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The best way to poker.....

Started by Murf, November 03, 2004, 08:12:14 AM

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Murf

OK, easy fella's, nothing X-rated here, and no it's not about playing cards Friday night.  :D

After burning too many cords of wood to even try to count, I think I have come up with the best, simplest to make fire poker.

No more medium-rare fingers either.  >:(

Cut the top foot or so off a broken spade handle, a broken axe handle works good too. Then drill a 3/8" hole about 6" deep (or as far as the drill bit can go) in the cut end and epoxy in a 24" long piece of 3/8" steel rod. Bend the last 2" of the rod over to a 90° angle.

Ta-da!!!  8)

It is light, strong, and long enough to reach even the back of the firebox.

Best of all, it's basically free to make.  ;D
If you're going to break a law..... make sure it's Murphy's Law.

DanG

Sounds like it would work pretty good. I usually just use a stick. When all the hair is burnt off my fingers, I get a new stick. ;D :D
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

ohsoloco

I'll have to try something like that.  I finally got a pair of welding gloves for loading the stove.  Now if I can just keep my arms from touching the door or any other part of the stove while I'm loading it.  Still getting asked what happened to my arm  :-/

Murf

I can relate to that singed skin smell.

I also have a (largely ornamental) wrought iron poker, but it is a monster, it is about 4' long and has a big enough pair of tips on it to easily balnce a 16" piece of wood on it for placing in the firebox.

The problem is it also weighs about the same as a face cord of wood does.

The experimentaion was because of my missus, she's a rather diminutive little thing and it was tough enough to get her to start or tend a fire as it was, the easier, and safer I can make it for her the better.

Besides, I had to come up with something to do with all the broken shovel & axe handles I have accumulated.  :D
If you're going to break a law..... make sure it's Murphy's Law.

OneWithWood

I use an ordinary hoe as a poker in our Central Boiler unit.  Makes it easy to position rounds and stoke coals.  Just be sure you lean it up against the stove.  If lest on the ground it will reaarrange youe nose is short order :o
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

Patty

Those welding gloves work great. We finally got a pair last year, and they make all the difference in the world.
It is hard to catch a log rolloing out of the fireplace unless you are wearing gloves! (voice of experience!)
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

Fla._Deadheader

 :o :o :o :o :o  What a bunch of Masochists.  :o :o :o :o :o

  Lemme tell Y'all a little story.

  When we moved to Arkansas, and met Grandad and Grandmama, he was 73 years old and she was 69. They were both shorter,  spindley, country folk, wirey and tough as nails. I had not used a woodstove, except for the wood-coal furnace that we had in the house where I grew up.

  The stoves in Arkansas were Oval shaped stoves with "Claridge" tin sides. (That was an outfit in Harrison, that made tin chalkboards, and always had reject sheets of tin.)

  The top and bottom was cast and the whole stove front was cast. It had 2 doors and "draft adjusters". When you put wood in, it was generally shoved with a throwing motion and then POKED, hoping you could close the door, because the house was filling with smoke. ::) ::)

  We rebuilt the house and I bought a NEW Sears "Cabinet" style stove with thermostat. It had brick lining in it, and grates, so, no more throwing the wood. I had to figger a better way. Also, my bride was always burning "Bracelets" on her arms. THAT made me angry. >:(

  I sat and stared at that stove for several days, a few minutes at a time. Then, one day, I had a "Vision".

  Next time I went to town, I found a place to buy the material I wanted.

  Meanwhile, I used to watch Grandad and Grandmama stoke their stove. One day, their son brought an Ashley "cabinet" style stove into their house, and the old stove was taken to the barn for storage. Grandad and Grandmama were now 3 years older and not as stout as they used to be. They would struggle loading the stove, as, it would take several pieces of wood and the thermostat would keep the house nice and cozy.

  The son made the first fire in the stove and showed them how it was possible to break the grates and lining. When the son went home, I told Grandad that I had an easy way to load the stove, "plumb full". Grandad smiled. He always waited to see what new-fangled doo-dad I had come up with. I told him to not add wood and later that evening we would come down and visit.

  Now, I'm a gonna put Y'all on the honor system. If anyone builds one of these things, send me 1 dollar. If ya start to sell 'em, send me 2 dollars.  ;D ;D ;D ;) :D :D :D

  What I did was, I got me a short length of 12" well casing. I cut 5 pieces 7½" wide X 30" long. I rounded the corners slightly on one end. On the other end, I cut the corners "backwards, making the end 6" wide with the "shoulders" about 3" down from the end of the piece. I cut an oval shaped hole in this "Narrowed down" end at 4½" wide X 2" wide, and 1" in from the end. This made a handle, so you could lift or carry the "Wood Slide", as Grandad called it. ;D

  What you did was, open the draft to vent the smoke and get the coals glowing some. You opened the door and slid the "slide" most of the way into the firebox, letting the far end set on the coals, and the near end, on the lip of the firebox door opening. You would take a chunk of firewood and place it onto the slide and shove it in with yer hand or the poker. It would ALWAYS go completely inside the firebox. Pull the slide out and set it back on top of the fresh wood and slide another piece in. NOW, hold the handle firmly and "Dump" the piece of wood to either side. Pull the slide out and repeat the steps until the firebox was full. All this time, the smoke went up the flue and the slide never got hot enough to burn you.

