Self-proclaimed “fireplace nerd” Trey Miller has the goods.
A former Boy Scout, Brookhaven resident Trey Miller never outgrew his fascination with fire. He founded Southern Andiron, a fire accessories retail shop and consulting business in Chamblee, with his wife, Marjorie, and turned his passion into a business in 2019. When he’s not selling real estate for Sotheby’s, Miller makes and sells firewood storage, tools, screens and andirons. “We build them right here in our shop,” he says. “Others that I sell are 250 years old!”
Here, he shares more about his fire-forward products and projects.
What are andirons?
They are two horizontal supports that raise the wood off the firebox floor just enough to allow oxygen to get to the fire and for the wood to combust into light. Andirons give you the opportunity to have a quick, efficient fire with the maximum amount of heat, so you don’t have to mess with the firewood as much as you do on a traditional fireplace. Andirons have been around since 3 A.D. It was the primary way people would get a fire going.
How did you become interested in them?
I’ve always had an affinity for andirons. I taught myself how to forge and learned blacksmithing from an older gentleman in rural Alabama. About seven years ago, I helped a friend with his fireplace and brought him a set of andirons. A couple weeks later, he sent me a picture of his fire with a fireplace grate. But you don’t need the grate—just the andirons. I realized folks didn’t know much about fireplaces and andirons. That started us on a path of educating people about fireplace tools and making them. I continued to educate myself and learned that fireplace grates derived from burning coal. They were never supposed to be used for firewood.
What do you like about fire?
I love what a wood-burning fire does for fostering community. Whether it’s at summer camp, a bonfire or even in your living room, I don’t think anything fosters community as well!
What advice would you give people making a fire?
Having the proper tools to be able to tend your fire is important. Having a fireplace screen that doesn’t just fit and cover a part of the opening but that completely conceals the fire box is necessary. Our screens are designed to be inset, so they’re very safe. With andirons, you can have less smoke coming out of the fire box because when you generate the amount of heat that comes from andirons with heat and oxygen, it makes the smoke go up versus out. This makes sure you’re burning wood in the most efficient manner.
What’s been your favorite project thus far?
We do a lot of fireplace makeovers for people and a lot of business with clubs and resorts all over the country. When I first visited the Grove Park Inn in North Carolina, they were using a large fireplace grate between a big set of andirons that were basically decoration. I was able to educate the general manager and explain to him, “You’re going to have a better, hotter, cleaner fire if you just used your andirons versus using the fireplace grate.” They removed the big, old grate, and now they’re using the andirons as they were used 100 years ago when the Grove Park Inn was founded.
What do you do for fun?
I like to golf, ski, hunt and fish. I love to get out in the woods to harvest and split firewood—pretty much anything around a fire. We have a cabin in Canada where we go with our three daughters every summer. We also make fires at home year-round.
SOUTHERN ANDIRON
678.580.2218
southernandiron.com
@southernandiron
