I realized this morning that I never summarized the outdoor fire table final costs for everyone. I think it’s a good exercise to show what things like this cost if you’re looking to do something similar. It also shows why I like to do things myself, because I’ll try to give a comparable example of what it would have cost to buy instead of make. Let’s jump right into it in the order of the build posts that I made. I am very bad at tracking my hours working on a project, which makes detailing how long I worked on this very difficult. I’ll do my best, but understand the hours are very rough estimates. Moving forward I’d like to do a better job of tracking my hours, just in case I want to sell some of my creations and figure out a decent rate for my time worked. Design…

It’s the final wrap-up, duh duh do do... Seriously though, the outdoor fire table is just about complete. My last post captured the build of the wood table top. So all that remains is to put support in place for the concrete insert, add the metal table legs, put it all together and light it up. Once that is all complete there will be nothing preventing me from eating s’mores at my new outdoor fire table. First up, concrete insert supports. As you’ll see later in the post, the concrete insert actually spans from table leg to table leg. But I wanted to give it a little bit of extra support, so I added wood supports to the table top.  The supports leave room at each end for the table legs to overhang the insert gap. I used scrap 2x6” cedar to span the length of the insert and provide…

This week’s post really puts it all together. That’s right, it’s all about putting together the table top for my fire table. After completing the tenons previously, there really wasn’t too much left to do for final assembly. However, one of the items left to do did require quite a bit of routing. I had to make the mortises for the table top board tenons to slot into. I’ve done this setup previously, so I have a decent process at this point. I clamp the breadboard to the edge of my workbench, level with the workbench top. I use a straightedge on the workbench that is offset to keep the router bit centered on the breadboard edge. Lastly, I measure and clamp in place end stops that get the mortise as wide as necessary without going too wide.  Routing jig, complete with cement block to hold things in place. Before…

So far on the fire table, I have made a concrete insert, sealed it, and got the fire pit insert up and running. Next on the list is back to my comfort zone, the wood table top. For this table top, like the one I did for the dining table and the outdoor coffee table, I’ll be using mortise and tenon joints. I’ll have a breadboard to hold the table top boards in place and it will be connected to each board with a mortise and tenon. As I’ve done this multiple times now, making tenons is becoming quite straightforward for me. To begin, I had to rip my 2”x6” cedar boards down to 5”. This makes everything uniform, while also removing the rounded edges of the lumber. The straight edges left behind tend to give the furniture a much more finished look. I ripped each board on the table saw,…

No mistakes to report today! Today is a post about our fire pit insert and burner setup. When I first started tackling this project, I knew there was at least one part that I couldn’t manufacture myself (yet). That part is the fire pit insert and the burner. In addition, I knew I would need to figure out the proper gas lines and fittings to run the burner from a propane tank. I am going to give you a recap of what I did. While I hope this is informative, it is not advice on how to set up your own fire pit. Gas can be dangerous and you should be cautious when working with it. There are a ton of options on the old internet for fire pit inserts. Amazon, in particular, has a crap ton of options in various sizes. However, I’m generally concerned with Amazon product quality.…

As I said in my last post, today's post is about sealing the concrete insert of our new fire table. And as I also mentioned last week, I made a mistake while sealing the concrete. But we’ll get to that. First, let’s talk about different concrete stains. There are basically four types of concrete sealers, as I found out while researching the best one for my project. The four types are penetrating, acrylic, polyurethane and epoxy. Each one of these performs the sealing in a different way. Acrylic, polyurethane and epoxy stains all build a protective film on the top of the concrete to provide protection, albeit using different chemical compounds. Penetrating sealers, typically some sort of silicon compound, provide protection by reacting chemically within the concrete. These don’t leave behind a protective film like the other stains. A key benefit of the penetrating sealers is their ability to let…