Flue Works

Buckley Rumford Fireplaces
Prototype Rumford Throat
First Rumford throat made by Superior Clay
4/28/07

In 1985 I stopped at Superior Clay Corp. to see if they could make a Rumford throat. Todd McClave said he could and then called me up about two weeks later to see the results.
See the original Superior Clay Rumford throat
After minor modification with my saw, we used the prototype throat to build a Rumford in the pallet shop and fired it immediately. In fact we built a really big fire finally on an expanded metal grate supported on concret block so that the flames played up in the throat. And we cracked the throat from top to bottom.
The fireplace has been used (abused) ever since every day when it's cold enough to heat the guys in the shop. The picture on the bottom was taken in April, 2007 - twenty-two years and about 3,400 days with a fire since the fireplace was built. The throat is still cracked but hasn't fallen out.