How to build the perfect (real) fireplace fire....

Joseph Janney's Virginia (book) | Dec. 27, 2006 | Ralph Davis

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Mmmmm! Tamales! So when you gonna send me some of your famous tamales...and hot pepper jam!

We can work out a swap of some sort, I'm sure. I can send you a live chicken...or not, LOL! :)

[jwalsh07]

That said; forget about the grate and just put two of your sticks on the bottom about a foot apart, opposite of the direction you are piling your kindling. Sticks should be about an inch and a half diameter.

Same here. Half an hour later I replace the kindling with some split wood and voila, forced hot air.

[Integrityrocks]

I don't know about "expert" but I build a LOT of fires. All the fire-building techniques in the world won't make a fire burn unless your wood is appropriately dry. Lots of your trees are green and filled with sap and it takes a good 6 months to a year to get a wood pile burnable, depending on where you live. You can huff and puff and use all the gas you want and you might get it a little burn but there won't be any heat. You need good dry kindlin and firewood.

[AnalogReigns]

I would wager 90% in the lower 48, particularly in the
South, really do not know how to build a good fire, particularly in a fireplace. Otherwise fireplace grates would not be so common...

[EternalVigilance]

Well, I wish I could say that particular stove was mine, but I can't. Had one very similiar to it for years, though. Round Oak. Heated a drafty old farm house like a dream. In fact, if I wanted to, I could run you out of there on the coldest Midwestern January night. ;-) Fill that baby chockfull of red elm or oak, and she'd glow red! :-)

[Integrityrocks]

You got it.

[Jaysun]

Okay. In spite of my apparent confusion concerning andirons I've found some success. I cut my typical fireplace rack to a height about half. I burn hickory and I use "fat wood" as kindling. It seems to be working well.

[Integrityrocks]

Agreed. Fireplaces are pretty rarely used - no heat value. And if you're chopping the wood, you want heat out of that wood. There is a plathora of wood stoves out there and since a wood stove is an Alaskan staple, I can tell you that "earth stoves" builds some of the best made today.

[EternalVigilance]

Well, lots of woodburners have an eisenglass front that makes the fire very visable and enjoyable. And, unlike most fireplaces, they actually heat the house instead of the great outdoors. ;-)

Certainly, modern gas furnaces are extremely efficient. But I'd rather pay for chain saw fuel and oil than natural gas or propane, whenever possible. :-)

[Gabz]

Thanks, but no thanks on the live chicken - remember I have 170,000 of them as my nearest neighbors :)

We'll work something out, I'm sure!!!!

[EternalVigilance]

Lots of folks burning corn these days, too. Some of these new stoves and waterheaters are pretty darned amazing.

My grandparents burned cobs and coal all the way up until they left the farm in the eighties.

[Sally'sConcerns]

Hmmm, not sure where I learned to retain some ash but I've always kept at least an inch or more of ash directly under where the coals will fall off the logs. The ash acts as kind of an insulator where the coals don't burn out as quickly.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Oh, yeah...I forgot!

But I know just what you mean. Since we've had such "warm" weather to date this winter, we've had a lot of southerly breezes across the pig farm south of us. *BLECH*

[jwalsh07]

My humble little New England family room with wood stove cranking out the heat.

[Gabz]

The chickens don't bother me, but I would probably have the same reaction to you about the pigs if it occurred on a regular basis.

[EternalVigilance]

Sweet!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Dude! Turn that ceiling fan on! :)

[Whitebread]

What is that? a brick floor?

[jwalsh07]

Yup.

[jwalsh07]

It usually is on, I have a series of fans that move the hot air throughout the house. Works pretty good too. :-}