Use Fireplace Tools For Safety And Decoration
Fireplace tools are a necessity if you have a wood burning indoor fireplace. You can have fireplace fires indoors without tools, but you risk burning yourself or your home. Fire tool sets are designed to allow the homeowner to safely manipulate burning logs from a distance.
Fireplace sets are made of metal, which conducts heat. However, the length of the tools prevents conduction up to the handles as long as the tools are not left sitting in the fire!
The fireplace poker is one of the most recognizable tools. It is a long, straight metal rod with a pointed end. A curved metal hook protrudes two or three inches from the pointed tip. The harpoon-shaped fireplace poker is designed to push or pull burning logs inside the firebox.
Use it to push the logs into a better burning arrangement, or to hook the back logs and bring them forward. If you have only one fireplace tool, the poker is the one.
Fireplace toolsets often include a pair of blunt ended metal tongs. These are much like a long set of toolbox pliers. Logs too large or heavy for the poker tool are easily moved and rotated with the tongs.
The flat ends of the tongs enables surprisingly precise manipulation of small objects. For example, an ember that jumps out of the fireplace can be retrieved with the tong tool.
The next two firebox tools are normally used together. They are the shovel and the broom. These fire tools are most useful for cleaning the fireplace after the fire is extinguished. The shovel-like scoop can remove ashes from all the corners.
The broom can sweep out the remaining debris. Although these hearth tools can be used on hot ashes, be sure that the receiving container is fireproof!
Hearth tools are such a fixture that they are even owned by people who do not have a wood burning fireplace! Wrought iron, bronze, or even silver plated fireplace toolsets make excellent decorations for gas fireplaces.
The tools don't get used, so they retain their new luster and shine. You might even find these tools on a hearth from which the fireplace has been removed.
The fireplace poker, tongs, shovel, and broom are traditional fireplace fixtures since the pioneer days. These toolsets often come with an attractive stand. Whether you use them for safety or for decoration, fireplace tools give any hearth an attractive and rugged appearance.
