Lava rock is a bit different from other rock… you should definitely have a metal insert in there if you’re using landscaping brick, it’s not meant for direct fire.
We used to do this at the house of a fellow youth organization member. They had a fire pit, lava rocks in the topiary beds, and a pool. We’d soak some rocks and then throw them in the fire. It would make a loud pop and we’d all laugh about how funny the “ash” felt when it hit us. And then one of the kids started screaming…
Fortunately, he only got a tiny piece in his eye, but the homeowners were like, “it’s harmless fun, that happens sometimes.” We stopped having gatherings at that house.
I’ve only seen pumice stone used in (sheltered) gas fireplaces, idk I’m not really that much of an expert, I was told what I put in the comment when I was a child and brought some rocks for a fire pit my uncle was building and he said ‘No! Those will explode, look for some like these or these’ pointing to some granite and a big quartz (or quartz-like, I ain’t no geologist) chunk. The couple dozen (at least) times I’ve done it without an incident and a quick web search I’ve just done confirm that my folk knowledge is right.
I think you might be smoking crack.
The ideal natural rock for fire stuff is pumice
Lava rock is a bit different from other rock… you should definitely have a metal insert in there if you’re using landscaping brick, it’s not meant for direct fire.
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No, natural pumice holds moisture which turns to steam under heat and explodes from the pressure.
The only safe pumice is manufactured bricks made from pumice.
We used to do this at the house of a fellow youth organization member. They had a fire pit, lava rocks in the topiary beds, and a pool. We’d soak some rocks and then throw them in the fire. It would make a loud pop and we’d all laugh about how funny the “ash” felt when it hit us. And then one of the kids started screaming…
Fortunately, he only got a tiny piece in his eye, but the homeowners were like, “it’s harmless fun, that happens sometimes.” We stopped having gatherings at that house.
I’ve only seen pumice stone used in (sheltered) gas fireplaces, idk I’m not really that much of an expert, I was told what I put in the comment when I was a child and brought some rocks for a fire pit my uncle was building and he said ‘No! Those will explode, look for some like these or these’ pointing to some granite and a big quartz (or quartz-like, I ain’t no geologist) chunk. The couple dozen (at least) times I’ve done it without an incident and a quick web search I’ve just done confirm that my folk knowledge is right.
That was absolutely uncalled for, Steve.