How to Build a Wood Fireplace 2026

Building a wooden bonfire can be an interesting idea to implement in the garden and give a warm appearance to that part of the home.

The manufactured stoves all look the same. Do it yourself from hardwood, sheet metal, and commercial hardware!

Step by step to build a wooden bonfire

Step 1: Design

I loved the counterintuitive idea of making a wood stove out of wood, so I had to find a way to make that work safely. At first I played with some cast concrete ideas, but I thought it would be much easier to make a sheet metal cube with a 1″ air space from all the wood.

That led me to the idea of the "clamshell": a hatch with a screen that prevents sparks from flying. This, plus the air space, seemed like the safest way to make a fire pit out of wood.

1 1/2″ X 3″ boards make up almost all of the wood parts. Alder is apparently the best wood to use when smoking salmon, so if everything caught on fire, you could get the fish out and the project wouldn't be a total loss.

I used Fusion 360 for the design because it is a great solid modeling tool. It has mechanical assembly features that allow me to test the movement of the hatch, making the entire design process much faster.

Step 2: Tools and materials

TOOLS:

• Straight cut saw: This could be a table saw, or a circular saw.
• Saw for curved cuts: This could be a band saw or jigsaw.
• Japanese Flush Saws – This works great for woodworking.
• Drill: A drill press works best, but you can do this with a hand drill and jig.
• Drill bits: 1 1/2″ main, 1 1/4″ front and countersink
• Templates
• Chisels: for flange joints.
• Mallet (for assembly and chiseling)
• Clamps
• Metal sheet:
• Saw with metal cutting blade (fine teeth).
• Hand drill with 1/4″ metal bit.

Materials:

• 2X10 hardwood boards (about 13 linear feet). I used Alder, but harder wood will last outside if finished properly.
• 1 1/2″ dowel (about 12″ total), 1 1/4″ dowel (about 4′ total), 1/4″ joining the dowels
• Stainless steel sheet 11 g. (34″X32″). You can use mild steel for this, it's much cheaper and you can grab it off the shelf at Home Depot, but it will rust in a few years to be safe.
• Fireplace curtain screens. These make the protective screen that encloses the metal casing.
• 1″X1/2″ corner b, 1/4″ Ø 1/4″ long machine screws, and nuts.

Step 3: Cut pieces using template

The Digital Fabrication by Hand example uses plywood, but the same technique works with metal and hardwood.

Download Cut List.

Step 4: Laminate the pieces

The sides of the fire pit are laminated to make a single panel. The two longer ends with the rounded tops form the legs, and the board in the center sticks out to attach to one of the three shelves that hold the cube.

I didn't bother with cookies or tacos because the boards are 1 1/2″ thick.

Step 5: Join the arm pieces

To join the L-shaped arms, I used joining pins and a dowling jig. The dowling jig allows you to perfectly align the holes between the parts quickly and ensures that your holes are perpendicular to the surface of the wood.

The reason you need dowels or biscuits (or other fancy woodworking cuts) is that the end grain doesn't stick. I didn't want exposed fasteners in the wood, so I went with dowels for this part.

Hold the two parts together so they are aligned edge to edge. They must be "reflected".
Mark the center lines of your holes with a square on both pieces.
Align the template hole with the center lines and drill the holes. Depth is important because you want to get the most out of the pegs. Make sure each hole is a little more than half the depth of the dowel you are drilling into.
Use a little glue and hammer on the dowels, then hammer the pieces together.
Clamp the pieces together to eliminate a gap between the faces of the joining wood.

Step 6: Screw the shelves together

Since I didn't want exposed fasteners in the wood, I decided to countersink the screws and hide them with dowels. This part is pretty simple: the countersink bit drills a pilot hole for the screw plus a wide shallow hole for the screw head.

Once you have the screws in (screwing them into glued pieces), add a drop of glue and hammer into the joining pins.

A Japanese saw to cut the end of the dowel works very well; prevents you from scratching the surface of the wood when you are cutting wood.

Step 7: Attach the legs

The legs are joined with a flange joint. The geometry is presented in the templates with measurements. I used a Japanese color saw to cut the sides, then chiseled the back end of the female part of the joint.

When chiselling, it is important to hold a guide board aligned with the edge you want to chisel, this keeps the chisel flush. I used a file to clean up the edges.

