Journal - Patterns for Fire

This is the best place to keep up on our work. our blog includes the latest information from the Firespeaking team and is the best way to stay in touch. You’ll find an in-depth look into our work with masonry heaters and wood-fired ovens. Make sure also to join our mailing list to stay updated.

Codes & Standards for Masonry Heater Construction

January 28, 2025 / 2 Comments / By Max

A synopsis of codes and standards for masonry heater construction, including information regarding their efficiency for home owners and building officials.

Stone-Faced Masonry Heaters

December 19, 2024 / 3 Comments / By Max

Local Willamette Valley Basalt Ledge Stone with Soapstone Slabs & Tile Idaho/Montana Ledge Stone with Blue Stone Slabs & Cap Montana Bitterroot Ledge Stone with Granite Slabs All of these projects are functional masonry heaters putting out 10-20,000 BTU/hr over 24 hours based on one or two 38 lb. firewood loads a day. Learn more

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Custom Masonry Heater Design System

August 23, 2024 / 2 Comments / By Max

This is a progress report to let our community know what we have been working on. At the heart is a modular approach where the firebox, the heat exchange design, and options like adding an oven are independent of each other so that each can be developed and documented separately and then combined for each

Philip Godfrey’s 5-Run Masonry Heater

December 11, 2023 / 3 Comments / By Max

In the summer of 2023, we provided Philip Godfrey of Quebec, Canada with design services and hardware for the masonry heater he was planning to build. Philip was a DIY homeowner who had done a lot of research on masonry heaters and brought a wealth of industrial design and manufacturing experience to his project. He

MHA 2023 Annual Meeting Workshops

September 28, 2023 / By Max

This year’s Masonry Heater Association (MHA) Annual Meeting held in April in Little Switzerland, North Carolina, continued the tradition of bringing heater builders together from North America and around the world to share in the techniques and processes of masonry heater and wood-fired oven construction. Here are some highlights of the innovative work and great

Compact Contraflow Masonry Heater

February 23, 2023 / By Max

Conceptual Plans The basic pattern of this heater is called a Contraflow which sees the combustion gases leaving the firebox and splitting into two symmetric downdraft channels before joining in a manifold in the bottom courses and making there way to the chimney. We made a custom 4″x8″ pivoting damper to allow for an operable

Cooking in the Bali Wood-Fired Oven

January 16, 2023 / 3 Comments / By Eva

We love cooking all kinds of dishes in wood-fired ovens! Along with making some of the best pizza and bread; cooks can also roast meats and vegetables, make hearty stocks, delicious pots of beans, your family’s favorite pies, grill, sauté, dehydrate and so much more. Here are some photos and videos of a recent trip back to Bali to cook in a wood-fired oven which we built in 2012.

Cook in Your Fireplace!

November 4, 2022 / By Max

Ever looked at the fireplace in your house and wondered what useful function it serves anymore? Why not cook with it! Especially in the shoulder seasons when it’s not quite warm enough to BBQ outside, cooking in your fireplace is a wonderful way to increase the fun and coziness factor while getting dinner on the table! Cooking with fire is definitely an art, and one that is mostly learned through experience. So let’s get started!

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Masonry Heater Hardware Development

March 30, 2022 / By Max

We have put a lot of effort into developing additional hardware to complete our catalog of hardware for masonry heaters. Since we have been custom masonry heater builders for almost 20 years, we know how helpful it is to be able to count on all the hardware you need for a project.

Cookstove + Masonry Heater Hybrid

March 7, 2022 / 34 Comments / By Max

The impetus of this project is to create a single unit that combines a functional cookstove with immediate heat production with an efficient firebox for prolonged masonry heat storage. We will draw from medium-sized â€œbatch-boxâ€ development and use bypass dampers as switches to significantly alter the flow through the heater depending on the output desired.Â An important part of the project will be to experiment with an open-source flow for project development. This project is being developed in the context of a hands-on workshop that will be realized at the Masonry Heater Associationâ€™s 2022 Annual Meeting.

Open Source Heater Building

January 22, 2022 / 1 Comment / By Max

Progress is made painfully slowly by isolated individuals and small artesan companies each having to invent and build the wheel themselves. To the extent that each can make contributions to the overall body of knowledge and benefit from the shared resources that result, it might be possible to gather more momentum for this interesting and resilient technology. This article explores the potential for an open-source approach in masonry heater design and construction.

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Corner Masonry Heater Designs

May 30, 2021 / By Max

A design review of corner masonry heater designs.

Journal – Patterns for Fire