What is, and how do we use our hammered copper fire pit?
We use our copper fire pit to start fires on the patio behind our house. It is a bowl shaped object specifically designed for starting and containing fires. We place wood into the pit and light it up the same way that we would have started an in ground bonfire in the past. There are legs on the unit so we have it set-up on top of our patio; this is an improvement over having to dig a hole in the ground to build a traditional bonfire.
Courtesy of joebeone
What made us interested in a copper fire pit?
Every year my brother’s yuppie friend and his wife hold a huge party at their cottage where they indulge in all sorts of yuppie-ish; this mostly includes indulging in overly priced micro brewed ales and bragging about everywhere they have travelled. On the patio behind their cottage they had a giant copper fire pit bowl shooting flames 5 feet into the air all night… we thought it was really cool so the next day we talked about getting one.
The problems we ran into before we got up a copper fire pit
I have been making bonfires in my backyard since I was a small child and never had any problems. It’s one of those activities where you don’t realize the problems you have until you have gotten used to something better.
The bonfire pit in my parent’s home had always been no closer than half a kilometre from the backdoor of our house (we had a large back yard). It was not very convenient to travel this distance whenever I wanted to get hot dogs or marshmallows (or beer when I got a bit older).
I never paid much attention to blowing sparks as a kid but they can be a serious issue in the summer when grass can become dry.
Ways our lives have improved since getting a copper fire pit
Our copper fire pit is located on our patio and is very close to our back door
We placed our outdoor copper fire pit about 15 feet from the back door of our house. We placed it right on top of our patio. This means that any time I want to get something from the fridge inside the house I don’t have to go very far (we will save discussion of the outdoor bar for another article). I can keep food that I want to cook just inside of the back door so that it is readily available as soon as the fire in the pit is hot enough for cooking.
Our current home has a very small backyard. Most of this area is taken up by our brick patio. This does not give us much room to dig a hole in the ground for a traditional bonfire pit; so in our case hammered copper fire pits were the best option because we could place one directly on our patio’s surface.
Courtesy of Rajiv Patel (Rajiv's View)
We don’t have to worry about sparks
We do not worry about sparks lighting anything on fire because there is a metal mesh covering that we place over the unit after lighting it. This prevents sparks from blowing into the air.
It makes us feel more sophisticated
Our copper fire pit is nice to look at and we feel like more sophisticated for having one. It is the same feeling I got when I sold my 1998 Honda Civic and purchased a 2011 Chevy Cruz; it reminds me how cool I am when I see someone else with something not as nice 
I still love the taste of food cooked over an open flame
I like to cook on our copper fire pit just as much as I did when I had a traditional bonfire pit; the food tastes just as good. But it was easier to build a rack for the current unit than when I use an in ground pit.
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