How to Build a Fire Grill

Dig a hole where you want your fire pit to be. A standard fire pit can be round or square and should be approximately 3 feet deep by 3 feet wide. If you're at a temporary campsite that allows the use of self-constructed grills, save the dirt you've dug and use it to extinguish and cover the fire.

Create a border around the dug-out pit with cinder rocks, which can be found and collected in the Western United States, or purchased from a rock and stone supply yard. If you can't access cinder rocks, use cinder blocks. These rocks should begin about an inch from the edge of the dug pit, so that you can place a grate in the pit with ease.

Line the bottom of the fire pit with a layer of clay bricks or cinder blocks. These serve as the "floor" of your homemade fire grill and are used to retain the heat of the fire. This ensures an all-over heat that thoroughly cooks your food. You can literally use a fire pit like an oven when you use heat-retaining rocks or bricks.

Lay an oven or grill grate into the pit, choosing a grate that is just a tad smaller than the border of rocks that surround your grill. It shouldn't fall into the pit, but rather rest just above it, leaving about 1 to 2 feet between it and the bricks. Use the fireplace poker, which has a pronged end, to remove and replace the grate to fill with coals for your fire.