How do you make the perfect fire?

[CHRIS]

I always try to bring our woodburner fuel in from the log store a few days before we burn it, and stack it inside the fireplace, near the stove. That completes its drying process very effectively.

I second this method, just dont drop a newspaper down the back as I did and start a mini inferno!!!@!

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Game, Set, and Match!!

 

[Flyfisher]

Recently we've used this as a log store reasonably sucesfuly, unless it rains heavily with strong winds, hence the idea to brick up the sides.

I don't worry about a bit of wind-blown rain getting on our logs. It's not enough to really soak the wood and very quickly dries out again.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

We're now very busy harvesting wood for next winter. Please don't get upset, we're aren't felling but giving a much-needed pruning, keeping a close eye out for nests and angry robins. The trees have never been pruned and have reached extraordinary heights and widths. I guess we have around 100 if you count the "hedge" which has become a spinney.

This is very sad but I want to colour code my logs. What is the perfect blend of wood?

Apple for fragrance, beech for longevity- is that right? And go steady with holly because it puts a coating on the chimney? How about yew, elder, lilac and birch? All flammable?

Tips much appreciated!

That bit of wormy old moulding from another thread, chopped finely, should get it lit nicely...
:twisted:

 

[JoceAndChris]

That bit of wormy old moulding from another thread, chopped finely, should get it lit nicely...
:twisted:

:shock:
Do you turn into the anti-conservation officer when it gets dark?

 

[Gareth Hughes]

That bit of wormy old moulding from another thread, chopped finely, should get it lit nicely...
:twisted:

:shock:
Do you turn into the anti-conservation officer when it gets dark?

Only when I've cracked open another bottle of angostura bitters to wash the Plymouth down with.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Only when I've cracked open another bottle of angostura bitters to wash the Plymouth down with.

But it's good to see that love of antiquity even extends through to your choice of beverage. http://www.alcoholreviews.com/SPIRITS/plymouthgin.html

 

[Lime]

I am quite good at lighting fires, I think some of that is to do with being a scout in my younger days.
I know what to start the fire with which is most important.
As a child I used to long for a gas poker where you just stuck the lit poker in and left it for 20 minutes.

However 20 years have passed since I have had a fire of any sort other than gas.
This Christmas my wife suggested a log fire but the image and memory of all the dust immediately made me forget the whole idea.
Better left as a memory.

I do remember the pit closures affecting the coal I bought in the past.
At the beginning of the 1970s you could buy "best house coal" (steam coal.. burnt leaving next to no residue) the size of boulders (up to 14" across and very thick) or proper anthracite that produced no smoke.
By the middle 80s it was all being imported and was absolute rubbish (meaning small and very poor burning) coal and anthracite.
You could tell Thatcher neither burnt coal nor cared less about anything.

That reminds me.
When I was at boarding school they kept pigs fed on boiled/steamed food using scraps from the kitchen.
I used to throw coke (the stuff from gasworks) into their sties and they went mad for it.
They couldn't get enough.. presumably because they never had anything they could chew.
..sort of reminds me of Thatcher's friends.