After moving to our little piece of heaven, I really wanted a firepit that I could use for family time that would be fun to use, too. Our first choice was a traditional pit that frankly only got used a few times because it was too hard to get a fire going.
Before you scoff – please remember – I’m still a newbie. And I am not interested in building fires with lighter fluid. I wanna build them like a prepper (eventually). So I’ve tried to use as few “store-bought” fire start items as possible.
While I loved sitting by the fire I didn’t have enough success early on to keep trying.
Then during the holidays – I saw an ad for the Solo Stove – and I recalled following this company about the time I bought my first portable camp stove. After that, they released fire pits – but I lived in a condo – so a fire pit wasn’t a choice for an upper balcony deck.
FINALLY, though the two roads have met – and my Santa Claus gifted me with a SoloStove Ranger Fire Pit. It was great – but it burns wood chunks and full-size logs wouldn’t fit. We decided pretty quickly – and for as often as I wanted to have fires, having to re-cut firewood to fit wasn’t appealing. The company offered Free Returns – so we sent it back and ordered the next size up the Solo Bonfire.
“I had a crush on a Ranger and fell in love with the SoloStove Bonfire Fire Pit.”
So what is so freaking special? Everything 🙂
First – it’s deep so I have had a small little morning fire OR fill it up and have a roaring fire that gives off heat like you wouldn’t believe.
It has a feature they call “double wall” but really what that means is that those holes you see allow air to flow in through the bottom as well through the walls of the fire pit. More airflow means a better fire. And honestly, except when I’ve tried to start a fire with wet wood – it has been awesome.
My neighbor taught me the log cabin method for stacking the kindling – and now I am starting fires a little easier each time. Because that is the real key – lighting tinder with my fire starter* is easy – a little cotton ball, some Vaseline or kitchen grease – poof I have a start. BUT getting that START to transfer to the kindling and from kindling to firewood. That’s what having a fire really is. I have been doing lots of learning and it’s better and better 🙂
I’ll start adding some photos to the gallery as I have more fires. Meantime enjoy this little video from our NEW YouTube Channel.
Updated 3/17/2020 – Firestarting has gotten easier. Turns out I just wasn’t using enough tinder to get things going. Last week I even used the SoloStove Roasting Sticks I received as a gift for completing an interview with their focus group company.
*I have the black version of this one – I wish now I bought the orange one so it’s easier to see in my kit.
More pictures coming soon.