Do you need a grate if you're burning logs in an open fire?

[wisemanscamel]

This sounds dozy, but I can't find the answer. We have always burnt coal on our open fire at Christmas time. This year we have been given loads of logs. However, when we put them on the grate, with the ash pan underneath and burn them, the hot bits fall through the holes into the ash pan and it's not very good. Do we put the ash pan on top of the grate and sit the wood in that? Or do we take the whole lot out and just make the fire on the stone in the bottom of the hearth (then the bottom of it is hidden by the iron bit at the front of the hearth - or do we remove that as well?)

Thank you in advance

Not entirely sure what you mean. The grate goes over the ash pan. The ash (or some of it will fall into the ash pan. Ideally you have the grate so that air can reach the logs from underneath.

Logs like to burn on a bed of ash so leave some of it in the grate when you start the fire and it will light more easily.

Thanks Virgil. Perhaps the holes are too big in the grate then? What happens is that when I put a new log on, all the ash just drops through the grate, so it is never sitting on a bed of ash. We put the ash pan on top to see if it made a difference and we got a red glow of ash in the pan, so I wondered if maybe, you got trays to build a wood fire in rather than putting it on a grate.

Unlike coal, which needs to sit on a grate, wood will burn OK on a bed of embers and ashes.

The ashes will make a lot of dust in the room, so use a lid on the pan or bucket you use to carry them out. I have heard of people putting the (cold) ashes in a metal bucket with water in it to prevent the ash dust billowing out, but have never done it myself. As long as the ash is cold you can put it on the compost heap. Wood ash often contains nails so keep it away from tyres.