  Grandmama started using the "slide" and from then on, Grandad just sat and watched Grandmama load the stove.  ;D

  My bride never did burn her arms again, on the wood stove. ;)

  I ended up building several of them, until the well driller wouldn't let me have any more "shorts".  ::) ::) :) :)

  
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

redpowerd

thats COOL! im glad you described it in such a story, as i was reading that paragraph on the dementions over and over, trying to build it in my head ;D just cant picture it exactly, but i got the jist.
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

Fla._Deadheader

Red, If you take the width as 7½" and measure in 1" from each side, you can make the "rounded" backward corners that will make up the handle width. Measure down 3" from the end and make the curves that will connect the top measurement to the bottom measurement. It's like looking at a shapely woman from the hips to the waist, up and in. ::) ;D

  Proceed from there at yer own risk. :D :D :D
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

redpowerd

forgive me, ive had a long day... ::)

Quotewidth as 7½" and measure in 1" from each side, you can make the "rounded" backward corners that will make up the handle width
so these shorts are cut in half lengthwase, and you rounded the top edges in? one inch? so you heated it up and shaped the casing?

i know im totally off track so ill just stop there.

hips to the waist, up and in? man thats too weird! :D

what im picturing is a heavy steel rain gutter with a hole in it for a handle ;D
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

beenthere

FlaD cut the 12" well casing shorts into 5 'strips' each 7½" wide (not cut in half) to give him 5 'slides' to put wood into the fire. If my take on what he did (didn't get the "hips up to the waist" thought), seems like it would work pretty well. Couldn't help but think the slide wouldn't have to be that heavy of material though.
I like the idea.

I was thinking about the old 'clinker' remover we used when my folks had a coal stoker, and these big 'clinkers' had to be removed from the furnace. We had a contraption that would grab the clinkers that had one finger opposite two fingers, and it seems a piece of firewood might be gripped and placed into the fire through the fire door without much trouble. Guess there would be a limit to size and weight of the wood piece one could put in that way, wheras the slide idea would work better for larger ones.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Fla._Deadheader

  Beenthere has kinda got it. Reason to use heavier stuff is, it won't hot very quick. It will also handle a heavy chunk of wood. Our furnace (propane Tank) used 30" long wood and I could load 12" rounds and the like with no problem.

  I'll let Red sleep on it. Try to draw a pitcher tomorrow. ::) ;D
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

SwampDonkey

Hmmm, them gloves would come in handy for sure. But, in my case not to save from burning anything, but to save from scraping the bark off my hands when stuffin wood into the furnace. Especially those large chunks.

I have a 3 foot iron poker for stirring the fire and I claw a bunch of the coals near the door as that will help catch the new wood afire much better. Don't throw that wood to the back of the furnace, that's kinda backwards. You get better heat if your wood is set up front.

When starting a fire, all I use is a wad of newsprint (not those glossy flyers) placed up front near the door and my wood on that, but loosely set onto the paper, don't compress the paper wad, it needs to be loose. Small sticks on the bottom, preferably beech or yellow birch because they are easier to catch fire than hard maple. It usually takes 10 to 15 minutes for a glowing fire to take hold. After the furnace fan comes on by 20 minutes from start I'll wait for the house to start feeling a bit warm and I close my damper. If I left it open I'de be a grease spot in the floor. My fire draws good because I have a good flu, straight up, no elbows and turns.

I don't know why you people are burning your hands. ::) Sure it will be hot in the fire box, but don't stick yer arm in there, especially with 16 inch wood. If your right handed, hold the stick on the far end with your left hand and shove it on in with the right hand. But, just before you shove (split second), lift the far end up a couple inches and pull your hand away from the stick. Otherwise, you'll need to remove the splinters. ;) My hands are not in the fire box at all. Now stop burning yourself. ;)

Wood burning brochure from WoodHeat dot Org (625 k PDF)

Building a low emissions and efficient fire-click

cheers
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

sprucebunny

A paper cup half full of diesel fuel starts fires real good and helps clean the chimney.
MS193, MS192 and an 026  Weeding and Thinning. Gilbert Champion sawmill

redpowerd

starting fluid :o

ive been usin a three foot crowbar thats been abused, one claw busted off and a little bent. good for the shop, and it wont heat up quick so you can grab both ends. and i allways have welding gloves, helps for holdin on to that 18" skillet
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

SwampDonkey

My great grand mother used to light the kitchen stove with karosene as a starter and the flames wood hit the ceiling and roll across it leaving a nice black krud. ;D Then one day my grand mother and her sister seen her do this and decided it was time to place her in the home.  :o My uncle uses karosene, but not on hot coals, poof goes the eye brows. Good ole newsprint is the best and safest. ;) If your using that glossy and colored flyer paper, that's not a bit of good. It don't make a good burn at all.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Quartlow

I just keep the crowbars hanging on the wall next to the wood burner in the shop,  
Breezewood 24 inch mill
Have a wooderful day!!

ohsoloco

The way my stove is set up, the wood goes in side to side, instead of just pushing a piece straight in.  It takes a little manevuering to get it right where I want it, so those gloves are a hand-saver  ;)

SwampDonkey

With the risk of being flamed....poor design. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

ohsoloco

The stove was free....just my type  :D

SwampDonkey

They're always the best kind. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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