The only fireside tool you'll ever need...
A quick post to show you the simplest but most effective of fireside tools.
I light my stove every night of the year, getting all of my hot water from it, and this is the only fireside tool I use. Perfect for raking the ash flat before lighting the fire and then stoking once lit. However, best of all is if the fire needs a bit of a boost you simply aim into the heart of it and blow through the tube, the pinched end focusing a blast of air which can get the slightest of embers into a roaring fire. Safer and more effective than blowing directly and you can get a longer blast than from bellows.
All you need is a short length of copper pipe, mine is about 40cm long with a 1 cm diameter, and you crush the end using a vice or similar untill there is a thin slot as shown in the photo's.
It really is that simple but also incredibly effective.
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Not the smartest of fireside implements but definitely the most effective
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The squeezed end providing the focused jet of air which makes it so effective
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About 40 cm's long and made from an old bit of plumbing. I'm sure a quick polish would smarten it up but it is very much a working tool
