# Ash rake?



## tickbitty (Jan 23, 2010)

How many folks regularly use an ash rake?  I have an insert, so no ash pan, and I have been told an ash rake might come in handy.  I have a poker (left by the previous residents for the fireplace) and a $3 ash shovel.  Do I need a rake?  It does seem to be a regular pc of equipment, but I have not done a whole lot of cleaning out the stove yet - in fact I have left most everything so far, but hubs has scooped several times.

If you have a rake and love it, can you post some pics, descriptions, or hopefully some specs as to size etc?  The only ash rakes I see online for sale that are not in a set have a rippled bottom, while I was assuming flat would be better.  I have a blacksmith who could make me most anything, but I don't have any specs to request.

Thanks in advance!





this is the only one I have seen, it's $30 and I don't think it looks that great... what do you think?


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## Soadrocks (Jan 23, 2010)

I bought a Wood Stove set from Northline Express. The rake works perfectly. Perfect size for a wood stove. I use the rake more than any other tool.


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## tickbitty (Jan 23, 2010)

Cool, thanks.  Can't see the rake very well.  Is it just a flat pc welded to a shaft?  How wide is it, and about how long is the shaft?


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## Soadrocks (Jan 23, 2010)

It is the same one in the original picture actually. Maybe 14 inches long, perfect size for wood stoves.


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## Beowulf (Jan 23, 2010)

I had one of these laying around that I was not too fond of as a yard implement:

http://www.amazon.com/Unknown-2-Section-Adjustable-Rake/dp/B000VW0J9O/ref=pd_cp_hi_0

I decided an ash rake might be a good idea, but could not find one easily.  So, I cut about 18" off the handle of this here adjustable width rake, and then put the rubber handle cap back on it.  It's now a shorty, but will still adjust from about 8" wide to 24" wide.  This seems to be a good feature for raking coals to the front and leaving ashes behind for scooping.  I think I paid something like $10 for it at an Ace Hardware.

Best thing is that it got the dear wife to think that tossing a log on in the morning on a bed of coals was better than completely burning the coals down and then emptying all the ashes out before starting a new fire (every day!).

Putting it back to "narrow mode" makes it look a little better by the stove, as well.


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## Nic36 (Jan 23, 2010)

I have the same one in your picture. I use it quite a bit-as much as I use the poker.


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## quads (Jan 23, 2010)

Homemade from the younger years.  It was built as a joint effort one fine evening between me and some of my partying buddies. It’s outlived several stoves, but we originally designed it for an old barrel stove. I still use it now, but I have to hide it in the ash bucket behind the wood box. I’m told it’s too ugly to have it prominently displayed, but to me it’s a work of art filled with good memories! And fully functional too.






The fancy handle, recycled from a broken pitchfork. Note the equally impressive cotter pin securing it to the metal rod. Also, it has a hole for hanging by the stove, through which we originally looped a leather shoelace.






The working end, with exceptional quality welding. The holes serve no purpose; they were already in the piece of scrap metal we used to make it.


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## Bobbin (Jan 23, 2010)

I went to see a blacksmith yesterday, as a matter of fact!  I brought the tools I have and told him why they basically suck.  He nodded in agreement, showed me a very large (probably rather old) Jotul in his office and his stove tools.  In about two weeks I should have a modified pokertype rig and an ash rake along with a rack and a "bumber" that I'll mount to the side of the chimney near the stove.  No more bumbing along with tools I hate or wasting time looking at overpriced crap I don't want anyway.  Shoulda done this a couple of months ago, huh?


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## Valhalla (Jan 23, 2010)

I bought a single ash rake from NorthlineExpress.com last
year. Should have had one years ago. 

It works great. About 14" and very well made. 
Even made in Poland. No jokes!


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## drdoct (Jan 23, 2010)

You'll like the rake once you get used to using it.  Please don't use it without gloves though.  I can't count the times I tumbled a big coal out of it and had to catch it with my welding gloves on.  You've got to get those coals to the front to get them to burn down.  I'm not going to show my rake because I got it from an old knitting mill who used it to clean out a boiler.  It's a piece of long handle steel with a nice curved stainless welded on it.  Way uglier than the homemade rake posted above.  But it gets the job done till I find one somewhere.


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## quads (Jan 23, 2010)

drdoct said:
			
		

> I'm not going to show my rake because I got it from an old knitting mill who used it to clean out a boiler.  It's a piece of long handle steel with a nice curved stainless welded on it.  Way uglier than the homemade rake posted above.


Aw come on!  Let's see it.


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## savageactor7 (Jan 23, 2010)

No ash rake here...have seen the wisdom in a 'less is more' attitude. Bent poker and shovel serves all our wood stove needs.


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## wood spliter (Jan 23, 2010)

I just use a poker. When I clean I do it in the morning after the night burn. I keep stirring everything around a few times and than shovel it out. I start at 7 and clean out at 10.  Thats what I'm doing this morning.


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## LLigetfa (Jan 23, 2010)

I took the melted broom off from the tool set and made it into a coal rake / ash hoe.  The handle is too short to use without gloves.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_nX0X4MOKcKI/SwhknrNNM9I/AAAAAAAAAic/BPjcRapf42Y/s640/100_0411.JPG


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## BucksCoBernie (Jan 23, 2010)

I just flip the shovel over and use it like a rake. then when i need to clean out the ash i flip it back over to shovel mode and scoop. works every time!


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## LLigetfa (Jan 23, 2010)

BucksCoBernie said:
			
		

> I just flip the shovel over and use it like a rake. then when i need to clean out the ash i flip it back over to shovel mode and scoop. works every time!


