Fireplace Tool Set

Not just for decorations or impromptu halloween costumes

The essentials

Bellows: Unfortunately, many newer sets do not include a bellows, which allows you to deliver the oxygen that a fire needs to get up and roaring in a short time. Before a fire really takes off, the combustion often cannot cycle the air in the amount needed to sustain itself. By using a bellows, you can facilitate this by overly enriching the oxygen flow until the fire becomes self-sustaining. Use it with your charcoal grill as well. This can cut the time between ignition and self-sufficiency from as much as an hour to a matter of minutes.

Screen: Equally important is the screen. One should never build a fire in a fireplace without one. The screen contains the fire that invariably seeks to self perpetuate by sending burning embers out into the room. The screen allows you to enjoy the fire without feeling like a naked person frying bacon.

Shovel and broom: These are necessary for two reasons. First, when you add logs to a fire you often have a need to sweep up a bit of hot ash and embers that spill out onto the hearth. You will want to do this quickly for safety reasons. Another reason for the shovel and broom is for fireplace maintenance. After each fire the excess ash should be cleaned in order to keep the chimney as free as possible of creosote. Doing this will cut costs for chimney sweeping and also reduce the likelihood of a flue fire.

Ash bucket: This is what addresses the issue of where to go with the detritus collected by the shovel and broom. You won't want to put ash straight from the fireplace in the trashcan; this is where the ash bucket comes in. It is often good to keep a few inches of old ash in the bucket for a number of reasons. If you need to dispose of hot coals, the small amount of ash will help to extinguish it in a quick safe manner.

All of the above are very important in considering a set of fireplace tools. Two tools that I left out are the prod and tongs. This is because their use is intuitive and no set seems to lack their inclusion. And let's not forget the most important tool of all: the Fire Extinguisher. Buy it and make everyone in the family read the directions.

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