Posted 12 years ago
walksoftly
(167 items)
Found this when we cleaned out the basement of an old Country Church that we had bought the contents of. The church was built in 1900, and originally had a large wood furnace in the basement. You can see the hammer marks from forging, and a separation of the material in the handle (inside face) typical of material from this era.
I used to use one of those when I was a kid back in the 50's. My grandmother had a huge coal fired furnace in her basement we would have to stoke. We also had to use some huge long tongs to remove the clinkers when the fire burned down, so it could be re-loaded.
Thanks for the L and the trip down memory lane. I never had to use one of these, I grew up in the era of oil & propane, no clinkers, ashes, or wood to haul in or out. In some records found in the Church were the names of the young men who were paid to haul away the ashes, as late as 1964.
I cast my vote for it being for a coal furnace. You could clear the linkers from a distance without getting burned as well as rake the coals. Then you could pull the ash pan out with it to clean it out. I have a couple of them out in the shop I brought to Florida with me from New Hampshire. Not sure why I kept them. They are common and not many coal furnaces down here.
I have some of the Church Treasurers books, showing the purchase of both wood & coal in the same years. They probably tried to spread business among different suppliers to keep everyone happy in the small community. I wish that I had a big old fireplace to hang it over.
Thanks for your input, & stay warm my friends.
Some people can enjoy a fire, it's calm suttle, romantic setting....not me, I have to poke at it or mess with the glowing embers! Love it! =)
Thanks for the love & the comment tom, you know what they say a bout playing with fire!