BLOWPOKE DESIGN ADVANCES

The Blow Poke’s US patent expired in 1960. And distributors of fireplace accessories began importing less expensive knock-offs and new versions made to look rustic and antique. Some had a longer poker tang and, coined a new word: “Blowpoker”.   There are currently 3 tracks of blowpoke design advances:

1. Brass foundries make brass copies of the 1941 brass Blo-Poke with a small brass “poke-fin”.
   • US brass casting makers – attaching their bright brass bits to long, lacquered and heavy brass tubes.
   • India’s and China’s brass foundries’ supplying US e-retailers’ with similar all brass pokes.
2. Lower-cost “rustic” blowpoker imports look like the “Anti-Brass” but are just as heavy.
3. Performance – Vineyard Firetools comes at it with the goal of improving your blow poke’s performance.
   • Air Blowing Performance focuses on improving your primary goal – fire-feeding ability.
   • Handling includes one-hand capabilities (vs. needing 2 hands) and firewood wrangling.
   • Full Range of Sizes – recognizes the need to fit many different size fireplaces and fire pits.
   • Easy Hanger – Hook – addresses convenience, accessibility and safety.

With more market competition comes the pressure to price very competitively. But since blow pokes are so new to most buyers, most may not see and appreciate the advantages or shortcomings. Many shoppers focus on price and color – and assume that good performance is baked in. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with blow pokes.

This page is an effort to toot the horn about the advantages or better blow poke performance.

But that’s not the ONLY point. We’ve always felt that ANY good blowpoke can help you enjoy a good wood fire.

These days, another point might be more important to you. The fact that wood is not a fossil fuel. It’s a fact we really never discuss. But it means – burning wood is actually CARBON NEUTRAL. Wood’s carbon is already “in the atmosphere”. So wood fires don’t “increase the CO2” that most climate scientists say is impacting the climate. Maybe all the scientists are right. Maybe they’re wrong. Maybe the planet’s system can handle all the exhaust from burning 95 million barrels of oil that we all burn through every day globally. Plus all the CO2 from all of the the coal and gas burned to create electricity! That’s a lot of ADDED CO2. Anyway… Bottom line: warm wood fires don’t “add” CO2 as it warms you. Only fossil fuels “add” CO2. A good wood fire in your fireplace can warm you’re house – and may save you from burning some additional fossil fuel. Pretty nice advantage.

A good blowpoke will give you real confidence in your ability to quickly control your fires. And with luck, a good blowpokes will help you think twice before buying an expensive gas-conversions of your beautiful and perfectly functional wood burning fireplaces. And a good blow poke may dissuade you from going to the Dark Side with fake logs and sterile-looking gas flames.

Real wood fires with real dancing flames and red hot glowing embers have always been like magic to me. Special. Peaceful and exciting. And Oh! How wonderfully fires warm you on a cold day. At home with family – fires feel timeless. Around the fire pit with friends after a great day… those are the times that make great memories.

By improving the design, we are doing our small part to help you enjoy better fires – maybe help bring a little more Joy to the world.

The more we leaned into it, the more we learned. We were pretty surprised to find how many blow poke design advances we’d made on the efforts of earlier blowpokes.

What makes a better Blowpoker?

• Better Air Blowing Performance
• Better Mouthpiece – there’s a range of considerations
• Better Length – for AIR FEEDING a fire
• Better Length – for a long-handled poker
• Better Weight – for long reach – and for blow starting
• Better Fire-Tending Capabilities
• Better at Moving Firewood – push, pull, open gaps for air circulation.
• Better Wall Hanger – Easy to mount – Easy to use – In & Out
• Materials and Construction

Let’s be clear here, it is not very complex. There are only 3 parts to this simple tool.

• a kissable brass mouthpiece – optimized for blowing and breathing
• a work-designed poker tip – protecting an optimal blow-hole
• a super strong steel tube – tapered to improve combustion

We just took the time to think it through – test our ideas – focus on the detail – and let our designs evolved as we learned what works better.

1. Air Blowing Performance

A Blowpoke’s essential value is its ability to boost a fire – to spread a fire to fresh wood, or start a new fire FASTER. We did hands-on and mouth-on tests to see and feel and compare how each blowpoke works to boost flames and start fires.

VINEYARD FIRETOOLS’ blowpokes have a unique Poker Tip that protects the air-hole. And the Poker Tip is offset to deflect a portion of the air-stream – to feed a broad area of combustion. Our design focuses air where you aim it, while also feeding some oxygen around the focus area – helping you both start, and grow, your fire quicker – to create a warmer fire FASTER

Look closely at blow poke tips on OTHER BRANDS blowpokes – you can see the poke tips are inserted into the blow-tubes – restricting the air passage of a wide tube’s opening. Inserting a restrictive plug is an easy and less costly manufacturing method. Screwing, swagging, and crimping are all cheaper, low tech, and less strong ways to connect the poke tip to the tube. But these simple methods require a lot of surface-area-contact with the tube end. This restricts the size of their blow-holes and limits their oxygen output.

