But, before we enter into the question regarding the structure of the flue
we will take up the management of the fire itself. In the first place,
there is but one person who can manage a fire, and that is yourself.
Servants never did and never will learn the art, and, as I am writing for
men, and the ladies are not supposed to read this article, I will state
that the fair sex show a like deficiency in this line. The first thing a
woman wants to do with a fire is to make the logs roost on the andirons,
the next thing is to remove every speck of ashes from the hearth, and then
she wonders why the fire won't burn.
The ashes have not been removed from my studio fire since it was first
lighted last fall. Ashes are absolutely essential to control a wood-fire
and to keep the embers burning overnight. Fig. 288 shows the present state
of the ashes in my studio fire. You will see by this diagram that the logs
are not resting on the andirons. I only use the andirons as a safeguard to
keep the logs from rolling out on the hearth. If the fire has been
replenished late in the evening with a fresh log, before retiring I pull
the front or the ornamental parts of the andirons to the hearth and then
lay the shovel and poker across them horizontally. When the burning log is
covered with ashes and the andirons arranged in this manner you can retire
at night with a feeling of security and the knowledge that if your house
catches afire it will not be caused by the embers in your fireplace. Then
in the morning all you have to do is to shovel out the ashes from the rear
of the fireplace, put in a new backlog, and bed it in with ashes, as shown
in Fig. 286. Put your glowing embers next to the backlog and your fresh
wood on top of that and sit down to your breakfast with the certainty that
your fire will be blazing before you get up from the table.
Don't make the mistake of poking a wood-fire, with the idea, by that
means, of making it burn more briskly, or boosting up the logs to get a
draught under them.
Two logs placed edge to edge, like those in Fig. 288, with hot coals
between them, will make their own draught, which comes in at each end of
the log, and, what is essential in fire building, they keep the heat
between themselves, constantly increasing it by reflecting it back from
one to the other. If you happen to be in great haste to make the flames
start, don't disturb the logs but use a pair of bellows.
Fig. 287 shows a set of the logs which will make the best-constructed
fireplace smoke. The arrow-point shows the line of incidence or the
natural direction which the smoke would take did not the heat carry it
upward.
Fig. 285 shows the same logs arranged so that the angle of incidence
strikes the back of the chimney and the smoke ascends in the full and
orderly manner. But both Figs. 285 and 287 are clumsily arranged. The _B_
logs in each case should be the backlog and the small logs _A_ and _C_
should be in front of _B_.
Fig. 281. Fig. 282. Fig. 283. Fig. 284. Fig. 285. Fig. 286.
Fig. 287. Fig. 288.
[Illustration: Proper and improper ways to build a fireplace and make a
fire.]
In all of the fireplaces which we have described you will note that the
top front of the fireplace under the mantel extends down several inches
below the angle of the chimney.
Fig. 283 shows a fireplace that is improperly built. This is from a
fireplace in a palatial residence in New York City, enclosed in an antique
Italian marble mantel, yellow with age, which cost a small fortune. The
fireplace was designed and built by a firm of the best architects,
composed of men famed throughout the whole of the United States and
Europe, _but the fireplace smoked_ because the angle of the chimney was
below the opening of the fireplace and, consequently, sent the smoke out
into the room. This had to be remedied by setting a piece of thick plate
glass over the top of the fireplace, thus making the opening smaller and
extending it below the angle of the chimney.
Fig. 284 shows the most primitive form of fireplace and chimney. One that
a child may see will smoke unless the fire is kept in the extreme back of
the hearth.
The advantages of ashes in your fireplace are manifold. They retain the
heat, keep the hot coals glowing overnight, and when the fire is too hot
may be used to cover the logs and subdue the heat. But, of course, if you
want a clean hearthstone and the logs roosting upon the andirons, and are
devoid of all the camp-fire sentiment, have some asbestos gas-logs. There
will be no dust or dirt, no covering up at night with ashes, no bill for
cord-wood, and it will look as stiff and prim as any New England old maid
and be as devoid of sentiment and art as a department-store bargain
picture frame.