Accessories you wouldn't do without

Some of the cheaper gloves are not very user friendly, stiff as a board, I am also wondering about those zetex gloves.

Started using stovetop and pipe thermometers to keep track of when the stove begins getting whacky, small shovel, poker, ash hod, lighter.
Haven't gotten anything new, since all was here when we bought the house, and it all still works. Don't use the small broom, it gathers dust. Don't use the holder for the poker, etc., too much of a pain, and I use them too often to put away.
Don't use gloves, although I suppose they might come in handy at times. :cheese:
The new raised hearth, and now a chair to sit on while messing with the fire has been FANTASTIC so far this year.
Tractor (or something to pull the trailers full of wood), trailers, chainsaw, gloves when working on the woodpiles.
Oh yeah, the new woodshed.
I don't have a manpurse, so don't know if I could do w/o. :lol:

"Accessories you wouldn’t do without"

Pizza cutter!

Steve

Fire extinguisher

Long fire place gloves

Stove thermometer

lazy animal that gets in the way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSL4cmFW_GU
I have no problem with the larger sized gloves

This is great! Keep 'em coming!

Blimp, I don't even think I want to know #1, and I have #2 in spades

Dennis, could use a wife around here for sure. Someone to help cook and clean and take care of the kid, plus bring in wood. Sounds dreamy. Much more useful than most husbands :lol: You guys need to count your lucky stars.

huh?

#1 the wet newspaper in a bag
#2 the animal in the way

#1 is dick hill idea [hate to drop the name cause it might kill the debate} in case of chimney fire, bag is inserted, plastic melts, & steam releases slowly so to stop the chimney fire. never tried it but makes more sense than throwing water into stove

What woodburning 'accessory' couldn't I do without? Well, hearth.com of course!

Seriously, though couldn't burn wood without all the following so I'm not sure if you'd say any of these are 'accessories':

1. contacts for free wood (I've got about 8 cords of wood in various stages of seasoning, only 'purchased' a very small amount of that quantity)
2. chainsaw
3. truck to haul and trailer to tow the wood home
4. source for free pallets to stack my splits on
5. overlarge dolly to move wood rounds to the splitter, like THIS.
6. hydraulic splitter (old is good - my splitter is a 12-1/2 ton model built in the 1970's)
7. electric splitter for kindling (don't ask why I don't use a hatchet) and for splitting down overly large rounds in the garage if needed during cold weather
8. log carrier, similar to THIS.
9. leather gloves for loading firebox
10. galvanized garbage can for ashes

and, last but not least

11. A hubby with whom I can share the enjoyment of wood heat.

Still looking for some type of 'hoe' to rake ashes down into ash pan though... probably will have to have this custom made or make it myself.

Shari

I like to have the rechargeable Hand held Dust buster vacuum for those quick hearth clean ups. And Gotta have the long gloves!

I forgot a couple of things I am going to add this year:

I have the Oslo. Somewhere in the posts someone using an Oslo said they added just a loose strip of gasket material between the door and the interior to catch loose ashes that would otherwise fall out the door when loading or cleaning the glass.

Also, another tip someone else mentioned: Place a cookie sheet just under your wood burner door so when opening the door wayward ashes fall on to the cookies - makes for easier cleanup.

Shari

My installer mentioned this as well... although he mentioned a wet paper towel or toilet paper roll since it would hold more water.

A cosy armchair in front of my stove...a small table at the side to rest my beer and book on...that is my main accesories ;-)

I have this too, but the boy always seems to be in it. And sometimes the sheepdog.


I like the cookie sheet idea.

A large paintbrush works very well for us.

I agree that my gloves are my favorite fire side accessory. Reach right in there and arrange, load without any worries. Stay in too long and the gloves get real hot though.

poker (Shari, that's all you need to get the ash to fall into the pan)
thermometer
welding gloves
Super cedars
saws
splitter

I'm totally tempted to get one of these:

http://www.spitjack.com/page/SJ/PROD/FIREDRAGON



let me know if anyone has one and if it works before I spend the $!

A magnet for fishing out nails and staples (some of my kindling is from pallets and construction scrap wood).

Shoes to carry in wood besides flip flops. Been there done that.

Probably a stupid question, but why fish them out and not just dump them with the ash?
I bought and sold an old hearthstone without ever using it, I found a TON of nails in it when I cleaned it! But I just dumped them like the rest of the stuff into the holes the dogs dug in the yard! (Maybe I shouldn't have... they were deep holes though...)

How to get them out and what to do with them then, they are different questions, no?

I'm addicted to my IR thermometer. It tells me all kinds of things about my stove that I hadn't suspected before I started using it.

Also:

- Beat up old axe that I use for splitting big splits into small splits.
- Beat up old meat cleaver that I use for splitting small splits into kindling.
- 6-tine garden cultivator that I ground the tines down to stubs, used for separating coals from ashes.
- Deep-frying skimmer that I use to sift small coals from ashes.
- Unbreakable forged ash shovel that used to come with every Vermont Castings stove.
- Right glove that I use to lift the griddle top of my stove to load it.
- Hand truck to get the wood inside.
- Poker I forged in my old stove, has a 90º bend at the end for freeing jammed splits. The point fits perfectly into the air intake holes, so I can clean them out from the top door while the stove has a load in it.
- Hand mirror to inspect my flue for creosote every other week or so.