Tending the Fire

We love having a fire in a chiminea on the porch, but so far, we'd had very bad luck with them here. We were on our third. The wind had blown off the first two and smashed them on the ground. So Gerald commissioned J.C. to weld one out of metal, and he brought it up on this trip.

It was just in the nick of time, as it turned out. When J.C. went to move the old chiminea out of the way, it fell to pieces.

J.C. started by tiling a piece of plywood for a base.

He constructed the main body of the chiminea out of a compressor tank mounted on a rusted wheel.

Gerald had said he wanted something more substantial than sheet metal for the flue, so J.C. used a section of light pole.

It weighed about 200 pounds, and had to be winched up. When he got it raised, it was too long, so he had to cut off a section before he could attach it.

Then he welded it in place. The sun was setting by the time he got it all together, which made a nice atmosphere for our first fire.