Fireplace and mantel of half logs. Also centre fireplaces for cabin.
A Plank Mantel
A and B are two half logs, or puncheons, which run from the floor to the ceiling on each side of the fireplace. S, S, S are the logs of the cabin walls. C is the puncheon supporting the mantel and D is the mantel. [Fig. 279] shows a section or a view of the mantel looking down on it from the top, a topographical view of it. [Fig. 278] is the same sort of a view showing the puncheon A at the other end of the mantel before the mantel is put in place between the two puncheons A and B. In [Fig. 279] the reader may see that it will be necessary to cut the corners out of the mantel-board in order to fit it around the puncheons A and B; also, since A and B have rounded surfaces, it will be necessary to so bevel the ends of the puncheon (C, [Fig. 277]) that they will fit on the rounded surfaces of A and B. [Fig. 280] shows the end of C bevelled in a perspective view, and also a profile view of it, with the puncheon A indicating the manner in which C must be cut to fit upon the rounded surface. This makes a simple mantelpiece but a very appropriate one for a log cabin.
XLV
FIREPLACES AND THE ART OF TENDING THE FIRE
One of my readers has written to me asking what to do about a fireplace that smokes. Not knowing the fireplace in question, I cannot prescribe for that particular invalid, but I have a long acquaintance with many fireplaces that smoke and fireplaces that do not—in other words, healthy fireplaces with a good digestion and diseased fireplaces functionally wrong with poor digestion—so perhaps the easiest way to answer these questions is to describe a few of my acquaintances among the fireplaces which I have studied.