We found that their cost-compromises present us with a big opportunity for improvingAir Blowing performance. We focused on discovering the best size, best position and best shape for our BlowPokes’ through-holes.

Look at the poker tips on our VINEYARD FIRETOOLS blowpokes – you will see our poker tip is not inserted into the tube – instead the tube is precision-fit into our poker tip for smooth and voluminous, unrestricted air-flow.

And VINEYARD FIRETOOLS blowpokes are expertly plasma-welded to give you totally dependable strength for lifting, twisting and leveraging firewood. Our lightweight pokers are strong enough to lift and move logs weighing over 50 pounds.

2. Mouthpiece

A Mouthpiece you want to kiss. That is one of the standards we set for our Blowpokes. So you’ll want to but it to your lips. It’ssnot about putting lipstick on a pig. It’s really about developing the best interface between your face and the tool. We studied and rated the “mouth-meeters” on other blow aerator, blowpokes, and blowpokers for physical and visual attraction (and repulsion), for effective fit, for first-kiss feel, and for feel during and after extended use, and for working with our comfortable breathing.

Our experiments with different sizes, shapes and materials taught us surprising insights. We found that the more restricted blow pokes wanted bigger mouthpieces – to help you blow harder!

VINEYARD FIRETOOLS blowpokes are easier to blow – and favor a more demure kiss. And the size is easy to breath around. We worked closely with a musical instrument mouthpiece manufacturer to create our designs, crafting the contours to develop a solid brass mouthpiece that mates naturally, seals easily, and is very comfortable to use. A fine buffing gives it a mirror-like gloss that is soft, smooth and easy to wipe clean. We found almost everyone agrees that a good mouthpiece is one of the key blowpoke design advances.

We feel strongly that a good blowpoke needs a solid (brass) mouthpiece. Solid is the key word. Because we’ve seen what happens to cheap blowpokes with solid-looking 2-piece brass mouthpieces – when they fall over – they break. And they fall over. Which is why a good hanger is also key.

3. Best Length – for Blow Starting a fire

Since a BlowPoke is 2 tools – we are looking for two “Best Lengths”.

• Best Air-Blowing length
• Best fire tending length.

Understanding this helped us with a key insight into blowpoke design advances. Starting with a Survey. We measured all of the blow pokes. Then we measured all the long pokers or tall pokers that we could find on the market. We were pretty surprised to find that it looked suspiciously like a survey of things made to fit exactly in COMMON SHIPPING BOX SIZES : 48″, 36″ that are shipped in 4′ and 3′ shipping boxes.

Today most blowpokes still measure about 48″. But in my collection, I have an old original 36″ Blo-Poke, and a regular original 46.5″ blo-poke. Today most blowpokes still measure about 48″, and there is a new blowpoke offered at 36″ (with the 2-part mouthpiece), and now there are 40″-42″ like our Long Blowpokes. None are offered longer than 48″ (except our Vineyard Firetools XXL 55″). Most distributor-imported blow tools measure 47″ or 48″. So if 48″ or 36″ are really the Best Lengths – that’s great news for people who make standard shipping boxes!

We found the “Best Air-Blowing length” – best distance from the fire – depends on 3 simple factors:

• Heat and sparks from the fire – so you feel comfortably safe– out of harms way.
• The depth of the fireplace – Floor Level or Raised Hearth
• But the top consideration may be your individual FIELD OF FOCUS.

In general, blowing shorter 36″ tubes often felt too close to the fires. And the longer 48″ blowpokes usually feels too far from the fire. We were surprised to find how much it appears that “Best Length” is directly related to your individual FIELD OF FOCUS – how well you see the fire. This may be one of the most significant blowpoke design advances for most users. And interestingly, we found tall people and short people preferred the same size. In our tests, we found the optimal length for Air-Blowing felt best between 39.5″ to 42″.

4. Best Length – for a Long or Tall Fire Poker

We found that the Best Long Poker – fire tending length depends on the weight.

Since you can’t lift or wield the considerable weight of any 46″ – 48″ brass, iron or steel blow pokes with one hand close to the Mouthpiece. You have to use two hands or “choke-up”. In fact, you have to “choke up” about 20 inches – near the middle,close to the balance point – effectively shortening the poker to well under 30″. That is surprisingly short! The long, heavy blow pokes require you to lean in and reach close into the fire. And they are difficult to wield with all that dead weight. Using two hands works much better, but one hand is still choked-up 20 inches.

