Lighting a fire

I’m surprised that any soot inside the chimney wasn’t set alight by doing this, but it obviously worked for your gran. I remember my mother and father would put a short handled shovel in front of the grate with a sheet of newspaper over it after lighting the fire in order to ”draw “it and get it going. That seemed to be pretty dangerous sometimes!

The purpose was to start warming the chimney so that the draft through the fire needed to get the fire going could be generated.

Whether it worked is another thing, but often belief that it will work is sufficient.

We always had fires to light but never ever did that! Just built a pile of sticks maybe and afire lighter or two and a few small pieces of coal to get it started.

Definitely helps a fire draw if the flue is warmed.

In Northumberland people also use something called a 'blazer', like a metal shield that covers the fireplace, helps the fire draw air down.

I saw a video about lighting a woodburner by stacking the wood horizontally into a tower, and lighting it at the top. It did seem to take more quickly.

I hadn't had open fires before moving up here, what a mucky horrible job they are!

I’ve never heard of that. We’ve had an open fire for 25 years and it’s always been lit with a bit of paper, kindling, a firelighter or two and some coal or wood.

I’ve discovered that the brown paper that Amazon uses as packaging is very good for starting a fire.

Cold air sinks, so a warming helps the draw. I was taught to make a fire aged 11. I enjoyed it and I felt the cold less than my mother, so was happy to.

I remember the short handled shovel and news paper technique. The broad sheet news papers were massive then though?

I have found whether a fire takes or not all depends on the quality of the kindling.

I haven't lit an open fire for decades. Every fire I light now is in a modern wood burner and there you just shut the doors and set the dampers to maximum draft and away it goes.

Even then how it burns once the logs get started depends on the wood you burn. Ash burns best and elm just smoulders.

Both my parents used a sheet of newspaper when lighting fire. Kindling screwed up newspaper lit then hold the sheet of paper against the fireplace till it drew the fire and when it caught alight it was folded down into the grate and flew up the chimney. How they didn’t burn their hands I’ve no idea.

I had to be able to light a fire using only two matches and natural materials (Leaves and twigs) outdoors for a Girl Guides badge - I think it was 2nd Class. We weren't allowed to use newspaper. I was about 11 at the time. This was about 1950. Anyone else remember this?

I remember my mother using a sheet of newspaper to 'draw' the fire and the nerve-racking moment, as an observer, when it caught alight and was pushed into the fire.

I am sure that fire-laying and lighting were part of a Brownie proficiency badge in the mid 1950s - possibly House Orderly ?(cringe)

My mother used to do it every day when she lit the fire.

We've had a wood burner for years, and sometimes in a very cold winter with high pressure and the temperature well below 0º the fire would not draw well and would blow smoke back into the room. If we lit a sheet of newspaper on its own in the box and let it heat up the chimney before relaying the whole fire and lighting it, it would draw properly.

I remember having to lay and light a fire for Brownies for Golden Bar, Golden Ladder or Golden Hand (can't remember which). Now I know of a Brownie pack where they are going to cook pancakes tomorrow in supermarket individual foil pie dishes over nightlights. They will hold the pie dishes with wet wooden clothes pegs. Some of the Brownies are very excited because it's the first time they will ever have lit a match. How things change!

MrsEggy - I was a Guide in 60s and had to light fire with only 2 matches and no paper. Instead we used "punk" - dry material which lit easily and then small twigs. Dry holly leaves and dry gorse made good punk.
On the newspaper to warm chimney - it was recommended by manufacturer of a small wood burner we bought. If you didn't, the fire wouldn't draw and filled the room with smoke. We hardly use it. We have another stove that lights easily without need for pre-heating flue.

I remember both my Grans holding a double spread of newspaper over the fire to get it to draw. Trick was to remove the paper before it scorched and then caught alight. I also remember mt grandpa stuffing wet sacks up the chimney when it had caught alight.

I don't remember this at all, but have vivid memories of the shovel "bleazer" and the burning paper often going up the chimney by accident! The firewood had to be stacked in a criss-cross fashion over the crumpled newspaper, then a few bits of coal on top to start with. We never used firelighters - perhaps they were expensive? It was all a bit of a palaver, especially when using sea coal parcels, which never seemed to have dried out properly, however long they were left.

DD1 never seems to have any bother at all getting their woodburner lit.

I had to set and light a fire for a Brownie test in the 1940s. Newspaper was rolled into a cylinder and then curled round into a sort of knot. Small sticks - my dad chopped up logs for this purpose - were arranged loosely on top, then the coal. Usually it didn't need help to draw, but a sheet of newspaper did the job. A grown-up had to do that. Many years later, in a house I rented with two friends, I tried to draw the fire with a sheet of newspaper and almost set fire to the sitting room. I said 'almost' but it was a close shave!

When we had our big woodburner installed, we were taught the 'upside down' method. Build an 'empty' pyramid and set alight at the top.

I am amazed there is no proper official 'system' in the UK for automatic legal regular chimney sweeping- so so dangerous.

I was also taught to light a fire at a young age and using a broad sheet to draw the fire, sometimes adding sugar (?).
Moreover, when I was a young- married teenager, in our own house, copying what my mother had done, carrying lighted coals on a short-handle shovel, from one room to another to get a fire lit and warm faster.
Neither my ex-husband nor my father ‘did’ the fire, was it only women’s work?

If the air in the chimney is significantly colder than the air outside it, the chimney will not draw properly. You will get a downrush of smoke back into the room.

In this context, warming the chimney may do some good.

If you are burning logs with the dampers properly opened, you should not be creating all that much soot. It was coal fires, rather than wood fires or coke fires that posed the greatest dangers of so much soot building up that the chimney might catch fire.

In my childhood when coal fires were the norm in Scotland our chimneys were swept twice yearly to avoid the risk of a chimney fire and the substantial fine the householder had to pay if it did go on fire.

A closed stove burning coke or wood should only require the chimney being swept once a year.

Our open fires in Scotland were lit, and if they did not draw properly a specially made "shield" of metal which had a handle on the back was held across the mouth of the fireplace to encourage the fire to draw.

My parents considered the trick with the newspaper far too dangerous, although it was in common use.

ixion

I remember my mother using a sheet of newspaper to 'draw' the fire and the nerve-racking moment, as an observer, when it caught alight and was pushed into the fire.

I am sure that fire-laying and lighting were part of a Brownie proficiency badge in the mid 1950s - possibly House Orderly ?(cringe)

I remember my Dad doing this as well. A lot of time was spent lighting the fire, keeping it burning and cleaning out the ashes the next morning. The up side was toast made over the fire using a toasting fork and chestnuts roasted underneath in the ashes.

Oh gosh, that was our job as kids to hold a sheet of newspaper across the fireplace to get it to draw and now children wear helmets when using a scooter. However did I live this long

I used to light the fire in our first house using twigs and dry leaves gathered from to woodland on our doorstep. These days I use crumpled newspaper and a few kindling sticks. I never need fire lighters.

We sadly got rid of our open fire last year as DH was beyond kneeling down to lay and clear it out and he held on to it as a blue job!(one of the few) so wouldn’t let me ,
I rather liked the fact that it had the chimney breast outside with a little door to clear the ashes. Saved bringing them through the house!
We also had a blazer constructed from an old kitchen unit door. That went too ?