---
title: "3 Essential Tools for the Home Hearth"
description: "The only thing better than enjoying a cold winter day outside, is having a bright, hot fire burning in the fireplace or wood stove when you return home. But if you're one of those people that have trouble keeping the flames flickering, a set of simple tools can help you adjust logs or get coals glowing red. Here are a few things to look for in a fireplace tool set and a selection of products that work best."
date: "2020-11-11"
modified: "2020-11-11"
authors:
  - name: "The Editors"
    link: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/authors/the-editors/"
url: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/essential-tools-for-the-home-hearth/"
categories:
  - "Gear"
tags:
  - "Evergreen"
  - "Gear Reviews"
---

# 3 Essential Tools for the Home Hearth

![](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/12/WL3IBFSIUPJY3QWS26AOCOAMBA.jpg>)

When we can’t be gathered around a glowing campfire in the wilderness, the next best thing is a warming blaze with family and friends at home. Having the proper tools on hand makes for a safer, cleaner-burning fire that is as much a pleasure to tend as it is to sit by. Here’s a look at some basic tools you’ll want for your home and hearth.

### Fireplace Sets

If you want to go all in from the start, a [complete fireplace tool set](<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015NRQ6OS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?tag=camdenxodl-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&linkId=48e6a06aef402701d1c47fce7d854ddc&language=en_US%2F%2F>) with its own stand is the way to go. They usually offer some combination of a poker, tongs, an ash shovel, and a sweeper for tidying up before, during, and after a blaze. Some sets come with fancy brass handles, but you’ll never go wrong with classic black.

### Tongs and Pokers

If you prefer to keep your number of fireplace tools to a minimum, consider just a set of tongs and/or a poker. Tongs are indispensable for getting the back log into just the right position to burn all night. And a poker is the quintessential tool for doing exactly what it says: sitting and poking at the fire (whether it needs poking or not). A [poker with a built-in blow pipe](<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZYD6R57/ref=as_li_ss_tl?tag=camdenxodl-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&linkId=5167ad9159e9164c4639e6c577f63ed9&language=en_US%2F>) allows you to direct oxygen in the right spot without singeing off your eyebrows.

### Bellows

Fires need oxygen to ignite, and they need it to stay lit. Sometimes the only way to feed enough O2 into the coal bed is with a [bellows](<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GP5YZKG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?tag=camdenxodl-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&linkId=26308b15537674baf6f8e54176120d46&language=en_US%2F%2F>). Blacksmiths have relied on them for centuries, and they are the ideal way to stoke up damp or wet wood or rekindle the blaze after it dies down.