What y'all using for a coal rake ??

Occasionally I have a day off during the week. I stopped in a semi local stove and fireplace store one day. They had a few sets of tools for wood stoves that I haven't seen before. I noticed them because they were very short in comparison to the standard fireplace sets. The tools are only 18 inches long and the entire stand is only 22 inches high. Which makes sense because normal height fireplace tools are too long. Instead of the typical fireplace stuff it had a rake a poker and a shovel and broom. As you can see the poker doesn't have the regular barb hook on it. That's so that you don't catch the barn on the inside of the opening of the stove and so that you don't accidentally pull a piece of wood out while you are pushing stuff around. After 1 day I threw all the fireplace tools I had away. If I remember correctly this set was like 40 bucks. Nice set too, not just cheap steel. The photos in my dark room don't do them justice.

 

My FIL made me an ash/coal rake with a pce of angle iron and some round stock.



It's a bit long and heavy. But it does the job. I might have him modify it just a little when we get into the swing of things

 

Found this guy on Amazon. It's my only stove tool, use it for coals and moving splits around. Use a garden shovel to clean out ash.

 

Thought that stove looked familiar. First I thought "what did he do? Take the pedestal off it?" Then I realized it was an insert. Then saw the last little line of your post and saw it IS a Napoleon by gar! We used a Napoleon 1400 pedestal in our place from late 90's til this winter. It is now in the workshop in the garage. We're getting a little long in the tooth and lot's of aches and stiffness so the last two winters were tough as it could just barely able to keep up and even then I had to be vigilant so we now have a XL hybrid and it's a heat monster - just right for Northern Ontario. Maybe too much for the northern 48 banana belt states. lol. Like today is average for January -zero - mid afternoon and dropping to 10 below tonight. We'll likely see 35 below nights before the worst is over. It will stay around 80 all night. Loving that heat.

 

Home made. Angle iron, flat bar, and a bit of round stock. I can use the flat side to pull all the ash to the front, flip it over to rake the large coals to the back, get rid of the ash, then rake the coals to the front for a reload. Pretty slick, patent pending.

 

No beverage holder?

 

Yeah, it's a good insert but if I was 100% dependent on wood heat I would want something bigger. I just use it on weekends, evenings, vacation, ya know? It does heat the house pretty good though. 2 story cape, 1200sf. Low of 10 and windy tonight and it's keeping up fine although reloads are more frequent than I would want if it was my only way to heat. I actually bought a second one exactly the same on Craigslist. Don't have anywhere in the house to use it just couldn't pass it up for 200 bucks. Been sitting in the garage taking up space. Been thinking of using it out there. You think that would work? I wonder if I could use it sitting right on a concrete floor or if I would have to fab up some sort of legs. I wonder what the clearances would have to be seeing it's not being used in a fireplace? Hmmm, got me thinking now.

 

Not really a rake but I made this coal scoop out of some expanded metal I had left over from the gate build for the deck over trailer. It works well but just a bit on the heavy side. The poker is your standard Snap On pry bar.

 

Not sure of your building codes. Up here in the Queen's fine country of Canada the bottom of the fire box has to be 19 inches off a garage floor. So we use 2-24 inch patio slabs 2 inches thick (one on bottom one on top) and two rows of 8 inch cement blocks (6 in total) with joints staggered and it makes 19 inches. That would probably work well in your situation. The 19 inches is likely to prevent heavier than air flammables from contacting flames if you have a leak of propane or some such. If it were me I'd store that stuff somewhere else anyway. Not sure about layout but a straight chimney run of 14 feet or more will give a decent draft. Depending on your clearances and a whole lot of other things it might look great angled across an outside corner. I use our old Napoleon 1400 in the garage/workshop in just this set up and it is doing a good job. It served us well in a pretty heating our entire house by itself in a cold climate where sub zero is common place. Only problem was the 2am and 5am loading detail.

 

My bad - should be 8 blocks not 6.

 

This rake is pretty handy.
The Chimney company makes them and gives them to all their customers
Simple
48" of 1/2 round stock (44" + 4" for the tee handle)
2"x 5" plate
small weld on each end

Use it every time I open the door

 

that would be pretty handy Bret

 

It works well but it's just a little heavy in the hand with stove gloves on. The smooth handle it tough to hold onto. Some lighter gauge expanded metal and a more comfortable handle would be better. Already planning on changing out the handle to a metal golf club shaft with a grip still on it. Should be much easier to hang onto then.

 

Some good designs in this thread.

 

You wouldnt happen to have a brand name on that set would you? Ive been looking for a set like that with the shorter arms that would work great for my stove.

 

There's nothing on it but I go past the fireplace shop all the time. If you want I'll stop in and see if they will ship you one. If they don't I could also buy it and send it to you. Up to you.

I agree, the shorter arms and the lack of hook on the poker are perfect for wood stoves.

 

Much appreciated I'm going to look around online a little more but if I can't find anything that is approved of by the boss I might just take you up on that offer.

 

I'm gonna stop by there today I think.

 

Here is my latest fabrication...Don't mind the welding job. Shepherds hook and angle iron. 22" long.

 

Nice job