My first top down fire and it sucked

[Highbeam]

So I got home and the family was gone, fire was out and house down to mid 60s. I took my time cleaning the glass and vacuuming the hearth before setting up my normal fire which involves a firestarter on the firebox floor and then kindling criss crossed held above the firestarter by being propped up on the doghouse casting below the window. The layers of smallish splits to the roof. I stopped and decided to turn the whole mess upside down and be part of the top down fan club. I have very dry fir to burn.

So medium splits on the bottom, criss crossed some more small splits, then three layers of kindling, the firestarter and then a few pieces of fine cedar kindling above that since I didn't believe the fire would spread down without a little help. The whole stack was nearly to the firebox roof.

I lit the firestarter and it started the top kindling and I had a pretty smoke free light off of the top two layers of my fire. The flue temps rose fairly quickly but then it just sort of petered out and I had a spent pile of coals atop the lower kindling and splits. Fire doesn't go downhill very well just as I had thought. It started well but never spread to the fuel load.

I had no choice but to add more kindling and small splits to the top of the failed fuel load to make a fire sammich until the bottom wood finally ignited and went away. My house was still cold when the family returned and I had wasted hours trying to start a fire using this silly method.

You can have your top down fires, I'll start mine from the bottom like they teach the boy scouts.

 

[PeteD]

You did not use the newspaper knots. It works great with less smoke than bottom up fires...I have been using shivers of dimensional lumber (pine) scraps at the very top with good success and my wood is not super dry.

Try it again....

Pete

 

[Jags]

Hey Highbeam - by the time I finished reading your post, my bottom up fire had flames hitting the burn tubes. :lol:

 

[rdust]

The first fire I ever had it my stove was a top down and I hated it, I wasn't at all impressed. Last night I decided to try it again and had MUCH better results. I lined the bottom with small splits that I re-split and used kindling on top of that with some news paper crumpled up(no knots). It worked and burned down to coals creating a nice coal bed for regular sized splits to be loaded on. I'm not 100% sold on it but I'm sure I'll try it again.

 

[kenny chaos]

Homey don't do newspaper bows.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Maybe Highbeam was thinking too hard about Vanessa and not hard
enough about his fire.

 

[Slow1]

I don't know if this is the difference that makes it work, but I never criss cross any of the layers when I build the top-down. Rather, I simply lay everything parallel and build it up that way. Mind you I don't pack it super tight so there are air gaps, but I don't go leaving spaces on purpose either. You may want to give that a try next time ?

 

[CrappieKeith]

Boyscouts knew what they were doing!

 

[Pagey]

You're doing it wrong, mang. You have to use more fire! ;-P

 

[kenny chaos]

live & learn homey= glad u pay sum attentions

:kiss:

 

[Pagey]

live & learn homey= glad u pay sum attentions

pook? = methinx

 

[Jack Straw]

I pretty much do it as Slow1 does with great success. I told my father, who has burned wood for 40 years, about top down fires. He thanked me after his 1st time of trying it. Who says you can't teach an old dog a new trick.

 

[kenny chaos]

live & learn homey= glad u pay sum attentions

pook? = methinx

Somebody should tell. WTF.

 

[laynes69]

I burn top down fires when the furnace is out, and it preheats the flue quick and eliminates a smokey firebox. Burns much cleaner and seems to heat up pretty quick. It burns for a couple hours before I load the furnace at that point.

 

[smokingolf]

I tried one last night also, I wasn't impressed either as it took me over an hour of playing with it to get it going again after the initial try went out. I think the bottom splits were too big and not enough kindling and I was using left over brown paper bags you get from the grocery rolled up tight as I couldn't get them into a bow. I will try again as Vanessa made it look so easy. My box (fire box) is smaller as it is an insert, sorry. %-P

Brian

 

[fredarm]

I tried a top-down fire two nights ago, laying the wood parallel like Slow1, annd using a Supercedar on top instead of the newspaper bows (I don't have the patience to tie bows), although I did throw one crumpled piece of newspaper on top to get the draft going. The fire took forever to get started and didn't really get going until I opened the door and threw a couple of pieces of kindling on top. Last night I did my usual "sandwich" fire with much better results. To each, his (or her) own, I guess.

 

[Highbeam]

You're right, no newspaper. I'm too young to read newspapers as so we just don't have any at home. It sure looked cool with the huge pile of wood and a brightly raging small fire sitting on the top against the baffle plate. The flue made lots more racket than usual since it was being heated from cold by a hot fire right near the flue entrance. Maybe next time I try will be outside at a campfire instead of at home when I need heat. It's hard to recover from a failed top down attempt since the box is stuffed with wood topped by a burnt out pile of coals.

 

[madrone]

2 smallish splits on bottom, supercedar, small kindling, medium kindling, 1 big kindling/very small split on top. Traditional boy scout fires sometimes fall over, or snuff themselves out, and take forever to draft well. Pure top-down fires sometimes peter out. I split the difference and so far it's never failed.

 

[JustWood]

Phaq it ! Get out the girl scout juice (lighter fluid)!

 

[Highbeam]

I love those girl scout cookies.

 

[kenny chaos]

I love those girl scout cookies.

You probably eat Brownies.

 

[SWNH]

I tried the top down in my shop furnace last week. It really worked. No smoke from the start to first reload. BUT, it took twice as long to get a roaring blaze going that my usual way of starting.

 

[Danno77]

i've been trying to get my wife to start a fire top down, but she complains that it's too chilly before it gets burning, so she needs a blouse at a minimum.

 

[greythorn3]

the top down ususally works for me, the only real problems i have with it is it hard to tie the bows without the newspaper tearing apart... other then that it works.. and when it doesnt, the mapp gas torch comes out to play.

 

[Motor7]

Like HB, I read all the fuss...tried the top down....pfhhhttt....it peetered out. Sorry, I'm a "Criss Cross Man & proud of it, no teepee, Criss Cross.....works every time & I ain't switching...............................;>!

RD