Laying a fire

Psykicpup

Yes this is how hubby does it .. scrunches up quite a few newspapers leaving some long bits sticking out round the edges, lays a layer or two of kindling sticks then a fairly small amount of coal on top (not too much or you will smother it). He then lights it starting at the back obviously (well wasnt to ME the 1st time lol) & has the little door for the ashes pan open to help it draw at 1st. Its important to empty the pan daily or the ashes will build up & also stop the fire 'drawing'. (Drawing is when it sucks in air and really roars, sometimes with quite large flames). Once it is established we add some more kindling or small logs & 'bank' it up with about twice as much coal as the first time & close the little door most of the way shut.. this often lasts us until bed time .. when we give it a good rake about & shut the door completely
HTH

meritaten

some very good advice above, once you have got it going a coal fire can burn for weeks if properly tended!
that is
not poking it too much!
adding more coal before it goes gray, and banking up the fire at night with 'small coal'. Thats the stuff that looks like crumbs - which you only get with ordinary coal and not the hard preformed looking coals.
raking it out each morning and evening and taking the ashes out (tip, they make a good non slip surface over icy paths).
if you have any red coals and want to add more coal and it refuses to burn - then be very careful - but holding a large sheet of newspaper over the fireplace helps it draw - at the first sign of browning of the paper whip it away! if it catches on fire just chuck it in the fire!
and lastly - get a good fireguard! real fires can spit sparks or bits of burning wood or coal out quite a distance! and can cause a real fire in the room!

newleaf

I had a real fire in my old house and lived in a smokeless zone. I used kindling, home made newspaper 'firelighters', and a small amount of normal coal to get it going, as that lights so much easier. Once it was blazing away, I could add my smokeless fuel (I used one called Homefire that burns very hot). It gave out loads of heat and always glowed red until next morning. I used to have to wait hours for it to cool down before I could clean out the grate though.

Paulie'sGirl

My Granda used to put my brother and I to work making firelighters out of loo roll tubes and newpaper / scrap paper.

We used to tear newsheets into A5 sized (roughly!) bits and then scrunch them up into the tubes quite tightly. It makes a slightly more slow burning starter cos they're more dense, good for coal / coke

PGxx