By Rachel Brougham, The Family Handyman
Nothing says comfy like cozying up to a good fire in the wood-burning fireplace. However, it can be frustrating if you have to get up every few minutes to relight or re-arrange the wood.
There’s a solution for that.
According to author and podcaster Tim Ferriss, instead of putting your fire starters on the bottom with sticks and logs on top, just do the opposite!
Nothing says comfy like cozying up to a good fire in the wood-burning fireplace. However, it can be frustrating if you have to get up every few minutes to relight or re-arrange the wood.
There’s a solution for that.
According to author and podcaster Tim Ferriss, instead of putting your fire starters on the bottom with sticks and logs on top, just do the opposite!
How to Build the Best Fire
1. Put some big logs on the bottom. Be sure there’s as little space between each log as possible.
2. After you build a base of logs, put a couple smaller logs on top. These can be split pieces of wood or sticks. Like before, make sure there’s as little space between the wood as possible.
3. Next, repeat the process. Stack more big logs followed by smaller logs on top of each other. Continue to do this until you think the pile has reached a height sufficient enough to start your fire.
4. Now, take your fire starters—whether newspaper, lint or purchased fire-starter squares—and place them on the top of the pile.
5. Light your fire starters. It may take up to 15 minutes to really get the fire going, but be patient. By following this method to start your fire, you should get about three hours of burn time from the pile without having to rearrange or add more wood.
6. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy.
Important note: This method will produce more heat than other methods that use logs on the top of the fire starters. It will also produce less smoke. Just be aware that this fire building method will result in a longer burn time once it gets going when compared to a fire started with more traditional fire-starting methods.
2. After you build a base of logs, put a couple smaller logs on top. These can be split pieces of wood or sticks. Like before, make sure there’s as little space between the wood as possible.
3. Next, repeat the process. Stack more big logs followed by smaller logs on top of each other. Continue to do this until you think the pile has reached a height sufficient enough to start your fire.
4. Now, take your fire starters—whether newspaper, lint or purchased fire-starter squares—and place them on the top of the pile.
5. Light your fire starters. It may take up to 15 minutes to really get the fire going, but be patient. By following this method to start your fire, you should get about three hours of burn time from the pile without having to rearrange or add more wood.
6. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy.
Important note: This method will produce more heat than other methods that use logs on the top of the fire starters. It will also produce less smoke. Just be aware that this fire building method will result in a longer burn time once it gets going when compared to a fire started with more traditional fire-starting methods.