In contrast, our lighter VINEYARD FIRETOOLS blowpoke feels very handy and nimble when gripped at the mouthpiece. That makes VINEYARD FIRETOOLS’ blowpokes effectively longer – more than 10″-12″ inches longer, for a very easy-reach long poker performance. And you can really get our Poker Tip to work your logs: push, pull, lift and move. Lightweight works much better.

Solid Steel Fire Pokers: Most long or tall solid steel fire pokers are just 36″ long and pretty heavy. They also require some choking-up and work better with two hands. (NOTE: these are not blow pokers, they are usually heavy antique-looking wrought iron rods.) A few measure 39.5″ and 41″. Most or the standard fire pokers in fireplace toolsets measure 24″, some sets are 30″.

Our conclusion: the best lengths forAir-Blowing and for fire poker-tending are basically the the same length: 39.5″ – 42″.

What we learned in our tests surprised us. If we built a lightweight blowpoker at that perfect mid-length, it will be the best length – to start, revive, and poker-tend better fires.

NOTE: longer blow pokes are sometimes depicted as tools you use while standing erect while blowing down at the fire. In our experience, and in our tests, this steep downward angle of air-blowing did not perform well – and can stir up fine ash from below the fire. A fire is a heat-engine. It draws in fresh air from the sides, and it vents hot gasses (flames) upward. Blowing down onto the fire interferes with the fire’s natural up-draft cycle. Our tests found that you get the best results feeding long streams of air from lower angles (toward horizontal).

5. Best Weight

When we started testing, weight was not on our radar as the key indicator – We weren’t think about how heavy weight impacts ease-of-handling and how one-handed means really-easy-handling as Blowpoke Design Advances essential to better performance. We knew all fireplace tools are made to feel like sturdy tools – heavy metal. The vast majority of fireplace tool sets are made to look like antiques, using materials consistent with older fire tools: brass and heavy steels that look like iron. Even the contemporary looking fireplace tool sets are made with the same heavy materials, and usually come off the same factory lines. Most people expect good fireplace tools to be heavy.

But we found weight determined performance during the long-reach poker testing!

Lighter weight topped the performance tests. In hindsight it should have been very obvious. Try to imagine how you would sell heavy baseball mitts, heavy sneakers, heavy brooms, rakes or mops, or heavy tennis racquets? How about heavy ski poles? What advantage could overcome the objections to too heavy weight? So why would I want to buy a heavy blow poke? Our guess is it had to do with matching the expected look and feel of other fireplace tools. Maybe we were just the first to work our way out of that set of expectations. For whatever reason, lighter weight adds into our blow poke design advances to deliver better handling for most users. And remember, when BlowPokes were first introduced just 70 years ago, they were primarily a blow tool, and secondarily a poke, not a poker – so two-handed support worked fine. And as a newly patented tool it had no competitors. The blow poke may be the only NEW INVENTION that has always been expected to look, work, and feel like an antique.

6. & 7. Fire-Tending & Wood Moving

Push, Pull, Lift and Separate…Designed to move firewood better… opening gaps in between logs to let the fire breath. A good fire needs to “breath”. It is called the “draw” or “draft” (“draught” in Britain). Air needs to be “drawn” around and through the logs to feed Oxygen to the burning surfaces of the wood. So a good fire poker must be good at moving logs – without knocking down the burning firewood structure. VINEYARD FIRETOOLS poker tip’s – with long tapered tangs are task-designed and hand-crafted to easily slip between logs to open gaps, lift and separate. And pull or push using non-slip teeth on the long surfaces. Compare our Blowpoke’s long, thin, wide, tapered, smooth and serrated poker tangs to any other poker, and you can clearly see the advantages you get using VINEYARD FIRETOOLS blowpokes. We make it easier to tend your fires better.

8. Wall Mounted Hangers

Our easy mounting “One-Screw Design” can’t be installed crooked. This good idea came from one of our dealers at The Hearthstone in Corona del Mar, CA. Frank recommended a One-Screw design. In fact he straight out warned us not to use two screws. He said that crooked mountings are a very common complaint with 2-screw and multi-screw hangers. Thanks again, Frank for another of our blowpoke design advances.

You really appreciate having a good wall hanger if you’ve ever seen a heavy blow poke fall over (see NOTE below). And if you have wrestled with a blow poke that can feel stuck in another brands’ wall hanger – you will value our easy to use design – Easy IN – Easy OUT. Lightweight blowpokes offers an added benefit. Heavy fireplace accessories can be somewhat challenging and difficult to hang-up as you reach out – over the pile of firewood. It can be very hard on your back as you shift your weight and you try to dock it back in the hanger. Lightweight matters!

