Making a Fireplace

by Henry H. Saylor

First of all, there is the need of having fuel that is really dry. It is not essential that the woodpile be kept indoors, but it should at least have shelter above it and on three sides. The woodsheds of New England farmhouses offer a practical and efficient solution of the problem. Usually you will find these as an extension to the house, a shed open only to the south, in which the cord wood is piled neatly to the roof with sawn ends to the front. Two long logs are laid on the floor or ground, at right angles to the firewood, so as to encourage a circulation of air for drying.

In addition to the heavier logs which are cut to fit the fireplace opening, there should be almost an equal quantity of twigs, brush and smaller pieces, or else split kindling, to serve as starting fuel.

To lay a fire on the hearth, select first a heavy log which should be placed close against the back of the fire chamber on the hearth and not on the andirons. This is the traditional “backlog.” It will serve through several fires and is intended mainly as a protection of the back brickwork. Stand the andirons with their rear ends close up against the backlog, and if the latter is of the best size its top will be well above the horizontal bars of the andirons. Now select a smaller log—preferably not a split piece—and lay it across the andirons. If a big fire is desired, keep this log—the “forelog”—well to the front, just back of the andiron upright posts, leaving plenty of space between backlog and forelog for the main body of the fire. The distance between these two logs will govern the size of the fire. In this space put a few crumpled sheets of newspaper, some of the lighter twigs and small branches, and one, two or three logs or split pieces, as may be required to fill the space. The diagrams will make clearer this arrangement for a small fire or a large one.

As the central portion of the fire burns away, keep the forelog pushed back against it, unless a less active fire is desired. It is well to remember that where one isolated log will not burn, two close together probably will, and a pyramid of three will do still better.

Many fireplaces show a tendency to smoke only when first lighted; this is probably due to a cold chimney, and can usually be prevented or made less objectionable by burning a newspaper just under the throat, thus starting the proper action of the up and down drafts.

If it is possible for us to choose between various kinds of wood for our open fire fuel there is opened up one of the most interesting phases of the whole subject. To most people probably a wood fire is a wood fire, whether the logs be of cherry wood, pine, hickory or anything else. For the wood fire connoisseur, if we may call him by that name, there is no difficulty whatever in telling with a glance at the fire just what wood is burned. The crackle and explosive nature of hickory, the hiss of pine, the steady flame from cherry, the hot and rapid disintegration of sycamore, and the steady and thorough combustion of soft apple wood soon become familiar characteristics to those who have the opportunity to lay the fire in variety. Then there is, of course, the fascination and the weird coloring in a driftwood fire—most spectacular of all but unfortunately denied to most of us.