Fireplace tool kits include four standard items with a coordinating stand. These are a brush and shovel to clean the fireplaces, a pair of tongs to handle firewood, and a poker to stoke the fire. These particular tools have not changed much through the ages. There are, however, some tools and accessories that were very common in past times that aren’t used as frequently now.
Ash Pail
An ash pail or bucket is one fireplace tool that can still be found on a somewhat regular basis in homes today. It is simply a metal bucket shaped container used to stores ashes from the fireplace floor. Typically, an ash pail would come with its own smaller shovel. This not only allowed users to keep the ash buildup to a minimum between cleanings, it created a much more efficient method of removing ashes from the home for disposal.
Coal Hod
A coal hod was a pail like container used to store excess coal to be used in the fireplace. Like the ash pail, it also typically came with a matching shovel which could be used to add coal to the burning fire. As wood burning fireplaces slowly replaced coal burning ones, coal hods were replaced with firewood holders and are only seen on rare occasion today.
Back Plate
Fireplace back plates are still manufactured today, however, they are not nearly as popular as they were in past times. A back plate was primarily designed to be an ornate metal backdrop in the fireplace. They were often very ornate and pressed with various designs and images. In some cases, the back plate was actually a integrated into the fireplace grate to create one larger, more decorative, fireplace centerpiece.
Bellows
A bellows is a type of manual blower that was used to add oxygen to a fire in order to help get it started or make an existing fire burn hotter. They were based on an accordion like design which allowed users to compress the device in order to force the air stored within it into the fire. They can still be found today but, with the popularity of quick burn logs and easy light fireplace tools, they are much less common than they used to be.