Ohio Flame: Gather ‘Round Year Round!

My family loves to spend time outdoors.  I’m crossing my fingers the Spring shows up here in Pennsylvania sooner rather than later.  Winter sure is hanging on this year, isn’t it?  I’ve been wanting a fire pit for our patio for a while now, mostly to use during the summer months when we’re hanging out there every evening.  The kids love s’mores (get that from their dear old Mom) and gathering around a fire is just good old fashioned summer fun.  So when I got the opportunity to work with Ohio Flame on a review in March I wondered how much use we could get out of this fire pit in the colder months.  Turns out this fire pit is made for year-round use!

First let me tell you about Ohio Flame.  The company is located in Ohio (of course!) and all of their products are American made.  I love being able to support American businesses so this is a big plus for me.  Their fire pits are made out of steel, handcrafted from the steel found at local mills.  It’s one solid, heavy piece! We received the 24″  Patriot Fire Pit in Natural Steel Finish to review, and I got my husband to bring the box in the house.  Mr. Muscles!         😉          But once inside I was able to open it up and take it out on the patio myself.  It’s definitely heavy though!  That’s a good thing because you don’t need to worry about the wind taking it away or it getting bumped across the patio when there’s a fire inside.

I also love that it’s all one piece. There’s no assembly, no parts that might fall off or get broken. Just one hunk of steel crafted into a beautiful fire bowl.  We have a circular piece to our patio and it looks perfect on there!  Another genius feature is the Rain Drain in the center.  We’ve gotten both heavy rain and a decent amount of snow (seriously Spring, where the heck are ya?) since receiving our fire pit and not once did it fill up with water.  The water just drains right through so you don’t need to worry about a sloppy mess of ash or an accidental bird bath!

Once the weather cleared up enough for us to give our new Ohio Flame fire pit a go, we put on our coats and headed outside to roast some marshmallows.  I’ve always thought of fire pits as a summer thing but I have to tell you, my mind has been changed. We had so much fun!  If something can warm you up on a cold evening, it’s a fire, right?  And breaking from the norm of hunkering down inside when it’s freezing out there was a welcome change.

We had such a good time roasting our marshmallows and gobbling up s’mores that we hardly noticed the cold. Fun, fun, fun!  I loved it!   And I love that you can get year-round use out of this Ohio Flame Fire Pit because it’s not delicate or breakable. Leave it outside all year round and it will still work perfectly.  I’ve got ours on the patio right now but you can use it in the grass, on a driveway, on a deck, or pretty much anywhere you’d like to be outside!

We didn’t have much trouble starting a fire. My husband is the Boy Scout in the house. Well, he’s not *really* but he can build a fire like one. I was in charge of the marshmallows and chocolate, folks.  Once we got it going it burned for a few hours and we opened the shades to keep an eye on it and enjoy the flame in the darkness before it fizzled out.

These fire pits have a natural steel finish which means they will weather and form a natural iron oxide patina when exposed to the elements.  We’ve had ours for a couple of weeks and I’ve mentioned the weather it’s endured so far.  I can see it starting to patina, turn a deep orangey color.  I think it’s pretty artsy!  Patina is not the same as rust and these fire pits are under a lifetime warranty with a guarantee to not rust through. I see no signs of rust whatsoever, just the patina finish that occurs on the surface, not all the way through the heavy gauge steel.

If your family loves to be outdoors you’d love an Ohio Flame Fire Pit as much as we love ours.  The Patriot Fire Pit sells for $249.99 and is well worth it in my opinion.  You’ll never have to replace it!  You can tell as soon as you open it up that this thing is meant to last.  It’s very heavy, very sturdy, and just totally classy looking.  I love how it looks on our patio and look forward to using it all the time this summer…and year-round!

Ohio Flame has given me a unique discount code just for my readers! Use code PANDORA to take 5% off your order. This offer expires on December 31, 2013.  Head over to Ohio Flame and check out all of their awesome products!  Be sure to follow on Twitter and Facebook to be the first to hear about their latest products and promotions.

 

I was provided with a complimentary Ohio Flame Patriot Fire Pit to facilitate this review.  The opinions in this post are 100% mine.  You can read my full disclosure policy here.