How to build, start, or keep an efficient colonial style fire in your fireplace

This short video covers the old style, colonial set up for starting and keeping a fire in your fireplace. The early colonists used their fireplace for heating and cooking, so they needed a setup where a fire could be easily maintained and started quickly when required.

I'm using standard andirons for the left and right irons, a large flat log piece for the rear (about 8" to 12" in height) and a smaller flat log piece for the front (about 4" to 6" in height).

In my video, I piled some embers from the previous night together and waited for a few minutes until they re-ignited. If you don't have embers, just pile some tinder or kindling in the middle then cover with some newspaper and light the center from the top. Then keep adding bigger pieces of wood as the fire grows.