Andrew T Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I'm building a medium sized heavy fire grate. It will be about 20" wide 16" deep, with 7/8" or 1" square bars for the grate portion. What height from from the hearth do you recommend. This will be a low use fireplace, burning soft and hard wood with oak typical. I'm thinking about ease of fire starting, cleaning out ash, and ability for newly added logs to rekindle. Thanks, Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 It's a very good consideration for several reasons. First is how it looks but this is probably the easiest to deal with using either the golden mean or the thirds ratio. Dealing in multiples of 1/3s is a close approximation of the golden mean that works well enough for my tastes and most folk. So, being 20" wide 6"-7" clearance under the grate is probably close enough to 1/3 to look well. it's also high enough for your custom made ash hoe/shovel to clean ash and cinders from under it easily while matching the other fire tools that go with the grate and andirons. You ARE making the fire set to go with it. RIGHT? To fit the multiples of 1/3 approximation of the golden mean would make 12"-14" high andirons look proportional and not be too high to be uncomfortable for feeding a fire, provided the wood isn't too large of course. What's that? DO NOT tell me you hadn't included andirons in your bid with the fire grate and tool set?! Good thing you asked! Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 (edited) Along with the ashpan to control airflow, the backplate to reflect heat and control the smoke flow, log basket for spare fuel, froe for splitting logs etc etc And what's your basic design ? Horizontal bars or Vertical, parallel front or dished? Is it one unit or ducks nest basket ? All one level, or front corner supports taller, with a motif on top ? Widths of gaps will control airflow, wider gaps uses more fuel. Wish I had telepathy, may be able to help more then, Edited July 31, 2010 by John B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew T Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 The job is a tool set, screen, and fire grate with andiron like uprights. My initial design is about 4" off the hearth. I was concerned about getting to high above the coal bed with a modest fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 The job is a tool set, screen, and fire grate with andiron like uprights. My initial design is about 4" off the hearth. I was concerned about getting to high above the coal bed with a modest fire. Over here in the UK for a log fire, most like to have a ash bed about 3" to 3 1/2" high that tends to keep the fire at a pleasant tickover, Here are a couple I made some time ago that illustrate a wide variation, one contained and very controllable (Poor picture I am afraid) and the other more minimal, (On my workbench) Ducks nest and Andirons, very basic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecelticforge Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I have always used a hand's width, about 4 inches for all of mine. Just make sure that if the logs roll, they will roll that they will not roll out of the fire place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew T Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 John, mine will be similar to your second photo. Are you at 3" to 3.5" clearance under that one? Thanks for the feed back so far. Additional comments are encouraged, I'll check back tomorrow. Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 John, mine will be similar to your second photo. Are you at 3" to 3.5" clearance under that one? Thanks for the feed back so far. Additional comments are encouraged, I'll check back tomorrow. Andrew The tops of the andirons are about 4" high, so very similar to what you are proposing, The ducks nest was 20mm square bar spaces are 20mm ( ie 16" front to back ) and about 30" wide, so slightly larger than yours but near to it proportion wise. Here is a front view Hope my comments help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I like my fire low in the fireplace, so 4 inch or less below the rack. Having the wood stay INSIDE the fireplace is important. I like my fireback, it really does help move heat with any rack configuration. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 I've always made them about 4" high, not sure where I got that number but have never had a complaint. Of course around here most folks have wood stoves or some other system to do the real work, fireplaces in this day and age are purely decorative and therefor performance is secondary to appearance. Seems that most (rich) people that are buying hand forged fireplace accessories wouldn't know a good fire if it bit them, so add that fact into your functionality/marketing equation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew T Posted August 1, 2010 Author Share Posted August 1, 2010 Thanks for the responses, I'll aim for about 4". Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.