad GBT, I'm building a fire pit. The inside diameter ring is going to be 36 in wide. The wall is going to be 5 in thick. What is the circumference for both the inner and outer circle? >> All right, I was afraid of this. It includes things like pi and all the other math stuff. But uh smaller circle is 113 in and the larger circle is 144 in. We got a styrofoam. Now we got to bend into circles. So because this foam insulation only runs to obviously 8 ft. We need to add another 17 in. So we're going to do that. We're going to add some more length when not enough length is there. little backing piece to make sure it holds strength there. Now, to hold it together, I'm going to use 3M number 77. Uh the reason this one is important as opposed to the number 90 or I think there's a number 60 is the application. Uh this is meant for paper, cardboard, plastic, fabric insulation. That's what we're using with the other stuff. It'll it it runs hot, so it'll actually melt your plastic from what I hear. [Music] Do you have to wait till it gets tacky? It's already getting tacky. Let's throw it on. Oh, you know what I should have done? I should have also added some on the butt joint itself. [Applause] So, we're gonna have a hell of a time trying to bend this without cracking. So, what we're gonna use is a heat gun. This is styrofoam. Styrofoam doesn't like heat. But the trick here is not to do too much of it where it takes away from the structural integrity. But this is just a mold, so it's not like the world's going to end. I mean, it's working. Not as fast as I was hoping, but it was working for sure. It doesn't help doing this in 95° weather that's outside while running a heat gun. Not ideal. [Music] Well, that was a weird snap. Had to let go of that a little too fast. My seam broke off. That's cool. If this doesn't work, I already know what it is. I'm wondering if I'm using too thick of a material as opposed to like/ in. But if it snaps, we'll know for sure. And then we'll know how to correct it by going and buying half inch insulation, not one inch. I think this is working for now. [Music] Okay, I have an idea. We're close enough. I got a great idea. Look, I wish I knew this sooner when building my website, Mr. Build It, years ago. You see, back then, you had to go and secure a domain. Then find somebody that will host your website. Then try to design your website where it doesn't look cheap. And then pay somebody to optimize it for SEO so people could actually find you. Well, I got news for you. You don't have to do that anymore. And that is why I'm so excited to talk to you about the sponsors of today's video, Durable. Durable is the leading AI powered website builder designed for anybody who needs a website fast. 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What else should we add next? That doesn't look like a circle, does it? It looks like when Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall. Nothing to see. Just a guy laying on a styrofoam. [Music] Hey, we got a much better hole. Not perfect circle, but a much better circle. Fortunately, this is going to be the inside. By the looks of it, it looks a little too big. I don't know what Chad GPT told me. Okay. No, we're solid. Oh. Oh, Chad GBT is a gangster. Okay, I see you, Chad GPT. It did all right. It did all right. [Music] All right. So, that just that's an insurance policy right there. I don't want to have this thing in the middle of the night spring on me. Um, I'm going to build a second one. I'm going to build it out of/2 in uh insulation. If I could find some locally and I'll report back for the outside ring. Surprise, surprise. They didn't have this pink stuff in uh 1/2 in. So, I got this other stuff and I'm not too thrilled about it cuz this stuff's more bubbly inside versus this stuff is incredibly dense. Um, anything to be concerned about? Yeah, this thing is going to be flimsy as hell. So, well, we have it. I spent 11 bucks on this. Might as well try it. We live and we learn. That's This is all for science in my backyard. [Music] It's breaking. I I hated this stuff in the beginning. I was like, "This this stuff sucks." And it broke. Well, damn. We got a nice solid crack right in the middle of our insulation. I knew this stuff was flimsy. I knew it was garbage. I was optimistic that I could make it work. I was hopeful I could see the stuff in a half inch, but here we are. So, what does this mean? Means I'm have to go back to the 1 in and just spend all of eternity trying to bend it. It is a bigger circle, so maybe it won't be as as bad as I think. But at least we tried it. All in the name of science. Now we got to figure out when how to throw this away. We got our first inner circle and now we have our outer circle with a 5- in width around it. I did learn a quick uh hack, I guess, if you will, to bend this a lot easier without burning the absolute living snot out of it is if you start heating up the exterior of your bend first all the way through, then flipping it over, you can start heating up the inside. And I think it bends a lot smoother at that point at 1 in thickness. But the adhesive that's supposed to keep these joints together, it sucks. It's absolute trash. In fact, I let it even sit overnight and still, that's too much pressure to bend. It just all snaps. But duct tape to the rescue, the old redneck ingenuity. Let's go throw this in the area that we're going to be working with and see what we need to excavate. This seems like a good spot. I think it fits naturally in this little radius. Uh I did my measurements. I have about 60 in all the way around. So that's perfect. And plus extra whatever we want