Has anyone come across a woodstove tool like this?

[turtle]

I bought this stove tool decades ago from a small mom and pop hardware store. It was the only one they had and they could not remember where they got it or that they even had it.

It has been the BEST stove tool I have ever used. I wondered if it was made by someone or if it was commercially made.

Overall length is only 24" and it appears to be made out of 3/8" round stock. The end is bent over and flattened.

 

[fraxinus]

Northline Express has something very similar called an ash rake. It's the tool I use most frequently.

 

[fossil]

That's not an ash rake, it's a simple poker, although with the bent end flattened, it'll rake stuff around a bit. Rick

ETA: Maybe I should say "hybrid" rather than "simple".

 

[LLigetfa]

I'm not seeing anything resembling an ash rake but I see a shovel that looks factory made and a poker that could well be home made or factory.

As for a rake, I made a combination ash hoe and coal rake head to replace what was a whisk before the wife melted it down into a blob.

 

[turtle]

Here is a better pic of just the tool and one of the bent end.

 

[szmaine]

We have an old fashioned poker like that - though ours has a hand grip that is like an open spiral of wire if you know what I mean.
We put it to general use but I believe it is for gripping the shaker grates that our old cook stove has - you reach in, grab a hole with it to shift the grate back and forth -one part slides over another causing the ash to go to the ash pan.

Edit: Saw the new pics - ours doesn't have the flattened end so I guess it is different.

 

[begreen]

I bought this stove tool decades ago from a small mom and pop hardware store. It was the only one they had and they could not remember where they got it or that they even had it.

It has been the BEST stove tool I have ever used. I wondered if it was made by someone or if it was commercially made.

Overall length is only 24" and it appears to be made out of 3/8" round stock. The end is bent over and flattened.

Yep, I've had a tool like that for many years and use it every burning day. It been so long now, I've forgotten where I picked it up. I think it may have come with the 1979 VC Resolute along with the shovel? It's my favorite too.

 

[turtle]

Edit: Saw the new pics - ours doesn't have the flattened end so I guess it is different.

The flattened end is what makes this simple tool. I can put it on the bottom of the stove and push the burnt ash to the rear which pops up the hot coals to the top then I can rake them forward. The bend is only 2" but this seems just right for every need inside the stove, moving logs around, moving coals or moving ash. The bent "handle" gives unexpected control and leverage. It is more like an extension of the hand then a tool. Just a twist of the writs is all it takes to move anything around.

It works like a plow and rake (plowing back the burnt ash and raking forward the hot embers).

And it is small (just 2 feet long). Perfect for a small stove like the Jotul 602 we use.

Who ever figured this one out had their program together.

 

[Corey]

Have something similar I built 15 years ago. Oak handle, 3/8 rod with a bend on the end. Though I opted for a little longer length so between that and callouses on the knuckles I don't need gloves Dang handy! Kind of funny to think with all our intense focus on btu, moisture content, secondary combustion, specific heat, burn time, proper temperature, best stove, glass cleaning, etc... when it all comes down to it, we've basically got fire in a steel box and we poke at it with a stick.

 

[LLigetfa]

My parents had a poker that looked like that. The flattened end had a cross hatch pattern embossed in it that made me think it was factory made but I suppose one could squeeze the end of it in a vise and transfer the hatch marks from the vise jaws.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I use two of those and a metal dustpan. It's all I've ever needed.

Matt

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We had one that was almost identical to yours and I don't for the life of me remember where it went. It definitely is handy. We also have a garden hoe (or had one; it seems to have gotten misplaced since last spring) that we bent the hoe part into an L shape and cut off the handle so it is only a couple feet long. That can work really nice for cleaning ashes.

 

[savageactor7]

Those are the only 2 tools any wood burner really needs...and the leather gloves.

 

[tickbitty]

How big is that thing? Blacksmith down the road can make just about anything - cheap! Maybe another pic with a measuring tape in it? Please? If the guy can make me one I can give y'all his address and maybe he can send them to the rest of you!

 

[tw40x81]

A very similar poker was included with my new Morsoe 1440.

 

[billb3]

I had a fireplace log poker like that eons ago except it was wrought iron (yours looks like steel round stock), had the flat end like that (instead of the usual 'fish hook') on the business end, but the handle was hammered square instead of just left round.

Was part of a matching set of fireplace tools.


Now I have just a rod with the end bent over and a point filed on it.
Made it out of one of those hanging plant holders that get stuck in the ground and the wind blows over.
Not terribly heavy duty but it works.

 

[KarlP]

(broken link removed to http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?page=hearthside-wood-rack&categoryId=18724&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId;=-1)

Similar to the rightmost tool on the rack perhaps? My parents bought me the rack at a consignment shop near them shortly after I got the stove. Its a really nice rack and tool set, not sure its worth list price though.

Looks like they sell the tools alone as well...

(broken link removed to http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=61789&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId;=-1&parentCategory=4162&feat=4162-tn&cat4=2062)

 

[begreen]

How big is that thing? Blacksmith down the road can make just about anything - cheap! Maybe another pic with a measuring tape in it? Please? If the guy can make me one I can give y'all his address and maybe he can send them to the rest of you!

Mine is 28" long and has the flattened tip as well, but with an offset.

 

[littlesmokey]

Us older folk may remembe3r this as a clinker pick. Used with coal furnaces it was used to pick up large clinkers and pull them from the burner. As a kid I had to tend my grandfather's furnace. I think I was the only one to use it. His was about the size of the one pictured, but had a spiral wire handle. The end was slightly hooked to "grab" the clinkers. Worked very good.

 

[Hurricane]

A friend of mine has one and it is the only tool he uses. He does not remember where he got it, his is longer like 36 inches and no need for gloves when using it. Works great always liked that tool. I may make one some day, take some round stock get it hot and flatten the end and bend it. It would be a neat project. Thanks for the idea

 

[jadm]

I bought a short one like that from NorthernTool and was instantly sold. Retired my old poker which was next to useless because the tip loosened every time it was used.

Liked it so much I ordered another longer one...now we are set for life!

 

[ROBERT F]

Looks handy for everything from lifting grates, or cooktops, to pulling the bypass slide to raking coals to branding yourself on accident. Gonna see if I have some stock to make one tomorrow, being that snow is supossed to fall all day long. Hide out in the garage all day. dang i need a stove in there too.

 

[THEMAN]

Reminds me of a craps rake, and man can those guys do a lot with it. Flip the dice over to a particular number push chips around TAKE MY MONEY. haha

 

[adrpga498]

A very similar poker was included with my new Morsoe 1440.

Where did you get that avatar pic

 

[Patapsco Mike]

My last house came with a fireplace tool shaped just like that except with a nice handle. It looks like it might be 200 years old, made of rough steel and hand hammered. I've held on to it ever since, and it and the shovel are all I ever need. I'll be taking that thing to my grave.