Fireplace Lowdown

Masonry Stoves: Rediscovering an Old Way of Warming

If you are looking for ideas on how to remodel your fireplace or you're thinking of installing a wood (or other type) stove for heating your home, there are some great books out there on the subject that are worth checking out.  Here's one for anyone thinking of buying a masonry heater:

The Book of Masonry Stoves: Rediscovering an Old Way of Warming

"Within the past decade, millions of Americans have discovered the economic benefits and personal pleasures of heating with wood. At the same time, many have discovered that there are serious problems associated with wood heat and iron stoves: chimney fires from creosote, air pollution from poor combustion, and structural fires caused by faulty stove installation. The masonry stove, widely used in Europe and Asia for centuries, surmounts these problems.

Masonry stoves... provide clean combustion at a high temperature, good efficiency, a high degree of safety, and little or no pollution. Masonry stoves require little care, needing to be fed only once or twice a day. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes from simple to elegant and from austere to gothic. And they are easily adapted to a variety of structures including solar designs."

The book covers all sorts of masonry heaters and may be worth picking up if you are thinking of installing a stove to help heat your home.

The Book of Masonry Stoves: Rediscovering an Old Way of Warming

Hearth Cooking "Magic of Fire"

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned ordering The Magic of Fire: Hearth Cooking: One Hundred Recipes for the Fireplace or Campfire . Based on the title, I was just expecting some recipes and a bit of information on how to get started cooking with my fireplace.  I was pleasantly surprised to receive a fat, over-sized hardback with 300 pages of recipes and information.  It's nice enough to be on display as a coffee table book.  The recipes list the expected ingredients and equipment required, but many also include pictures that illustrate the old-fashioned utensils and cooking methods that were used back in the day.  Some examples are: sketches of a 1720s French egg spoon that was used for cooking eggs over the fire, a long-handled fork that was used for roasting sausage, and a 17th century brass French Dutch oven that was used for "potato kugel" and any number of stews.  There are frequent literary quotations from the likes of Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker that refer to food eaten back in the hearth cooking days. In short, it's clear the authors of the book really took the time to research their topic and create a piece of work that's worth keeping in your library.  It's easy to see why all the reviews at Amazon are positive.

Incase you're curious, here are a few of the recipes included:

• Tile-baked breads
• Ember-baked Fish
• String-roasted Turkey
• Irish Soda Bread
• Cheese Waffles
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Ember-roasted Vegetables
• Irish Stew
• Chocolate

I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I plan to soon!

The Magic of Fire: Hearth Cooking: One Hundred Recipes for the Fireplace or Campfire

What's In Style: Fireplaces

What's In Style: Fireplaces (if you don't mind, I'll just shorten that to Fireplaces for the rest of the review) is a full-color, over-sized paperback from the Creative Homeonwer series.  I've read a few of their books before and always been impressed by the quality and variety of the included pictures. This book was not an exception.

I should warn you up from that Fireplaces is not a how-to-install-a-fireplace kind of book. Rather, it contains information on all the types of fireplaces (including various stoves and outdoor fireplaces such as chimineas and fire pits) available to the homeowner. It also covers design elements, such as how to arrange things around your fireplace to create an aesthetically pleasing flow. In the end, the book goes into available accessories to spruce up your fireplace area.

Here's a quick break-down of the chapters:

1. The Lure of a Fire--Basically a history of fireplaces and design with little tidbits off to the side here and there (for example, one is called "A Quick Guide to Buying Firewood" and offers a half page of information on the topic). This chapter also defines some commonplace fireplace terms such as ash dump, chimney, firebox, lintel, etc. Diagrams help you see how fireplaces and stoves work.
2. Blazing a Style--Talks about the style and design trends in fireplaces, going back to their roots in European designs of the High Renaissance. If you've ever wondered what "Baroque," "Georgian," or "Victorian," really mean, you can find out here (at least in relation to fireplaces). If you could care less, you can skip to the meatier chapters that get more into fireplace technology and today's offerings.
3. Fireside Arrangements--Kind of an interior design chapter that offers suggestions on arranging furniture and art to enhance the fireplace. If you've been trying to figure out what to do with the space over your mantel, this might be a good read.
4. Today's Technology--This chapter starts getting into what I think of as the meat of the book. We get tips on fireplace troubleshooting (how to deal with smoke coming into the house, etc) and information on manufactured fireplaces and masonry fireplaces (including the advantages and disadvantages of each), along with a section on hybrids. The chapter ends with the importance of keeping a clean chimney.
5. Outdoor Fire--If you've been thinking of adding an outdoor fireplace, fire pit, chiminea, or even just a patio heater, this section will help you figure out the advantages and disadvantages of each. It also gives you a rough idea on how much you can expect to pay for each.
6. The Latest Stoves--This chapter discusses the advantages of wood-burning stoves over traditional fireplaces as far as energy efficiency and heating go. It also talks about other types of stoves (electric, gas, coal-burning, etc.).
7. Tools and Accessories--This last section tells you about the basics that go hand and hand with a wood-burning fireplace or stove and offers some ideas for sprucing them up.  It also talks about helpful extras like damper plaques which tell you whether the damper is open or shut without sticking your hand up into the soot to check.

The book closes with a thorough glossary and a list of resources.

All in all, I would recommend Fireplaces. It's a nice blend of photographs and text. I think it would be best for someone trying to figure out what kind of fireplace is best for them and what their options are, or for someone who wanted to remodel a drab fireplace into a more stylish piece. However, if you know what kind of fireplace you want to install already, and are looking for a how-to book, you'll need to look elsewhere.