MIKE, iv'e built a couple in the last 5 years. My favorite one i designed the firebox with our woodstove in mind-same size and shape,etc. We have been using this wood stove for the last 10 years so we pretty much have it down and thought it would be easy to adjust to the smoker/pit, which turned out to be the case!I went with a 24 x24 fire box attached to an old propane tank and we've been really lucky and happy with how it turned out! It burnes very clean(blue smoke) and only takes about 15 minutes to come up to temp! Looking back i could have gone with a slightly smaller firebox but a really like the extra space on top for a griddle,pots,pans, etc.Good luck and if you need any help feel free to e-mail me-PAT