Any sort of hardwood. We also get bags of pine offcuts from the local CRT. In winter we put a piece of wire mesh on top and use it as our BBQ instead of the gas one.

I've wondered about the laws re fire pits in cities as well, due to the woodburning stove ban. I live just outside a country town that has banned burning off and is trying to do away with wood fires. But as long as I've got trees dropping branches I'll be cutting them up and burning them ... inside and outside.

What you can burn depends completely on your local ordinance. So check that before buying is my suggestion. For example our city council has banned these and only allows burning for food preparation ( i.e. Cooking fires). Many get around the ordinance here by having s'mores handy in case they are questioned. I know it's a pain to have these restrictions but I happen to have severe very hard to control asthma and a wood fire will set me off quicker than almost anything. Our neighbors had one of these and I could no longer site on my patio in the evenings. :(

dooders1981 - sorry to hear of your severe asthma problem, made worse by wood fires - could you explain what "by having s'mores handy" refers to as I am not familiar with that product? - thanks

An extension to this discussion might be, "In what other ways can I use my fire pit"? . . .
Another idea I have for the use of our fire pit is when we are not using it as a fire pit eg. in summer, (esp. when total fire bans are in force), is to have a round table top made, which will be legless, so we can turn it into a coffee table. We will have a designated area with seating around the fire pit, so hoping it will become a very sociable out door hub, getting people outside, good for older teens and friends too.

hi Neryl and others, I love fire pits and we have a special area in the yard with stone seating around it. we love it and it is great for the kids and when they have friends over. we often burn these funny hexagonal 'logs' which are made from recycled something (I cant remember whether its paper or woodchips). we got them from Bunnings but I can't find them on bunnings website right now. they are called ecologs or something like that. they are slow burning and good. we have the chappala sun god fire pit from bunnings and it has been good. the metal parts do rust tho. the good thing about it is the screen lid which I feel is a bit safer. but the lid does get hot so you need an oven mitt or similar to lift it to roast marshmallows or add more wood or anything. downside is it has no drainage hole so fills with rainwater. good luck

PS earlysettler.com.au has some well priced plain black cast iron ones

I would be very careful in purchasing a fire pit, where the bowl is sitting too shallow in the stand. The first photo looks a bit top heavy to me. While it's a a very heavy thing, try lifting it when cold, the metal can slide against the metal and no one wants to have a bad experience, eg. the fire pit gets a knock when it's in full swing laided with logs that are burning.