Ja, I use my shovel more than I use the ash hoe.  It's a daily ritual.  Pushing everything to the back with the shovel upside down works well.  The large coals automagically work their way to the top.  I then take a corner of the shovel to bring the coals forward.

The only time I use the coal rake is when there is hardly any coals left and I want to salvage enough coals for a restart after removing ashes.  That hardly ever happens anymore.  Since I switched from paper to Super Cedars, I let the coals go out with the ashes.

I sometimes use my poker to separate the ashes from the coals.  Running the poker through the bed raises the coals to the top and a sidways sweep brings them forward.  What method I use depends on what I'm trying to acheive.


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## newstove (Jan 23, 2010)

tickbitty said:
			
		

> How many folks regularly use an ash rake?  I have an insert, so no ash pan, and I have been told an ash rake might come in handy.  I have a poker (left by the previous residents for the fireplace) and a $3 ash shovel.  Do I need a rake?  It does seem to be a regular pc of equipment, but I have not done a whole lot of cleaning out the stove yet - in fact I have left most everything so far, but hubs has scooped several times.
> 
> If you have a rake and love it, can you post some pics, descriptions, or hopefully some specs as to size etc?  The only ash rakes I see online for sale that are not in a set have a rippled bottom, while I was assuming flat would be better.  I have a blacksmith who could make me most anything, but I don't have any specs to request.
> 
> ...



That's the ash rake I have.  It actually works really well for moving the coals around and leaving the ashes underneath when digging through an old coal/ash bed.  I got it for $18 on sale with free shipping a few months ago.


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## tickbitty (Jan 23, 2010)

Thanks for all the replies!  Good to know that the one that's available works for some of you, and Bobbin it's cool you are having some made! (But what's a Bumber?!)  It is REALLY super cool though seeing the homemade and inventive rakes you all have in use!  That's awesome!  Somewhere around here I have a can opener my great grandfather made.  It's scrap steel cut into shape, sandwiched between two pieces of scrap wood and wrapped with duct tape.  It was one of the only things I wanted from his "estate" because it was just SO him!  Nevermind that his best friends who he hung out with all the time owned a hardware store, he just went ahead and made a homemade can opener.  It wasn't pretty, but it worked.  That was just his personality in a nutshell I thought.


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## Valhalla (Jan 23, 2010)

So a combination shovel, poker and ash rake will serve all needs.  

How about a "shoraker" or a "rakokerevel" or even an 
"pokelake?"

It was much too cold last night... Sorry for the frigid humor.


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## Bobbin (Jan 23, 2010)

"Bumber"=bumper... sometimes my ageing fingers miss a key, Tick..  When the tools are done I'll put up a shot of them.  The blacksmith was a very cool guy... listening to classical music and had a shop kitty, too.  I really liked that!


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## sandie (Jan 23, 2010)

this is for sale at Sears

Copperfield Chimney 61279 Woodfield Ash Rake

Sold by: UnbeatableSale.com, Inc.

Sears item #SPM173749015
Mfr. model #61279
$24.10


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## LLigetfa (Jan 23, 2010)

They also list the Minuteman WR-21H Shepherd s Hook Hoe at $25.24 with what appears to be a longer handle.

http://www.unbeatablesale.com/minm394.html?srccode=cii_28285374&cpncode=22-42650555-2


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## carinya (Jan 23, 2010)

you may want to check this thread

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/46325/


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## tickbitty (Jan 23, 2010)

Excellent, thanks everybody!


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## smokingolf (Jan 25, 2010)

I bought a fireplace set from Northline Express. It didn't come with a rake but found one under their single tool category that matched the set I picked out. If I knew what I knew now I would not have got the set as the only thing I use from the set is the broom occasionally. The only tools I find that I use is a shovel that came with an ash bucket, the rake and a tool I found at the Plow & Hearth, I think it is called a fire dragon. It is a tube about 3' long with a mouth piece on one end and the tube splits into two to form a fork at the other end. I use this as a poker and what it's designed for, you blow into the mouth piece to stoke the coals. I use this when I get home from work after we've had an overnight burn and didn't add any wood in the morning. By late afternoon there are some small coals still left to get kindling going again with the help of the fire dragon.

Northline Express seems like a good reliable inter-net company. Their prices are pretty good and ship fast.

Get yourself a rake, you won't know how you lived with out one in the past.

Brian


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## tickbitty (Jan 26, 2010)

THx golf!  OK, that's funny about your fire dragon thing because I just now started a fire from last night's coals by blowing on it just to see if I could do it.  (so by some estimations, that's a 24 hr burn, right?) lol.  
But anyway... will probably get a rake soon, but I am very intrigued by the fire dragon.  Unfortunately I am way too cheap to spend $40 on it though.  Wonder what I can find that might work... hmmmm.
http://www.plowhearth.com/product.asp?section_id=0&department=0&search_type=normal&search_value=fire dragon&cur;_index=&pcode=2917


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## Elderthewelder (Jan 26, 2010)

Made this a few years ago


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## tickbitty (Jan 26, 2010)

Cool!  Looks like something out of one of my kid's story books!  I may have a blacksmith make one for me.  I was wondering if it would be good to do a two sided one, one side with teeth or flip it and the other side is flat.


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## sopoburner (Jan 26, 2010)

I bought a ash shovel at HD and Drilled a ton of 1/2" holes in the business end and trimmed the handle.

Basically its a metal cat box scopper!
Works great for sifting/seperating the coles from the ash.


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## golfandwoodnut (Jan 26, 2010)

Here is the one I made out of spatula that was made for an outdoor grill with a golf club grip on it.  Just cut the bottom off it to expose the teeth then bent it in the vice by 90 degrees. I use it more than any tool I have.  The handle could be a little longer when the stove is real hot.  Then I use the the welder gloves.


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