I have come across access to scrap pieces of granite from a countertop installer. I have some big pieces now that I plan to use for a bar/counter on my deck on both sides of my grill. One is 67"x18" and another is 52"x18" and a third is 36"x18". They are gorgeous. Still working out how to go about that. They have rough edges on one or two sides. I'm thinking of roughing them up all the way around and use em like that. Ideas? Suggestions?

Next idea, I wanted to use some where you step off the deck as a pad or walkway there. I've been reading about how to rough up these gorgeous stones. I'm hearing carbide sandpaper, torch and water (makes it look flamed I hear???), and using a sealer with sand mixed in.
Ideas? Suggestions? Sand between chunks? Grout between?

The third idea is the big one. I'll reply to my topic with it to break up the long post.

I thought of building a large outdoor fireplace.

I'm building a deck now that'll be about 500sqft+a 12ft gazebo attached at one corner. I have one long side, 13 feet long that I was just going to have a bench on. (No railing because it'll only be about 20" off the ground.

My plan: Pour a 4" concrete pad, the size of the fireplace. It would be about 4ft front to back, and probably 6 ft wide. Use cement blocks, and some mortar, and building up the skeleton of the fireplace from the pad. It would probably come up to about 4 or 5 feet above the deck surface. I'd use these granite countertop chunks, different sizes, to cover every visible surface of it. even the inside of the fire box would be a wider slab across the bottom, and the sides and top also built up. I could flare out the sides from the fire box, so the flames reflect lots of light off the gorgeous stone all the way to the edges.

I could either do a shurt chimney, or slant the roof of the fire box to direct the smoke out the back side, leaving a small rear opening at the top of the fire box on the back for smoke to exit.

I may even design it with the idea of adding gas in the future, though it would have to be an LP tank cause there is no gas on our street.

Would this idea work? Would chunks of 1 1/4" granite be too heavy to mortar to a block face? Would the whole thing be dangerous with its weight, or the fact that it would be sitting up next to the deck?

I could design it so that the actual fire box sits a couple feet back from the deck, with a "hearth" extending just to the edge of the deck and then maybe another foot of stone "hearth" actually sitting on the edge of the deck. (Minimize sparks hitting my wood deck.

Any suggestions or ideas???

Thanks for reading my post.