Simple is so much better in everything. Over all, i put just four little woods with a single fire-starter cube inside, as shown in the Zurich Brochure. OK, I admit it. The charcoal keeps the next layer heated up so *it* produces wood gas and slowly turns to charcoal, and on and on. Looking from above they make a #. 2. The most common mistake in building up the top-burn fire is not graduating to fine enough kindling. Upside Down or Top Down Method of Lighting a Fire. I put some wood pieces well stacked in, with smaller ones (branches) on top. What's the difference between them? This brightly burning fire makes it less likely that the fireplace will smoke as it heats the chimney without the interference of loads of wood resting on top of it. Thanks for the info on the fire-I appreciate it! Add a kindling layer (small twigs about the size of your pinky) on top of the stack. No paper at all. An upside down fire can be used pretty much anywhere you would build a traditional fire. Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Workweek and Lifestyle Design Blog. That’s how I made campfires all my life. It was still burning in the morning and cleanup was really easy. This will make a sideways ‘V’ shape which is what you place your pots on – big pots/fry pans on the wide side and small pots on the narrow side. Amazing! Of course I had to go and move to Florida, where this will rarely be needed, and I don’t think they even have fireplaces down here . We layered the big pieces of wood in a criss cross fashion as kind of a platform and then on the very top, we built a tiny little teepee fire. Get … Being as we live in Mexico, and the local kindling is called ‘diesel,’ it took a few tries to get this to work. I over thought it, of course, stressed about it, of course but it worked and actually gave me more manly-man satisfaction than the usuall hours of fire tending and stoking. Upside down fires also produce more heat than traditional fire-starting methods while greatly reducing the amount of smoke caused by the fire, which can be one of the more frustrating aspects of fireplaces. Then, as the wood doesn’t have any of the gas materials left in it, the charcoal ignites. Where were you 25 years ago, when I had to make fires everyday for our wood burning stove to kept our house warm? it originated in Europe hundreds of years ago as the fire-build­ ing technique of choice for the massive tile stoves widely in use. GOt to be tried though I think! Lots of great stuff. By create a hotter environment the larger logs will cook hotter and burn hotter than if started cold with a starter kindling underneath. The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 500 million downloads. thanks Tim. A top-down burn, sometimes called an upside-down fire, allows for a cleaner burn, and makes the best use of the fireplace, producing less smoke in the process. Still less maintenance, but some maintenance will be necessary for any fire that you need to last all day, right? And it’s damn cold at the moment…. Were were on an overnight camping trip. I wonder how this would work in a wood stove, where you want it to keep burning past the 8 hours. We joked with, Sven, the camp counselor that we had come up with a better way to build a fire and he told us it was a fluke and that we should stick to the tried and true method in the future. Is there another way to build this fire without the starter logs? This was really cool to read, and when we go camping I’ll have to try it, even if I get laughed at by the guys who were boy scouts who always love to tell me what I don’t know. Since most fireplaces aren’t actually very well designed for fires, this is a huge benefit. There you place a fire-starter (the red ring in the second picture). My first try, yasterday, was a great success: I have a closed type fireplace (with a glass door). Stack smaller logs on top. Thanks for the great comments! I’m saddened by the predominance of gas log fireplaces in Atlanta. Prime the flue. This is great! Most of the time I am unwilling to let the fire go completely out in my airtight so I am still going to need to avoid pine and wet wood when adding fuel. Starts with jokes against those who try a different way, then it becomes argument, and then violence. It's quite simple. I never would have thought it, being so ingrained by “those in the know”, and camping all my life. LOL! Pingback: How to Build the Best Fire | Wild Rye, Pingback: upside down fire | Admit One / mental gymnasium. For some people, stacking and lighting a fire … Didn’t expect to be reading about fire-starting in the reader this morning . LOL, and you’ll go the distance with a minimum of waste. Worked perfectly, first time! I started it at 4pm and it was still going at 11pm, very impressive. The platform part was very similar to yours. If you give it a chance, you'll find that your fires will become consistent, predictable performers with fewer false starts and much less smoke. Maybe this will create enough heat to start the draft up the chimney. Would we just have to wait until it’s completely out and then rebuild and light the whole thing again? Each layer should be laid down crosswise (perpendicular) on top of the layer below, similar to the method used when building a log cabin. We lit the tiny little teepee fire, snickering in anticipation for the reaction following the return of the group. Did you give our step-by-step instructions a try? my wife used to walk in and the first words out of her mouth would be “it smells in here” now she just says “oh you lit a fire”. Good stuff as always Tim! Connect two rooms, line an entire wall, create a shared indoor / outdoor space. The upside-down fire produces and projects much more heat than a standard tipi fire. I Will comment on the result of my attempt to mimic the photos shown above. i can finally throw my poker in the garbage! 