CBD's Lesko Vented Fire Pit Cover Page

Getting it All Worked Out

This is a custom 54" wide solid 32oz copper fire-pit cover / pizza oven for our client Greg Lesko in Darien, Connecticut. As you can see this is a cone shaped profile to this cover and has 1" type L copper pipe added to the outer rim. There's a 3/4" pipe along the bottom edge of the mouth. They are riveted and soldered in place, since the heat may possibly compromise the solder. The chimney cap can slide up and down to adjust the exhaust flow through the stainless steel spark arrest screen. This cover is 73# in all.

We first had to exchange dozens of e-mails to work out the details. The design continued to evolve and take shape as we had began fabrication and shared these photos (seen below) with our client. I love working with the end user, who has a passion for how this turns out. I love collaborating with Clients who have a vision in mind, yet flexible to the ideas I share with them. I wasn't just left to design this to be sturdy, and look good. I try be best not to be pushy with my ideas; keeping in mind their long term satisfaction is what's most important.

Getting the main cover formed

With a 4' wide sheet we were able to form most of this in 1 piece. We designed an aluminum template for the shape divided in 16 segments. We drew them out on the 32oz copper sheet, cut this out, and clamped it together to form this cone shape.

We were able to strengthen the outer rim with a larger 1" copper pipe bent in a uniform circle to go under this cover. I had imagined cutting the pipe off along the opening, but decided it would be best structurally to leave it whole and attached end to end. The bottom edge needed to be bent inward for this pipe attachment that hides the fasteners. This edge then needs to be tediously run through the shrinker to work it inwards.

The shrinker was not able to reduce it enough, so we had to run a crimper along this edge. Chris got his glove caught in the motorized tool while testing it on some scrap metal and hurt his hand. I managed to get it done the next day, but it took a stronger drill than I had imagined to crimp this thick copper sheet metal.

I collaborated with the Clients concerning the design for the shape of the mouth using this aluminum prototype in place for him to see different options of height and over hang it would need and look best.

Now that we had the main cover prepped I was able to determine the width of the upper flue pipe and chimney cap, so it is fairly stable in high wind situations while keeping out debris and pests. We used a 1/2 woven spark arrest screen that is a lot more flexible than the flattened expanded metal we use for most chimney caps. The upper rings were formed with a smaller 1/2" copper pipe to trim it off and add strength.

It was then very tricky to get this all to come together and level after the pieces were made.

We got the brass handles attached and the outer copper cleaned up with polish to get these images. What do you think?

Then there is designing and building a sturdy crate to protect all our hard work in it's journey across the Nation.

Here is the detailed cost breakdown from the final weights sent to the Clients on 5/23 for their review:

$1,765 for 70.6 sq' of copper X $25
+ $100 for a pair of solid brass D handles installed
+ $75 for your thermometer installed
+ $40 for 2 sq' of stainless steel screen
+ $350 for a sturdy custom wood shipping crate with padding
+ $450 truck freight charge for residential delivery w/hydraulic lift-gate service
= $2,780 sub total delivered (which is $198 less than the last quote on 5/5/14)
- $800 paid 1/14/14 check #9235
- $1,185.33 paid 5/9/14 check #9377
= $794.67 balance due before it ships.

From: GREGORY LESKO <glesko@mac.c*m>
Subject: Re: Lesko Pizza Oven Project
Date: Fri, 23 May 2014

Looks great. I had fun working with you on this. I will send check this morning and will email a photo when it's installed.

This first shot Greg sent me (shown above) is before he heated this bad boy up. It is really cool the way the copper will turn different colors from the heat. I offered to build this with a twin wall construction to retain heat better, but besides the cost Greg felt that would make this too heavy, and I was not going to argue with this reasoning.