to do over there. Now, one dilemma I've been sitting on is if I want to start pouring the concrete while it's sitting on the pavers or if I want to remove the pavers and then later on make the custom cuts. And to be honest with you, kept me up at night because with this method, it's easier because you now are having a perfect pad and don't have to do any meticulous cuts. However, the concrete is going to start oozing out of this thing. Not to mention, what if it starts tilting and bending? We need reinforcements. So, unfortunately, I'm going to have to remove some pavers and then spend some time trimming all these pavers to make them fit snug as a bug in a rug. Such as life. Moral of the story here, polymeric sand does an incredible job holding all the papers together. I thought it was just more of like filling the holes, but no, it keeps everything snug side to side, top to bottom. Man, that's cool. Now, we know that these circles are not perfectly circular uh just because we had didn't use a jig or anything. We bent them by hand. Uh I want to give it the best opportunity to uh be even. So, uh I got all these stakes. The stakes are going to work in two fashions. One is to keep this thing from bending out when we pour concrete. Second thing it'll do is it'll keep it more aligned. So, and then I'm just going to basically squeeze it into place. All right, folks. Check this out. I'm pretty happy how this looks. Uh, it's like the old saying goes, if it looks straight, then it is straight. Or in our situation, if it looks circular, then it is circular. But we're moving on. We're getting momentum. Uh there's a we're going to cover exactly how smokeless fire pits work. There's two chambers. There's two basically ignitions or combustions that process that happen. But the first one is the main airflow that's going to come down below. So what we're going to do is we're going to take this 2-in PVC. We're going to put five or six of them. I'm probably going to do six all the way around. We're going to drill with a hole saw through here and through there. Shove this pipe through. That way when the concrete cures, we can bang that PVC out of there and get our air flow in there. Sounds like a plan. Onward. [Music] doing my best to be responsible and protecting this beautiful pavers that we put in by surrounding this thing with plastic before we pour concrete cuz that's going to stain and uh all the beautiful work that we've got done. This is going to go straight to the trash. All right, we have our mold. Before we start slinging concrete like we're losing our mind, we need to have a release agent from this mold. A release agent is basically something that allows for the wood or foam insulation our situation to separate from that concrete. Uh if you don't put any kind of releasing agent, all the stuff will be stuck to it like glue and you'll have to like pressure wash it off. It's it's annoying. You can use a bunch of different things. I've always used like a car wax. I've seen hacksman use like a vegetable oil, like a cooking oil. That works as well. Uh, I kind of met it down the middle. Instead of rubbing on the wax on, wax off. Mr. Miyagi, I'm going to try this Maguire's quick wax. It's an automotive quick wax. I've never used it. I've never tried using it as a releasing agent, but we're going to give the old college try and see how it turns out. It smells really nice. And finally, last part of prep. Let's reinforce the sucker with some rebar. I got How many did I get? I got 12 of them. 12 should be good, I think. And the reason you want to use rebar, if you're brand new to building anything, uh rebar kind of reinforces everything as concrete wants to stretch out, uh you know, moisture evaporates, micro fractures, it keeps everything nice and tight. They do the same approach when building a house. You have your footings, the foundation of the house, they put the stuff horizontally. That's side to side pressure. But then the stem wall, that's the part that comes out from the side before you know the rest of the house is built. It just has vertical rebar in it. So, same idea, different project. Guess who got a new toy. I've been eyeballing this at Home Depot for quite some time on display, and I finally got one. Always been renting one, and it's been awesome renting one, but it's so cool having one on hand for anytime you have these concrete projects. But the almighty Chad GBT gave me the amount of concrete I need. I typed in for that same equation, how many concrete bags I need, 80 lbs. It said between 13 and 14. Your boy sitting on 14. Fingers crossed I don't end up being like a bag or two short and having to run and pick up more. But we're optimistic. Turn some water on. Mix it up. Pour it in. Let's rock it. [Music] I don't have a big enough of an opening to safely pour it in, but at lee Hope I didn't waste a whole ton. I mean, there's a little bit on this side. Oh, there's a crap ton there. But we'll shovel it up. It's all right. This is one of those times where the shovel actually works a lot better than trying to pour it in. [Music] If you've never mixed concrete, it could be a little bit intimidating, but it shouldn't be cuz a lot of people will tell you, and it's true, if you put too much water in there, uh, it takes the tensil strength, the structural integrity of the concrete away. Uh, if it's too dry, it kind of does the same thing. Plus, it looks horrific. There's all these like dead patches that are dry. So, you have to meet someone in the middle. The way I look at it, and there's formulas you can read, but I'm not going to have a measuring cup with me. The way I kind of think about