"I made a trash burn barrel from a 4-ft. section of 24-in. dia. pipe that burns like a volcano," says Matt Studer, New Washington, Ohio.

"The secret to the hot burn is cutting V-shaped tabs and bending them in toward the center of the pipe. What happens is that the trash is held up by the points of the V's until it's mostly burned up. The V-slots also give the trash plenty of air to burn like a volcano. That way it doesn't sit at the bottom of the burn barrel and smolder.

"I placed the pipe on blocks so I can easily clean out the ashes, unlike a regular barrel where the ashes get wet and rust out the bottom of the barrel. The last barrel I made like this lasted 8 years.

"On a good windy day, I can burn a month's worth of house trash in no time. The flames shoot out of the top of the barrel and from the V-slots, reminding us of a volcano."