Posted on 12/27/2006 4:12:16 PM PST by AnalogReigns
Ever wondered how to make a real wood fire in your fireplace, with beautiful tall flames, which draws nicely, and warms the room up too? Do the fires which you have made not look like those in the movies, photographs or in cozy paintings and such?
It's an easy task with this method I learned in a book written by a man who grew up in early 19th Century Loudoun County, Virginia. Joseph Janney, in his 90s in the 1890s wrote a little text for his children and grandchildren to read about his life as a child in frontier America. One of the things he detailed is exactly how they built wood fires in their shallow fireplaces--which kept them warm all winter--their only source of heat.
It's very simple and requires a minimum of fuss. First you need something to support the wood--NOT modern cast iron "coal grate" log holders, nor the worse iron grates which cause the logs to roll together....these just don't work well making a lasting fire. Old fashioned "andirons" (those things with tall posts, sometimes brass, in front and flat rails a few inches off the fireplace floor extending to the back) or even a couple of bricks will work fine. I repeat, get rid of the typical home's fireplace grate--great fires cannot be made using them.
Next it's best to have a layer of ash on the floor of the fireplace and inch or so thick...acts as an insulator, and is called an ash-bed.
Be sure (of course!) to make sure your flu is OPEN!!! Also that your fireplace and chimney are clean and in good shape. (writer bears no responsibility for smoky or dangerous fireplaces!)
Then you need 3 sizes of logs. A large diameter (8" + depending on the size of your fireplace) should be placed horizontally in the back, leaning, if it has to, against the back wall of the fireplace. This is your backlog, and protects the brick back there, as well as projecting the heat forward. It will burn from its frontside back. I have also used 2 medium sized logs stacked for the same effect.
Next you need a medium sized log (4" to 6" diameter) up in front, up against the vertical log holder of your andirons. In between the backlog and the front-log you should have an area of 6" to 10" or so. This is why standard grates typically won't work...as these logs will roll together, something you do not want. Traditional andirons work perfectly (even though they are hard to find these days).
Finally you need small kindling sticks in the middle. The easiest way to make these usually, (if you don't have sticks available) is to simply split some of your other logs into smaller pieces and inch or so in diameter. Place a loose handful of these in that area between the back-log and the front-log. Of course pieces of pine or other softwood are ideal for kindling, as they burn fast...but be careful, as pine-pitch can also throw lots of sparks.
Then you use crumpled newspaper, or whatever fire-starter you like to light up under the middle kindling pieces. These should be roaring in no time after lighting the paper...and after 15 minutes or so you can place normal sized logs (like the front-log) in the middle...and your fire is buring from the middle on out. You keep adding wood to the middle of the fire--keeping the backlog and front-log where they are.
Such a fire made this way will kick out plenty of reflective heat (the main way a fireplace heats) and if the backlog is big enough, can keep burning all night and more. The front-log will burn from its back forward, protecting you from sparks flying out from the center burn area...and the back-log will burn from its front back, keeping the hottest part of the fire from cracking bricks in the back of the fireplace.
Such a fire makes for the perfect beautiful winter fireplace, adding grace and beauty to the season. This method is how our great-great-great-great-grandparents heated their homes.
A classic fireplace fire, burning from the inside out, showing the andirons and the front-log and backlog.
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! :)
Same here. Half an hour later I replace the kindling with some split wood and voila, forced hot air.
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.
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...
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! :-)
You got it.
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.
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. :-)
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!!!!
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.
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.
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*
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.
Sweet!
Dude! Turn that ceiling fan on! :)
What is that? a brick floor?
Yup.
It usually is on, I have a series of fans that move the hot air throughout the house. Works pretty good too. :-}
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