I like burning real cord wood in our fireplace, but for whatever reason I have not had any delivered since we have moved to Chicago. We normally just keep some artificial logs on hand for when we want a fire. They are very convenient. On a cold night we can have a fire going on a moments notice.

For the Ohio State vs. Michigan game today I wanted a fire but we are out of artificial logs, so while I was running a couple pre-game errands I stopped by Menard’s to pick up a case.

The 6 pound logs are about $2 a piece, which makes a 48 pound case of 8 logs $16.

Right next to the artificial logs they had the wood pellets for the wood pellet burning stoves. A 40 pound bag of pellets was only $3.50!

All the way home I was thinking about this price discrepancy. I got to thinking about burning the pellets in a regular fireplace and how to do it. After a while I did some Google searches and found an insert designed to let you burn pellets in a regular fireplace. No modifications or installation was needed either. The only problem is that it costs $250!

I was doing some more thinking and decided I could make the same thing. At half time I ran back to the store and bought that bag of wood pellets and a 3' x 5' roll of 23 gauge ¼” steel mesh.

I cut a square piece of mesh about three feet on each side, and then folded it in half. I formed it into a flat bottomed trough and then set it right on the fireplace grate.

I dumped two coffee cans worth of pellets into the trough and it is burning great!

I will let you know if it is a viable option to artificial logs, but so far it seems like a winner.

I have to get back to the game. There are 9 minutes left in the 4th quarter and Ohio State is ahead 34 to 21! The Buckeyes were 5 point under dogs going into the game.