The Right Way To Build A Fireplace Fire
(Page 2 of 2)
November/December 1978
By the Mother Earth News editors
J.M. points out that his "new, improved" blaze is easy to light too: "Just open the damper and check for a draft flowing up the chimney. If the flue isn't drawing air, twist a sheet or two of newspaper into a tight rope, light it, and hold it up into the vent. This flame will warm the air and cause it to start rising up the chimney. That's your signal to light the main fire in the usual way with twisted papers or a fuzzy stick . . . never gasoline or any other flammable liquid. In just a few minutes, you'll be enjoying all the heat that your fireplace normally puts out ... plus a great deal more that ordinarily 'goes up in smoke'."
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Eventually, of course, the top log or logs will burn through in the middle and fall down into your wooden "firebox". No problem. Just replace them with fresh chunks of wood. And, if you want a hotter blaze, shove some smaller pieces of fuel right into the firebox parallel to its side logs. (You'll soon note that those side logs do not burn through very readily . . . rather, their back ends just seem to "scorch away". When that happens, you can replace them with new pieces of wood and use the old partially burned chunks of fuel as new "top logs" for the firebox.)
In addition to increasing the efficiency of your fireplace, this method of "setting a fire" has another distinct advantage: It allows you to burn greener and damper wood (which "cures" as part of the firebox before becoming part of the blaze) than you ordinarily can get by with.
In more ways than one, then, J.M. Dulin seems to have devised a better way to "lay a blaze" in a fireplace. Whether you use your hearth as a major source of heat or simply to "take off the chill" on exceptionally frigid winter evenings, you should at least give the idea a try. After all: You have absolutely nothing to lose ... and, quite possibly, as much as a 100°/. increase in efficiency to gain. That's a gamble worth taking!
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