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The braai studio · Pretoria workshop

Two braais, built to your measurements.

A simple welded pan on legs, or the full firebox with a raised fire grate, slide-out ash tray and grid runners at three heights. Both rectangular, both on four legs. Change the size and the steel — the price and the fire bed update as you go.

Usual custom quote
3–5 dayscalls, sketches, waiting
This page
Instantpriced as you build it
Setting up the workshop
800 × 450 × 850
Through the fire bed Grid at standard
Your braai, all in
R 0
Ready in
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Which braai

Or start from a build we make often

Pick one to fill everything in, then change whatever you like. Nothing is locked.

Firebox width — inside
mm
Firebox depth — front to back
mm
Working height — floor to firebox rim
mm

Set this to your kitchen counter height if you want it to feel familiar. Most people land between 850 and 900 mm.

Show sizes in
Plate thickness

Fire bed depth — floor to rim

Metal

Firebrick lining

Brick takes the heat off the plate, holds it longer, and roughly doubles how long the floor lasts. It also adds weight.

Fire grate — what the coals sit on

The grate lifts the fuel off the floor so air gets underneath and ash drops through into the tray. Every firebox braai has one, and a slide-out ash tray below it.

Cooking grid
Grid heights — runners on the side walls

More heights means more control: drop it down to sear, lift it up for chicken that needs time.

Show the grid at
Leg section
Lower shelf

The shelf is steel, not timber — it sits directly under a firebox that drops ash and the odd ember.

Stand finish

How many identical braais

Delivery

Delivered built, off the bakkie and onto the patio. These get heavy — we carry it in.

Workshop copy — customers don't see this

Plate cutting list

Tube cutting list

Cost & margin

Your build sheet

This is exactly what gets welded.

Build sheet GS-0000
Total incl. VAT R 0

Taking it into CAD yourself? The STL is the model on screen, written in millimetres and standing the right way up — insert it in Fusion and convert the mesh to a solid if you want to run a study on it. The DXF is every plate part laid out flat for a laser or plasma table. The CSV is the dimensions as Fusion user parameters, for driving your own sketch.

The price above is worked out from the actual plate area of your firebox, the metres of tube in the stand, and bench hours. We confirm it in writing within one working day — and if anything about your build changes the number, we tell you before you pay a cent.

Send it to the workshop

No deposit yet. We check the drawing, confirm the price and the date, and only then ask you to commit.

Your build sheet, the fire bed dimensions and the price all go with this message, so nothing has to be re-explained. We use your details for this enquiry only.

It's on the bench list.

We've got your build sheet and we'll come back to you within one working day with the confirmed price and a date.

Why it's built this way

A fire needs air under it and somewhere for the ash to go.

The pan braai keeps it simple: coals on the floor, grid on the rim, tip the ash out when it's cold. The firebox adds the three things that make a fire easier to live with — and they're the whole difference between the two prices.

At the bottom

Slide-out ash tray

A tray on runners under the fire grate catches everything that falls through. Pull it out, tip it, slide it back — no scraping a hot box out with a spade.

In the middle

Raised fire grate

The coals sit on a bar grate 90 mm off the floor, so air feeds the fire from underneath and ash falls away instead of smothering it. Hotter fire, less smoke, less fuel.

On top

Grid runners at set heights

Runners welded to the side walls put the grid 100–150 mm above the coals for normal braaing, with a lower notch for searing and a higher one for anything that needs time.

What it's made of

Plate, tube, and a coating that survives the fire.

The firebox is cut from plate and welded closed — not folded sheet with rivets. The stand is square tube. Both get finished for what they actually have to live through, which is not the same thing for each.

3 mm mild steel plate

Pan or firebox · 2–4 mm options

Three millimetres is what the good South African freestanding braais are built from, and what we build most. Two is lighter and cheaper but warps sooner over a hot wood fire; four is heirloom weight.

High-heat black, always

The firebox · 600 °C

The firebox is never galvanised. Heated zinc gives off fumes that are unpleasant to breathe and settle on food, so the box is finished in 600 °C black or left in stainless. Galvanising goes on the stand only.

Stainless 304

Coastal option

For sea air, or anyone who doesn't want to think about rust again. Material runs around four times mild steel and welds slower, which the price reflects honestly rather than hiding.

Before you send it

The things people ask.

Pan or firebox — which one should I take?
Take the pan if you braai with charcoal on a patio a few times a month and want the simplest thing that works properly. Take the firebox if you burn wood, braai often, cook for a crowd, or hate cleaning up: the raised grate keeps the fire alive on less fuel, the ash tray means no scraping, and the runners let you move the grid instead of moving the coals. The firebox runs around 40% more than the pan at the same width — everything on this page is priced so you can see exactly where that money goes.
How far should the grid be above the coals?
Roughly 100 to 150 mm for normal braaing — close enough to sear, far enough that fat doesn't flare into the meat. Under about 80 mm you're at searing distance, which is brilliant for steak and punishing for chicken. Over about 200 mm the fire stops doing much unless you pile the coals high. The section drawing on this page shows your exact gap as you build, so you can see what you're choosing.
Why does the fire grate matter?
A fire sitting flat on a steel floor smothers itself in its own ash and gets no air from below. Lifting it 90 mm onto a bar grate lets air feed it from underneath and lets ash drop through into the tray. It burns hotter, cleaner and on less fuel. A pan braai has no grate — that's what makes it cheap and simple, and it's why you'll go through a bit more charcoal and do a bit more scraping.
Can I burn wood, or only charcoal?
The pan is a charcoal braai — you can burn a small wood fire in it, but there's no depth for logs and no grate to keep it going. In the firebox, the fire bed depth decides. The 180 mm bed suits charcoal and briquettes. The 230 mm standard handles both. If you burn wood down to coals in the box itself, take the 280 mm bed — you need the room for logs and a deeper coal pile, and the extra plate height keeps flames off the grid.
Why can't the firebox be galvanised?
Heated zinc gives off zinc oxide fumes. They're unpleasant to breathe, they can leave residue on food, and there's a real if short-lived illness that comes from a lungful of them. Galvanising is genuinely good for the stand, which never gets hot, so if you choose it we galvanise the legs and frame and finish the firebox in 600 °C black. We'd rather explain that than quietly dip the whole thing.
What size should I choose?
An 800 mm firebox feeds a family with room to move things around. Around 600 mm suits a small patio and two or three people. Past 1200 mm you're catering, and you should take the ember maker so you can keep making coals at one end while you cook on the rest.
Is the price on this page the real price?
It's worked out the same way we'd work it out by hand: the actual plate area of your box and tray, the metres of tube in your stand, grid and grate area, coating, consumables and bench hours. We confirm it in writing within one working day, and if something about your build changes the number we tell you before you pay anything.
What about payment and delivery?
Half to start the build once you've confirmed the drawing, half on delivery. Nothing is due when you send the build sheet from this page. A 3 mm braai at 800 mm weighs well over 50 kg built, so delivery means two of us carrying it to where it's going, not leaving it at the gate.
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