2. SIde note: truly enjoy your site and book. We used this top-down firemaking method all the time for our woodstove when we lived in Upstate New York and it works just as well for woodstoves too. I always struggled making a lasting fire on my barbecue. But it’s best to separate them slightly as when they’re packed together (as they are when you buy them) they really struggle to get going. The little tiny teepee was gone, but we still got a laugh. The upside down fire also helps reduce smoky fireplace problems by warming the flue. Here’s the problem: sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t work at all. Starting The Upside Down Fire To light an upside down fire, you would ignite the fuel that you placed on top – the stuff that is easiest to burn. You are going to lay your base layer of logs down in the next step so you will want your pit clear of debris and as level as possible so the fire you build will not topple over as you build it up. NB: The size of our fire place is literally no bigger than 2ft x 2ft x 1.5ft(tall) so I had to downside the setup. The first 20 minutes are a trying time using this method. NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE BROCHURE. I encourage you to give it a try next time you are camping or setting up a backyard bonfire. because it is not mentioned here (or i read it over) is on the second page, the first line of pictures. It worked GREAT!!! Tim – thanks for the great tips on building an upside-down fire. Light the middle and watch it go up. Lots if good tips for living frugally and richly. Enjoy the warmth and reap the rewards of a better method, as counter-intuitive as it might be. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatwood. Great idea! Standard fire-building lore would have you believe a great fire starts with a tipi of wood and pile of tinder under it. As punishment we were put on fire duty. No smoke or minimal smoke – this is related to the thermodynamics of the flue air being heated faster, based on explanations I’ve read. I am going to try this in my wood stove for my overnight fire. @ RC – just wanted to confirm – Tim tweeted about fire building suggestions in December and I responded with a youtube link on the blog comments — I was looking for efficient ways to build a fire in a woodstove as a new woodstove owner I really like the efficiency of this method, as a hyper-green person! It freaking works better than described. Also, there was almost no smoke back-draft and house kinda smelled like Cracker Barrel. I have no need to poke and prod for hours! I can make a raging furnace like the world has never seen, a crackling and screaming banshee of life-giving heat that springs to life. What I appreciate about your blog is the varied nature of what you post about, around the central theme of counter-intuitive optimizations! I will keep you all posted once I start working on it. No ashes – this amazed me. The genius of an upside down fire is that it frees you from this chore! And it’s not just the length of the fire that improves. I will certainly try this out. You are going to use large fuel wood for this layer, larger than your thumb. Add a layer of smaller logs, then kindling and loosely bunched newspaper–all the way up to the top of the firebox, leaving only a couple inches of space. Glad I could make a small contribution. The Upside-Down Fire We like to build our fires upside down, meaning lightest (on top) to heaviest (on bottom) – think of a pyramid – as opposed to the more traditional method of stuffing paper under the logs and letting the fire … So then you also have to think about soot or creosote that could settle in your chimney and be a cause for chimney fires. Here are some suggestions for kindling that have worked well for me in the past: Shelter your match and tinder from any wind (If you are lighting your fire with an EverStryke Match, you don’t need to worry about this) and get that fire started. It’s been 1 hour and 10 minutes of continuous burn and I haven’t done anything but light the match. I’ll give it a try this afternoon. “That is genius and exactly what I expect from you and this site. Greenhorns build campfires by laying down a few logs, laying down a few sticks and dropping the tinder on top. When you’re done you probably create a total of 3 or 4 levels with a lot of twisted newspaper in the middle. You can see it on the first page, it’s the four pictures at the lower line. Great post Tim! Follow the written instructions and refer to the pictures if you run into any trouble. Second picture: In NARROW AND HIGH fire-places place the wood upstanding with the cut (open) side to the top. When we went to cut our tree at Christmas, the local forestry department in Zürich was giving out a brochure which described exactly this. 1. How to build a fire in your fireplace without smoking yourself out of your house. A little research caused me to learn that the smoke from a fire is more damaging to the lungs of me and mine than tobacco smoke. A beautiful, slow burn to the bottom logs and created incredible heat. fire" because, starting with the biggest logs on the bottom. There were no spaces between logs at the bottom, then every other layer had an empty box. Combine this with the supposed 90% efficiency of a “Russian Fireplace” and you might have a killer combination. Leo Babauta on Zen Habits, Antifragility, Contentment, and Unschooling (#488). Perfect illustration of counter intuitiveness and challenging commonly held beliefs. Obviously, they’re waterproof as well. It worked quite well, however what do you do when it’s down to the bottom logs and you’re wanting to keep the fire going when you go to bed? I follow the same process whether the fire is housed in a freshly-dug fire pit, an established ring (as pictured) or even in my Snow Peak Pack-n-Carry Fireplace. I’ve read that their chemicals and the process of producing them can be environmentally taxing. Build an Upside Down Fire. Thus, I get to enjoy (not) the smoke from their fires. Okay, bad joke. we were snickering the whole time. 1. Every still laughed at and joked at how the fire looked like a burning tenement. Several fire-building methods exist, and all of them have their merits. ... this is a blog posting about the Upside-Down Fire. Am I overlookjng some sodt of “share” button/feature? If there’s a particular way you like to build a fire, by all means do it. