Many different fireplace tools are used when it comes to building and maintaining home fireplace fires and each of these tools has a different story to tell about how they came to appear in your fireplace hearth. This story will be about the andiron, bellows, poker, and fireplace screens. Also included with the chimney tools are shovels, tongs, brushes, but it is quite difficult to determine how and when these particular tools came into use.

To begin our discussion, let’s start with the definition of a tool. This is a device that provides a mechanical advantage to perform a physical task. Archeology has determined that man has been using various tools since the beginning of our existence. A tool can be as simple as a stick that is used to poke something in order to reach and move it.

Poker

With that in mind, let’s begin our exploration of the history of fireplace tools with the poker. A poker, also known as a stoker, is a short, stiff rod used to move material burning in a fire. Today’s fireplace pokers are generally made of metal with a tip at one end to push the burning material and a handle at the other end. Archeology shows that we have used pokers as a fireplace tool since the Paleolithic period. This period is the prehistoric era marked by the development of the first stone tools. It covers the period from 2.5 or 2.6 million years ago to around 10,000 BCE. C. with the introduction of agriculture. It represents the majority of human time on Earth (about 99% of human history). Archaeologists believe that fireplace pokers were invented just after the discovery of fire (790,000 years ago) and that the oldest pokers were probably made of the same material as the fuel for fire: wood. At first, the fireplace poker, or “fire stick”, was probably a large branch of some kind used to help keep the fire going.

Over the centuries, this fireplace tool has evolved, and as other tools have been used, the fireplace poker has fallen out of favor. Until the 17th century in England there may only have been a fire fork and andirons for the fireplace, but by the 19th century a fireplace poker was always used and the fire fork had all but disappeared.

The first successful mass production of pokers as part of a complete fireplace set was designed and manufactured in Cape Girardeau, Missouri by the RL Hendrickson Manufacturing Corporation in 1898. From that time until now, the poker is almost always considered part of the tool assembly. chimney.

“By irons… the housekeeper and ironmonger understand a fire shovel, a poker, and a pair of tongs. These implements were not all found in the ancient homes of this country, nor were they all necessary when burning wood. on a chimney… The use of coal, and of nearby chimneys, allowed the adoption of the poker now in universal requisition”. Robert Hunt, Treatise on Progressive Improvement and the Present State of Metal Manufactures, 1853.

andirons

An andiron is a horizontal bar on which logs are placed for burning in an open fireplace. Andirons usually come in pairs. They hold the wood so that a draft can pass around it and allow for proper combustion and less smoke. Andirons stand on short legs and are usually connected with an upright guard.

As man began to seriously study fire and its properties, it was discovered that allowing air to circulate around the fire led to better fires. Due to this discovery, irons became increasingly popular. In the 16th to 18th centuries AD they were also used as a roasting rest or to contain porridge.

Before the 14th century, andirons were almost always forged from wrought iron and were very simple. During the Italian Renaissance period (14th to 17th centuries AD), many common household objects came to the attention of artists and design and skill were used to produce andirons. The morillo reached its greatest artistic development under Louis XIV of France (late 1600s). The guard (the upright part of the andiron) was elaborately ornamented. The patterns consisted of heraldic symbols, sphinxes, grotesque animals, mythological creatures, and much more.

Sometimes the creature they represented made reference to andirons. An example of this that continues to this day is firedog. The andirons that represented dogs were called fire dogs. This plays on the double meaning of the word dog (canine and inanimate possessor). In some areas, firedog came to be used to refer to any andiron. In the United States, the andiron was used once only in the North and the dog iron, fire dog, or simply dog ​​was used to identify andirons in the South. The southern term is still used in that region, but the andiron is now used everywhere.

“Lighting a fire, however simple, is an operation requiring some skill; a fire is easily made by placing a few ashes on the bottom in an open order; on this a few pieces of paper, and on that again eight or ten pieces of dry wood.” firewood; on the kindling, a row of moderately sized lumps of charcoal, being careful to leave hollow spaces between them for air to enter, and being careful to put the whole pit back on the grate, so that the smoke can go up the chimney , and not in the room. This done, light the paper with a match from below, and, if it is placed correctly, it will soon burn out; the stream of flame from wood and paper will soon communicate with coals and ashes, provided there is plenty of air in the center.” Isabella Beeton, Household Management Book, 1861.

bellows

The bellows is a mechanical device to create a jet of air. It usually consists of a hinged box with flexible sides, which expands to draw air in through an inward opening value and contracts to expel air through a nozzle.

The bellows was widely used in medieval Europe (5th to 16th centuries). It was used to speed up a blacksmith’s combustion and later to operate pipe organs. One of the simplest and most well-known types of bellows is the manual one used in fireplaces. The extendable camera consists of a leather bag with pleated sides. The bag is fixed between handles to expand and contract. The intake and exhaust vents are fitted with values ​​so that air must enter the first and exit the second. Thus, the chimney bellows becomes a simple air pump.

When we think of fireplaces we usually think of these simple bellows. But the bellows have had an important role in history. Metal casting was not possible until after the invention of the bellows which made the avant-garde possible. The bellows deliver additional air to the fuel and increase the rate of heat production needed for casting. Around the year 3000 a. C., manual bellows were used for metal casting (bronze). The first evidence of iron casting is around 930 BC.

Although early man did not need his heating and cooking fires to reach the temperatures necessary for smelting, they found that chimney bellows made it easier to build fires. Fanning the wood with a bellows produces a hotter flame and the logs start much faster. This is especially important when working with wet logs. Also, chimney bellows were used early on to create a draft to blow ash out of the chimney during cleaning.

Today, fireplace bellows are still a necessary tool in the fireplace hearth. It is also a tool that many people like to design and manufacture on their own. Many bellows are made from beautiful wood and can have very intricate designs creating an elegant object to be displayed by the fire.

fireplace screens

Although there is no exact date as to when fireplace screens came into use, we do know that they were first a form of furniture that protected people from excess heat that came from a wood burning fireplace. Early fireplace screens were usually in the form of flat panels set on attached feet, or as adjustable shield-shaped panels mounted on tripod table legs.

Today’s fireplace screens come in many decorative designs and are made of metal, glass, or wire mesh and are placed in front of the fireplace to protect the room from embers that might fly out of the fire. They are sometimes used to cover the fireplace when not in use to make the area more decorative.

Regardless of which fireplace tool you use to help you build and maintain your fire, know that there is a long history behind each of those fireplace tools and centuries of use have gone into perfecting the tool in your hand. And remember that in modern society fire has gone from providing necessary warmth and cooking to a symbol of warmth and love shared by all who gather in the hearth of the fireplace.