The lower legs have ends. After cutting one on the band saw, I used it as a template for the other leg.

I then glued and clamped everything together, and added a countersunk screw and dowel for added stability.

Step 8: Assemble the Clam Shell

The hinge action comes from a peg glued into the larger hole in the top of the clamshell arm, and fits snugly into the hole on the side of the wooden box. The dowels we had at the store were actually 1 5/8″ Ø and 1 3/8″, so I had to sand them to fit the holes. It would have been wise to measure the pins before designing the part and drilling the holes.

The pins on the back act as a hinge, and the pins are pins that hold the clamshell in a closed position. The four prongs are 3″ long.

Step 9: Sanding and Finishing

Once the wood glue dries, it's time to sand and finish everything. I used an orbital sander to do most of the work and stopped at 100 grits. It could go finer and the piece could last longer, with fewer nooks and crannies for water to slide in.

After sanding, I used a deck finish on all the wood, which was applied twice with a 1/2 hour penetration each time.

Step 10: Assemble the fire cube

After filing the edges of the metal pieces, I started screwing the pieces together. The fire cube templates are set up for 1″X1″ corner braces, so with the screws I mentioned in the Tools and Materials step, everything fits together very quickly. The cube is open at the front and has additional holes to attach it to the wood through spacers.

Step 11: Place the Cube

If you cut all the pieces to size, you end up with a constant 1″ gap between the wood and the cube on all sides. Using some 1″ pieces of MDF, I clamped the cube to the wooden box and aligned it so it was Centered on all sides.

Using spacers I made by cutting 1/2″ steel tubing, I lined them up with the holes in the steel with pliers, and screwed the wood and steel together with stainless steel screws. I fastened it in 4 places on the top of the sides, and in 4 places on the bottom. The cube is very tight with 8 screws that hold it to the wood.

Step 12: Place the Clam Shell

After I had made sure everything fit correctly, I moved on to attach the clam shell.

The pegs that make the handles are 1 3/8″ Ø, so I had to sand the ends to fit my 1 1/4″ holes. Don't do it like me, kids, MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE.

Placing an arm with the handles tied on the side, I glued the holes, fitted the chimney and hammered everything together with a rubber mallet. I let it sit overnight with my feetnzas on the handles to go.

Step 13: Assemble the screen

The screen is very important. Without it, you could light the wooden part of the fire pit with a flying spark.

The screen I found is a curtain for a brick fireplace; It comes in two sections that are 18″ X 24″. I designed the moat so that the screen covered the open side of the cube, wrapped over the top, and also covered the back of the cube. This way you get full protection over the open side plus an extra barrier on the back of the box, which will no doubt get super hot.

To connect the two curtains, I simply ran some wire through the open end of each side. I started with a safety wire, but ended up using welding rods; They are rigid enough to prevent the screen from falling in the middle.

With the two screens connected, I added a rod to the front. To keep it in place, I connected it to make a hook. Once the first rod was in, I screwed it into the bottom of the wooden flanges on the clam shell using washers and wood screws.

Then I wrapped the screen over the top of the hole. At this point, I realized that I could only use the existing bolts on the fire bucket to attach the screen to the back, so I broke off some 1/2" long bolts and added a washer. It's important to use two nuts for this: the first nut holds the box securely, the second nut with the washer just holds the screen. You have to make sure the bucket is secure, because the heat will definitely warp it.

With both ends secured, I then added more bars along the top of the screen to prevent it from falling over. Placing the bottom rod at the front causes the screen to fold under the front of the cube, preventing anything from spilling.

Step 14: Light the fire

Relax and enjoy it! Don't worry about the wooden handle on top that is precariously close to the fire, I'm sure it will be fine.

Step 15: Rethinking the design

After about 10 minutes of watching the fire and touching the wood to see how hot it was getting, my wife (the ever-present voice of caution) convinced me that this is a stupid feature that serves no purpose after you're done loading the thing, so I cut it off. More fuel for the fire!

Step 16: Done!

We watched it carefully all night, checking to see if the separators were conducting enough heat to cause a problem, making sure the screen stayed in place, making sure no stray sparks were flying, and at the same time we had a fire extinguisher ready. Building your own wooden bonfire is undoubtedly something incredible that you can do.

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