Please read before you arrive. We will set the Sauna fire for you but we must brief you before use.
The Shearers Studio at Little Valley Farm contains two wood-fired stoves! It's one of the reasons it is an incredible place to stay on the cold nights the Hunter Valley is well known for.
More precisely, the Studio has an Australian-made Nectre Bakers Oven in the main area and a Finnish-made Harvia H2 wood-fired sauna stove in the bathroom area.
Not everyone has wood stoves or lights many fires anymore, so here we want to introduce how to use both types and light them.
Lighting the stoves
Invariably we ask guests to let us know if they will be using the stoves before they come, certainly for the sauna. The timber is cut, split, stacked and dried for at least two years before you arrive. Here on the farm everything is about preparation.
When you arrive the stoves will be prefilled with newspaper, a fire starter, kindling and small timbers. You should just need to light the newspaper and they will burn well for about 15 minutes.
The Nectre Bakers Oven may need the door slightly ajar to help the air get the fire burning in the first 10 minutes.
NEVER leave the fire when the door is open. The Harvia wood fired Sauna stove has a bottom grate sucking in air - Do not leave this door open at all.
After about 15 minutes the fire should be burning well. Do not smother the flames too early with big pieces of timber and do not leave it too long so the fire essentially goes out.
Introduce smaller pieces of timber and gradually build up to bigger, heavier pieces.
We leave a lot of kindling and small timber so you can have multiple fires, it is best to use it wisely. If you need more let us know with good notice. It has to be gathered from the bush or split from bigger stockpiles. ONLY burn what we have given you. Do not burn tissues or paper that you find lying around.
Nectre Bakers oven
The ‘Nectre’ was the original and only stove in our house before we renovated it. We refurbished it for the Studio. It can heat large areas and you can bake your bread in it too if you want!
Because the Nectre has a very long straight flue, it has an amazing draw, sometimes maybe too good. If the fire gets too hot it sucks in even more air, and the fire gets hotter and hotter. Please DO NOT OVERLOAD the firebox. The room is small and well-insulated; it will only get too hot.
Please do not use the Nectre Bakers fireplace during Summertime.
There are two tricks to help manage the amount of air entering the stove and controlling the heat:
1/ Air Intake spindle - the spindle on the front of the firebox, below the glass, should always be closed. It is unnecessary to use this as so much air enters around the glass and the door. Opening this with enough timber and heat will certainly overload the fire and it will get too hot.
2/ Bypass Damper - the damper is located on the top of the stove near the chimney, it has a chrome handle. Pulling this up closes the damper to divert the hot air around the sides of the oven. This will help get the bottom oven area hotter and it has the effect of reducing air intake and calming down the fire.
NOTE - it is impossible to make the Nectre burn overnight or even stay alight for long periods if you go out. Stacking the firebox and leaving it unattended is wasteful and potentially dangerous. You have plenty of kindling to easily restart the fire when you come back.
Spindle - air intake
Bypass damper - heats oven, reduces flames
Harvia wood fire sauna stove
This great little stove is perfect for small saunas. It has a much smaller fire box and retains heat through the use of dense, heavy stones on top.
This wood stove has an ash box and draws air up through a grate in the fire box floor. It has no air intakes and the door should never be left open, even while starting the fire.
Because the firebox is small it needs to be fed timber regularly to keep burning. Once established and one larger heavier log is placed in the firebox it will stay hot for the duration of your 40-60min sauna session.
For more on using the stove to have a great sauna see this blog post.
Nectre - all set. Split Stringybark helps get fire started.
Harvia - all set. Never leave this door open.
Timber
The timber used here in these stoves is mostly StringyBark, Ironbark, Grey Gum and White Maghony. All excellent Australian hardwoods. We mill some of our own timber here but these are off cuts or unsuitable for other uses.
The StringyBark is the lighter colour timber with straight grain. We split it into smaller kindling as it burns easily and it burns hot. The Ironbark is red in colour and is very dense and heavy. It burns long. The others are somewhere in between. Making great fires is often about choosing different timbers to achieve what you want.
Kindling and mixed sized & species of timbers.
Enough timber for 3 days.
Building your own fire
Setting or building your own fire is probably a post all of its own. But as a very simple overview of different ways to set fires this video is helpful (although not comprehensive).
I use a small “log cabin” it starts easily and has enough timber so stay alight for people to add to. A '“teepee” is a traditional way to do things, but works a little more easily in a campfire like the video. I would NOT do a “pyramid” as you don’t really have enough room and it is too much wood which may end up burning too hot.
(if you know a better, Australian, video let me know. I just did a quick search).
Please ensure you note our check-in times so we can meet you and cover the health and safety of all wood-fired facilities. You will not be able to light them until we cover our H&S upon check-in with you. If you are late for check-in then you will have to wait until the next day to meet up and show you. Your safety and ours is a priority.