it is when they pump with a cement truck, concrete, right, footings, whatever. If it's viscous enough to suck in through this pipe for them to come up over the roofs and then pour your foundation, that's what you're looking for. So, ideally, ketchup, maybe. Anything more runny than that, you don't want to play with. And the great thing about it is if you find that sweet spot, which this might be a little bit too much on the wet side. Let's add a little bit more. If you find that sweet spot, you're going to have a better chance or better opportunity to have a a cleaner finish, meaning less imperfections. [Music] We got just the right amount of concrete. In fact, three bags over, which is awesome. Um, got to have more than less. We're just going to scrape this with a triel. It's up to you how finished you wanted to get it. I just got to make sure it's between these two borders so it's on the same plane. [Music] So, I'm just leveling it. And then after that, we're going to get our reciprocating style with no blade and start shaking the sides. When you do that, all the imperfections, all the bubbles start rising to the top and all those imperfections of concrete, maybe rock was missing, starts filling in. So, if you really want a better finish, you definitely don't want to skip out on that step. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm taking precautionary measures and adding some ratchet straps just cuz I mean we're dealing with 1 in foam. That's it. And some stakes that you know, you know, you can see that I'm bending anyways. So, didn't want any surprises here in the next, I don't know, 30 minutes before I start setting. Didn't want this things just to crap on me and everything pouring out. Keeps the tears away. [Music] All right. This came out better than I expected. Nothing broke yet. Uh the finish came great. The circle is circular enough uh to the naked eye. And on top of it, the pouring of the concrete went smooth. 10 out of 10. I This is a great day. Got a good finish. Going to let it sit for about 2 to 3 days before taking the molds off. Hopefully they don't disappoint. But in the meantime, let's go talk about the whole science behind smokeless technology. We have the first set of air intake pipes at the bottom. That's our 2-in PVC pipe. The air comes in and has the first stage of combustion. Now, where we get the smoke from is there where we have too much fuel, that is the firewood, and not enough oxygen flow. So, then there is the secondary cavity that along the side of that fire pit. In our situation, we're going to have a ring inside of it. So we'll have about an inch and a half gap distance. That air will come on the side. That air now is hot and exit through the ports on top. At that point, that secondary air creates a secondary stage of combustion, combusting anything that is not allowing for the fire to fuel itself properly. Now, here's one caveat with smokeless fire pits. Everybody always says that it really takes quite a bit of heat to get this puppy roaring. And once it's roaring, there's no smoke. But in the initial stages, there is. That's why most of your solo stoves are kind of small. They're nothing too big. So, in our situation, the bigger it is, the more air ports we're going to need. This is our fire pit ring that will go on the inside. The outside part of this ring is going to have that cavity where the secondary chamber of air flow will come in. So, what we'll need to have is create ports all along the inner circle of this. The ports will be an inch and an eighth wide, and they will be spaced 3 in apart from each other. Now, to make our life easier, there's a trick to do this on a circular part, cuz tape measures, you know, they don't bend that way. Oh, and by the way, I paid for this ring about 78 bucks. It's 13 in deep and 34 in uh wide. So, what we're going to do is going to we're going to run our tape just to see how much tape we need. And if you have one of those seamstress tapes, you know, the super flimsy ones that they use to get your suit tailored, this would work perfectly for that. Now that we have enough tape, we're going to undo it, lay it down here, and make our mark every 3 in. Then put our tape back on here and start drilling away. [Music] Full disclosure, these are stepping bits. Uh they are not cheap at all. I just bought one today at this size, inch and an eigh for $77. That's crazy. but they are gangsters. They work incredibly well. If you want to save a few bucks and not go this route, you can buy a hole saw. Just make sure the hole saw is a carbide tip. It won't be as smooth sailing, but you'll get the job done. [Music] And just like that, all the holes are drilled. It's been 2 and 1/2 days since we poured our concrete. Let's go check on it. I made sure to keep it covered in plastic as it was curing just because how hot it is, and I didn't want the moisture to evaporate way too quickly. Uh it tends to make your concrete a lot more brittle. So, this is looking pretty dang ugly, actually. All right. Well, let's take our part. Fingers crossed the release agent worked. Um or else it's going to be a very annoying day. [Music] Not bad. I mean, not the best cuz it's still sticking to it. You can see some of the purple stuff, but not too bad. Uh first impressions, not bad. Uh, not terribly disappointed. Came off. The molds came off just fine. You know, it could be worse. I'm still going to pressure wash it just to get some of that stuff off. In terms of all these imperfections, these little air bubbles. Um, I got a solution for that. But we got to clean that up with some pressure washer. Definitely do that. But in the meantime,…