Homemade Fire Pokers

[edyit]

I made my coal rake out of an old fire hydrant marker, I like the long handle for when pulling coals from the back of the stove.

 

[wahoowad]

rebar. great balance. doubles as home defense

 

[DBoon]

I use a piece of cut off rebar for a poker and an old garden rake (without the wooden handle, which rotted off). The garden works really well to bring coals to the front.

 

[csween]

I made an ash/coal rake using a cheap fireplace shovel, 3/4 dowel, and some scrap steel. Took the shovel and cut it off after the handle leaving enough metal to bend and flatten against the rake blade which was then riveted on. 3/4 dowel fits snugly in the end of the handle and made the overall length 30" since I have a deep stove. Also made the height of the blade 1/4" less then the width between the firebricks of the ash clean-out so I can turn it sideways and clean that area easily before putting the plug back in. Sprayed some stove paint on everything and done. Works great but wish I had more teeth and they were a little deeper so scraping less ash but I can redo the blade easy enough. Total cost about $6.00.

 

[claybe]

Great stuff! I guess I need to make an ash coal rake now too . Keep the ideas coming

 

[claybe]

I support my local blacksmith for all my primitive steel tool needs and he doesn't work cheap(unless your his close friend and then he just gives stuff to you so he has a reason to make more)

He makes knives, hawks, axes and hatchets too

If you want a custom poker PM me and I will hammer one out per your description - albeit with a little artistic liberty.

Bob, can you post some more close ups of your set there. Also can you PM me how much it would cost to get a knife like the one that looks like a deer antler handle? Very nice worksmanship!!

 

[BobUrban]

Best I can do. Its tough due to the length of the tools and getting all the detail into the pic. Mine(this set) are pretty plain and minimalist because that is what I like. The set I made my friend has Diamond plate on the shovel and matching twists in the shafts. These just got hammered shaft material to give a more distressed look and all my handles are the same because that is what I like and they feel good in the hand. The stand has matching flipped ends and a strange ball thing on top because it just didn't look finished and I wanted to have a means to grab all three tools at once and move the stand. I started to hammer out a ring and them remembered the steel ball I had whipped up and decided to add that to the top instead. It started out as a bolt and a lot of wire fed through the mig later - whola, a steel ball. If you search the archives there are quite a few of my knife pics floating around here and I have 100's of knife pics on my computer. Just a hobby - turned obsession - not unlike firewood gathering

The coal sifter was an afterthought. It was a tool oft discussed here so I whipped one up to match my set but it never gets used.

 

[CenterTree]

I stumbled across this kids' garden hoe at Lowe's for 5 bucks. Works great. I actually thought it was just a plastic toy when I first saw it, but when I picked it up and found it was all steel it went right in the cart.

LOL. I have the exact same hoe and I also got the matching RAKE that was there with it. They work fine.

 

[bebop]

Works great, can't ruin it.(broken image removed)

 

[dougand3]

For the gophers, er, golfers out there...

 

[MasonsDad]

I could not find a good coal rake and could defiantly not find one I like so I had this made at work. I am fortunate to own a company that does manufacturing so all my guys with stoves got one too

 

[tinman1]

View attachment 146919
I could not find a good coal rake and could defiantly not find one I like so I had this made at work. I am fortunate to own a company that does manufacturing so all my guys with stoves got one too

I modified this shovel to a coal raker

 

[ewlsey]

I made my own ash rake. I don't really use a poker. It's probably not fair to call it "homemade" though, since I own a CNC machine shop (no CNC needed for this project).

 

[csween]

Went back to the drawing board and redesigned the blade with deeper/narrower teeth so only raking coals. When I want to rack ash I just flip it over.

 

[claybe]

Went back to the drawing board and redesigned the blade with deeper/narrower teeth so only raking coals. When I want to rack ash I just flip it over.View attachment 147151

Nice