Mini Fire Pit from an old frying pan

Recently, I decided to purchase new pots and pans.  Something that most homeowners find that they must do every so often.  Most of them I boxed up for donations but a few were in bad shape and I just couldn’t see anyone purchasing them.  Instead, I decided to make a great upcycle project with one of the frying pans and turn it in to a mini fire pit.

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I have had several old frying pans in the back of my pantry.  You know the ones I’m talking about – the Teflon coated ones that eventually wear off and you are afraid to cook with them anymore. The ones you used a metal fork to cook with even though you know you are not supposed to do that.  Yes, that is the one.

I actually had four in the back of my pantry that I didn’t even want to donate to Goodwill because they were so worn out.

Instead I decided to try a new project with one of them that would allow me to use one of my favorite spots in our house, the screened porch room, longer than just the summer season.  I decided to turn one of these old frying pans into a mini fire pit.

Old Frying Pan  = Mini Fire Pit

For this project you will need:

• Frying pan
• Spray Paint in your choice of color
• Sterno Can Heat
• Pea Gravel
• Large empty cans to hold the Can Heat
• Garden Stand or Trivet
• Dremel Tool
• Cleaning supplies

The first thing that needed to be done was to remove the handle from the frying pan.  My husband was able to easily remove the handle with a dremel tool.

During a recent closet cleanout, I also found an old garden stand that would be perfect for the base of the fire pit.  You can find a similar stand at most garden supply stores.

First I cleaned the frying pan to remove any old grease that may still be on the outside of the pan.  I found that I really should have also considered cleaning the outside with either vinegar or rubbing alcohol just to help remove the residue even more.  I had a little trouble with the spray paint because I just wasn’t through enough with the cleaning.

After cleaning the frying pan, I set up outside to spray paint the outside of the pan in a more decorative color.  As I mentioned that I could have cleaned it even more than I did, I found that the paint separated on the first coat of spray paint.  So mine actually took three layers of paint to fully cover the outside of the pan.  Next time I might try a different method of painting, but for this project I was able to complete the painting in a nice shade of light blue.

To hold the heat cans securely in the frying pan, I was able to find two larger cans from canned chicken in my recycling bin that were just slightly larger than the two Sterno Cans of Heat.  These fit easily inside of the frying pan to create the permanent locations for the heat cans without the pebbles filling up the space each time I need to replace the canned heat cans.

I then used pea gravel to fill in the gaps around the two cans and to fill the entire frying pan.

A frying pan, pebbles, and canned heat make a great portable fire pit.

Amazingly, these two small cans put out a nice amount of heat.  Now I can enjoy my screen porch room even on chilly nights.  Another good thing is this little mini fire pit is portable to any space we want to use it.

“Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Proverbs 10:4