Fireplace tools

[Tips^Up]

Our new house has a wood burning fireplace. We're also in an area with few shopping options, so I'm looking at crap from amazon. I figure we need a poker, grabber tong thing, broom and scoop for ashes and bellow. What do you have for fireplace stuff?

Is it weird that I trust TGR more than any other review site...for basically everything?

[Mazderati]

A good fireplace guy. Bonus points if his name is Bert.

[dtown]

Below link for all your needs...poker and shovel are all I've ever really needed for the fireplace.

Make sure to have a chimney sweep out before any fires.

http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Firepl...J2gxoC8vXw_wcB

[jm2e]

I'd convert it to gas. I'd use it 100x more often. Maybe 1000x more often. And it would possibly be a more effective backup emergency heat source (in my home with electric heat pump).

[gaijin]

I prefer my rake over my poker.

http://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/030-jpg.147149/

[bodywhomper]

I like to use those gauntlet fire retardant gloves. Also a bucket for your ashes.

[Dave Minion]

A removable fire guard for when you have to leave the fire unattended for a short time.

and this...
Make sure to have a chimney sweep out before any fires.

[ThreeRidges]

A good fireplace guy. Bonus points if his name is Bert.

With penguins. He needs to have penguins.

[jackstraw]

Huh? You don't need any of that shit! Any shovel works and a piece of steel for a poker. Most of the time a piece of kindling works fine anyway.

[FLS]

Friend got these for my pyro wife as a goof. They actually work very well.



but this is indispensable, gets used all the time...

[Harry]

Huh? You don't need any of that shit! Any shovel works and a piece of steel for a poker. Most of the time a piece of kindling works fine anyway.

what he said.

I use an old branding iron for a poker.

[Core Shot]

Our new house has a wood burning fireplace. We're also in an area with few shopping options, so I'm looking at crap from amazon. I figure we need a poker, grabber tong thing, broom and scoop for ashes and bellow. What do you have for fireplace stuff?

Is it weird that I trust TGR more than any other review site...for basically everything?

If you have a hardware store, they have most of what you need. Any hand whisk (corn) broom, a small metal scoop and a metal bucket are all you need to empty ashes (even if hot coals in there).

Poker they should have at a hardware store. They are handy for moving logs around. you get the hang of it pretty quickly. Tongs are sometimes easier to use, but then its one more thing to store.

I'm not a big fan of the stand with the poker shovel broom set. they tend to be messy and get nocked off. All I have is a poker on the hearth. Broom and shovel and pail are in the garage.

Bellows are interesting, but if you have good dry wood and know how to buiild a fire it is not needed. You can also do the same thing with a blowpipe (a piece of 1/2" copper water pipe works fine).

Fatwood is a great firestarter. Order a box if your hardware store does not have it. You can start fires with paper or cardboard, but I hate the light flyaway ash it creates.

get an axe to split your logs into kindling to start the fire if you have trouble with your wood. I lay up fatwood, kindling and then logs to start - should be no need for blowing and bellowsing if you do that.

[Timberridge]

If you're looking for some late 18th/early 19th century tools expect to pay close to $3000 for a nice set. More ornate or red brass tools can add another $1000-1500.

Whatever you do don't put the ashes in a paper bag on the porch.

[BmillsSkier]

Whatever you do don't put the ashes in a paper bag on the porch.

Exactly, that's where the dog shit goes.

Oh, and I'm with the hardcore mags here. All you really need is a piece of steel you ripped off the carcass of a 1970s Oldsmobile and your bare fucking hands. Anything else and you may as well wear a skirt when you start a fire.

[RustyGroomer]

Get a longer poker but this is all you need. Like Core Shot said, hardware store should have it. Poker, cheap shovel, ash bucket, glove. Dog.

[Timberridge]

Exactly, that's where the dog shit goes.

Oh, and I'm with the hardcore mags here. All you really need is a piece of steel you ripped off the carcass of a 1970s Oldsmobile and your bare fucking hands. Anything else and you may as well wear a skirt when you start a fire.

Just be careful, the 442 W-30 code cars had some fiberglass panels IIRC.

Btw, my wife starts all the fires in our fireplaces (and on the porch) in our house..sometimes while wearing a skirt. I can't be bothered.

[BmillsSkier]

I'll keep that in mind. Up until now I've been using this piece of Detroit steel as my poker but could use something a little more nimble.



My wife is aware that there's a key you put in the floor to turn on the gas starter, and that there's a long lighter somewhere nearby, but has yet to combine the two on her own. Pretty sure it's one of the few reasons she keeps me around.

[Grange]

I have a wood burning fireplace at home and burn wood just about every night during the winter. The only things I use are a fireplace an ash scoop, bucket for the ashes, and welding gloves. The welding gloves I buy are the same gloves as the gloves sold in the fireplace store only they are half the price. I don't use a poker as I find that I can move the logs around easily enough with my hand while wearing the gloves. My fireplace isn't too deep so that I am not worried about burning my arm.

I scoop out the ash daily and for years my ash bucket was nothing more than an empty one gallon ice cream container.

A brush could be useful for cleaning up the hearth, but I use a hand held brush and broom pan that I have had for years.

[Grange]

Fatwood is a great firestarter. Order a box if your hardware store does not have it. You can start fires with paper or cardboard, but I hate the light flyaway ash it creates.

I use these types of firestarters:

https://www.amazon.com/Pine-Mountain...+for+fireplace

I can break each one into 4 pieces and use one piece to start a fire so out of one box of 24 I'll get about 96 fires. Where I buy them they are about 1/3 the price as they are on Amazon so they are cheap to use. I use dry hardwood and use the same size logs to start the fire as I throughout the burn. Like Fatwood it is much easier to get a fire going with these than to fiddle around with paper and kindling and they are much cleaner.

[Timberridge]

I can check with my wife and see what she uses.

[Bronco]

[milton]

My cape cod fire starter works pretty good.

http://www.gardeners.com/buy/cape-co...er/35-438.html

[BmillsSkier]

I'm told this is the only firestarter you'll need. Lasts all season long.

[Flyoverland Captive]

Use these for starters. One and done, no mess, no ash.

[irul&ublo]

With penguins. He needs to have penguins.

The penguin is on the telly