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. To Build an Upside Down Fire: Place a layer of your largest logs at the bottom, tight against each other with no space … (Not that I was trying very often… I was convinced the design was just horrible, and the fireplace was useless). Here’s what it looks like in photos, which you can scan through quickly, taken here at Christmas 2008 at home on Long Island. But, I bet he will now that he’s read this post If anyone has done this in a wood stove, let me know: mountaincabinnc@gmail.com – Thanks! Now I have a perfect excuse to build a fire in the name of science. The great thing about this post is that it not only flies in the face of conventional wisdom, and what every good boy scout is taught, but that the answer (better solution) was right there in front of our faces for so very long. Take everything you have learned about fire making and well...turn it upside down. thank you tim! May I present to you the Upside Down Fire: The Upside Down Fire Method. But if you’re looking to build a clean-burning fire that lasts for hours, you might consider using the “upside down” fire … Thank you again! Another cool post! For added pop, drip some candle wax on the cones before you use them. This is amazing. Thanks for another interesting article, Tim. I’ve been building fires since before my Scout days, I was taught to build them exactly as you described, this looks so much better, cannot wait to build it and see for myself….B Jim. These melted into the first layer of sticks and helped get the thing hot enough to work beautifully. This reminds me of our village’s annual New Year’s bonfire here in rural Japan: We get wood and bamboo from the surrounding forest and build the fire with the largest logs first in a criss-cross pattern. Love this and ensures making fires is more of a pleasure than chore babysitting the initial flames. I have an old-fashioned Franklin stove in my lake house in Pennsylvania. 5 hours later after returning from a night out I was shocked to find most of the wood had been consumed and the house was nice and toasty. Copy and paste the url into an email, Facebook, etc and send it to your friends and family, here it is: https://www.thebugoutbagguide.com/upside-down-fire/ Logs would have some gaps anyway because of their natural irregular shape. It is very disappointing. Fourth picture: In STORAGE HEATER place the wood with the cut (open) side to the front. Earlier, before leaving for the trip, Larry and I we were caught jumping off the roofs of the camp cabins after being told not to. Adding the smaller wood criss-crossed as the fire builds up, eventually adding your kindling and tinder to the top of the fire. I got about 5 hours out of a 50% smaller stack of wood than this in our large woodstove. I put the bottom logs perpendicular to the opening right on the floor of the fireplace, it worked very well, no burning logs rolling out and I ended up with a bed of coals that I could toss anything on and it would burn. It can be a great option for many applications: Yes! This is how I make a campfire fire now. Wow – definitely going to give this a try! It does take a little practice to get right and you do have to use dry firewood to make it successful. p.s. I didn’t know how to make a fire. I have noticed that some bricks are laid upside down without mortar inside … No smoke or minimal smoke – this is related to the thermodynamics of the flue air being heated faster, based on explanations I’ve read. But if you’re in it for a short duration fire, this works great! Wood stove enthusiasts actually favor the upside down fire building method as it tends to heat up the chimney pipe faster than a traditional fire and by doing so increases the stove’s efficiency. Keep up the amazing”ness” (Owen Wilson, “You, Me, and Dupress,” couple years ago). Turning things upside down, it turns out, yields longer and hotter flames. Does this work as effectively for campfires? A few more great suggestions from other readers (also answering Mike’s question about use for campfires): Keep up the conversation, and thanks again. The upside down fire does this automatically with the same amount of wood but far less active management. As any real estate agent will tell you, we humans love a good fireplace. While my wood stove is large enough to keep a fire going most of the night, it does nearly go out by time to get up in the early morning, leaving only coals and a chilly house. Efficient. You need something that is small enough to be ignited with your match, lighter, or firestarter but that will burn long and hot enough to get your kindling to start burning. It would be nice to show off this fire building technique to “seasoned veterans” and it be a spectacular success. I started with 2 decent sized large pieces of wood then 3 split smaller sized and toped it off with some broken (as flat as I could find) pieces. Light the fire from the top, and enjoy fuss-free flames all night. The upside down fire is totally the