Wall hanger Installation

Free Mounting Screw – matches the look of your VINEYARD FIRETOOLS finish.

Self-tapping screw mounts even easier if you drill a Pilot Hole with 1/8″ drill bit.

NOTE: If you LEAN your firetool against the wall or mantel – Please hear this: Heavy pokers especially with large mouthpieces – can do damage if and when they fall. Heavy mouthpiece + heavy tube = high center of gravity = a greater probability the poker will slip into the force of gravity and fall. Our FIRETOOLS have a lower center of gravity (demure mouthpiece and lightweight tube offset by a larger work-designed poker tip). But our VINEYARD FIRETOOLS’ poker tip has a longer tang that gravity “pulls” over. Always check to see that the long poker tang “pointing” into the direction of the lean. It is best to use an inside corner, or the crook between two tools on a fireplace tool stand. Please be sure the area is safe, that the kids know the tools fall, and the dog’s tails wag… Our lightweight poker is surprisingly easy to hang on the hanger. And our hanger is very easy to install. And we include it FREE.

9. Materials and Fabrication

Brass looks great. But since we value performance most – and we are not running a brass foundry – we don’t have a bias toward any type of material. We simply want the best material for the best performing tool. Brass offers no performance benefits in terms of weight, strength, or durability. Brass is a weak alloy of zinc and copper. Brass is not a structural metal. Brass is not a precious metal. And brass can’t be welded to form the strongest “fusion” type of bond between a poker tip and a tube. When you heat brass to welding temperatures, brass will separate into its soft base metals.

More importantly, strength tests prove that brass tubes need to be much heavier than other materials to prevent tube failure – bending – especially for a long reach poker. So using brass requires making it even heavier – requiring both a larger diameter tube and thicker brass tube walls. In contrast, our plasma-welded cro-moly steel VINEYARD FIRETOOLS blowpokes can be much lighter – and still stronger. Strong enough to lift – and move – 50 pound logs. That is the range of performance we’re looking for – from a tool we expect to work for many decades.

We believe a “good tool” is easy to use, and performs its tasks very effectively. We believe you will find our VINEYARD FIRETOOLS blowpokes are surprisingly more versatile long fire pokers and blowpokers than any of the heavier brass blow pokes:

• lighter weight strength
• task-design poker tip
• and better AIR BLOWING Performance

If you want brass – all buffed and polished – please consider our brass blowpoke. It’s double-plated Brass over Nickel plated cromoly steel. And we use Solid Brass for our Mouthpieces because brass is much softer and easier to shape (turn on a lathe) and easier to polish. I really like the glossy look of our buffed brass mouthpieces, and nickel-plated brass mouthpieces. I also really like the look of our high-quality brass and nickel plated finish on our tapered steel tubes and buffed poker tips. Best of all, I like that our brass blow pokes come without the performance concessions, the extra heavy weight and small poke-tip of brass tubing.

You can have all of the advantages of VINEYARD FIRETOOLS’ blowpoke’s better performance for the same price as an imported brass blowpoke.

Instead of brass, iron, or mild steel. VINEYARD FIRETOOLS blowpokes are made using American made 4130 Chrome molybdenum steel – the same high quality steel used to fabricate lightweight racing mountain bikes and NASCAR racing chassis. VINEYARD FIRETOOLS blow pokes are plasma welded – fusing the steels together – to form the strongest possible blow poke. Compare that to others that are instead screwed, swaged, crimped or pinned – all cheaper, but less strong ways to connect the poker tip to your tube.  You’ll appreciate a welded poker tip if you’ve tried tending your fire with a poker tip that is screwed on – and unscrews during use.

There you have it, something to think about, and help you with your decisions. We strive to build the best fire stoking tool and magic fire experience you can get. Blowpokes are inherently simple. That’s a big part of what makes them such a magical wonder and delight. And making it simply better feels like simply the right thing.

Most people haven’t yet though about the fact that Wood is not a fossil fuel. And burning wood for heat has a very tiny carbon footprint. That’s because wood’s carbon is already “living” in the atmosphere. You don’t dig up wood like the fossilized coal, oil and gas – carbon that has been safely sequestered for eons – and will now be dumped back into the atmosphere by the millions of tons per month… That means burning wood for heat, instead of oil, gas or electricity has practically ZERO Carbon Footprint. Pretty nice.

Sometimes I think of the the line Paul Simon added to his iconic song, The Boxer years later. He added this line: “After changes and more changes, we’re more or less the same.” With blow pokes, we have a small opportunity to change – and help make a difference – when we enjoy a warm wood fire instead of burning more fossil fuels. It may be a win for all of us.