way to go. And if you suddenly need to leave the house, just sweep the burning wood off the top and they go out, and resetting the kindling is easy for re-ignition. Ok, I knew this was a spoof and I would end up with a smoldering mess. If you know Woods it called actually upside down fire. Ceremonial campfires may be needed to provide light for ninety minutes or more. Does anyone know how well this works without the fire starter squares? The more stable the structure of your upside down fire, the better it will be, as the structure won’t be compromised while burning which will lead to more complete combustion for all the wood, right down to those big logs at the bottom. Wow, the article was an exciting read and the comments were an awesome exchange of ideas, many thanks! Perfect for indoor decorations, outdoor lamp posts, patio lights or really any light fixture of your choosing, these bulbs give that fireplace feel without the hassle of any smoke or fire hazard. This method changed my life. I needed a fire-building method that worked every time with all types of wood, whether dried like an octogenarian in Palm Springs, or bordering on waterlogged, like most of the wood we had at home, which had been rained on due to a punctured tarp. This apparently did not affect the results. Try it both ways, grated and grate-less. What you’ve covered is essentially a small exhibit of why forest fires can get so hot and out of control. Some of the best times in my life were around great fires. I’ll have to give it a try. It’s great to pass on useful stuff, but at least try to give your sources. I tried it tonight, and it worked like a charm. That is good for the environment. The next layer is finely (1″ square, 12″ length) split dry wood, and then large (3″ diameter split) pieces surrounding (yes yes, split wood is squarish, not roundish, so it doesn’t technically have a “diameter,” but you get the idea). It’s was great to see that side of you. With appliances now being more efficient not as much heat is lost up the chimney and more radiated into the room. The best light-off material for the topmost layer is cedar shavings, but a bit of newspaper will do. As it is self feeding you will be able to build it before bed, light it, and then keep warm without having to climb out of your sleeping bag or shelter. Because of this extra burning, the smoke disappears.). Maybe I’m wrong. How to build a fire in your fireplace without smoking yourself out of your house. This is one cool way to heat up the house and save on propane. I agree with the first comment. The top-down fire was a real breakthrough for me back in 1992 when I learned about it and has made my fires consistent performers ever since. Awesome, awesome, awesome is all i can say! But I do like camping or sitting around a good campfire just about any time of year. Place this tinder on top of your kindling. Will fit any shape of flue – round, square, rectangular or even triangular . 1) The upside-down fire will take longer to produce large flames, and it might not look like much for about 20 minutes. So many great memories formed around fires large and small. You can light your upside down fire and then focus on other tasks like setting up camp, preparing food, or just relaxing with your fellow campers. This entry was posted in Expert Tips , Fireplace … We were told to build a teepee type fire the way the camp counselors had taught us. Enjoyed the book and your blog. Keep up the amazing trend. Good stuff, thanks again to Tim for putting it in the mainstream! Tried it last evening – produced a great fireplace fire. You take four smaller pieces of wood which you stack with some space in the middle. The Swiss PDF methods look promising, but this is an area where we need more of a literature review. So, now you know how you build your own upside down fire. To point out what Victor mentioned: “When we went to cut our tree at Christmas, the local forestry department in Zürich was giving out a brochure which described exactly this. The best way to do something that is often counter-intuitive. But it would be nice to have as a pdf. It works great in my cast-iron chimenea. Stick to the same method of laying each layer down crosswise across the layer below it to allow proper air flow. HA! Looks like it makes sense. Several fire-building methods exist, and all of them have their merits. hide. Trying again the next day with a much more modest pile of wood has left me choking and the lounge smelling like a campsite. Then you add larger pieces of wood on top of the kindling followed by even larger pieces of wood. Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? My understanding was that the tipi method was used to get the fire started (thus the high allowance for airflow). Since 99% of the fires used in Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are for individual cooking fires (Teepee for a quick boil or Log Cabin for frying), yes, they teach ways that burn out quick and are easy to extinguish. Thanks! As the fire burns each layer that you built should ignite the next one down all the way to your base layer of logs. That every fiber is converted into heat might be deceptive with upside down fires I think, I agree that this type of fire would make it burn more of it, but that this ash might as well be carried of and up with the hot air. These very small wood pieces are typically 1/4″ x 6″ lengths stacked vertically at the base of the teepee (chipped with a hatchet, broken further with an 8oz claw hammer). Having had numerous problems lighting our stove in the past, I’m proud to say that this method worked extremely well for me. Simply sweep or vacuum the cold ashes and dispose of them outside. 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