Coal & Char

Fire Pit Accessories, Tools and Covers

Firewood racks, spark screens, covers, long tools and fire starters — the cheap things that decide whether a pit gets used.

By Stephen V.Last updated How we pick

If you buy three things with a new fire pit, buy a firewood rack with a cover, a sixteen-dollar pit cover, and a box of fatwood. Those three solve the three reasons fire pits stop getting used: the wood is wet, the bowl is full of rainwater, and lighting it is a faff. Everything else on this page is a genuine improvement rather than a rescue.

Accessories are where the real value is in this category, because they are cheap and they change the actual experience. A rackgets wood off the ground, and ground contact is what keeps split wood wet — the EPA’s own guidance is to store wood outdoors, off the ground, with only the top covered, because covering the sides traps moisture in the stack. A cover costs less than the rust it prevents. A spark screen is what makes an open pit sane near decking, fencing or dry grass. Forty-inch tools keep your hands out of a fire that a 26-inch indoor set would put them in.

The one thing on this page that looks like a gadget and isn’t is the moisture meter. It is thirty dollars and it answers the single question that decides how your fire behaves — whether the wood you were sold is actually under the EPA’s 20 percent threshold. It matters even more if you bought a smokeless pit, because the secondary burn that makes those pits smokeless only works on dry wood, and people blame the pit when the problem is the log.

Prices below are live from Amazon and dated. Measure before you order covers and screens: both are sized to the pit’s widest outside diameter, not to the bowl, and that is the most common ordering mistake in the whole category.

New this week. Three additions. Best wood burning stove accessories ranks the kit by how much each item changes your winter; firewood rack and tool sets compares the rack-plus-tools bundles and says when to skip them; and best log holders for cutting covers the sawbucks that keep a chain out of the dirt.

How this is funded:we earn a commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which pit or heater we recommend, and we’ll tell you when we’d skip one. Full disclosure.

Quick picks

Ranked on published specs, beginner-friendliness and value. Select a row to jump to the full write-up. We haven’t cooked on every one of these — here is exactly what we do instead.

#ProductBest forPrice
1
Sunnydaze Heavy-Duty Steel 8 ft Firewood Rack with Cover

Sunnydaze Heavy-Duty Steel 8 ft Firewood Rack with Cover

The rack to buy if the wood lives outside all winter, because the cover is included and it is cut to the right shape — a top cover that leaves the ends open. That detail matters: the EPA's own wood-burning guidance is to cover only the top, because wrapping the sides traps moisture in the stack. A tarp thrown over everything is actively worse than no cover at all, and this solves it out of the box.

Best firewood rack
$88.95 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 27, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

2
QH.HOME 36" Round 600D Waterproof Fire Pit Cover

QH.HOME 36" Round 600D Waterproof Fire Pit Cover

Sixteen dollars is less than the rust you are preventing. Any steel fire pit left uncovered through a wet winter will hold water in the bowl, and water in the bowl is what turns a three-season pit into a two-season one. 600D is the usual weight for this job and this is the cheap, correct version. Measure your pit's outside diameter before ordering, not the bowl — covers are sized to the widest point.

Best cheap upgrade
$19.49 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 27, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

3
CKLT 40-Inch Stainless Steel Fire Tongs and Poker Set

CKLT 40-Inch Stainless Steel Fire Tongs and Poker Set

Forty inches is the length that matters. Standard 26-inch fireplace tools are built for an indoor grate where you stand to one side; over an open fire pit they put your hand roughly where the heat is. These are long enough to rearrange a burning log without leaning in, and stainless rather than painted steel means they do not shed finish into the fire. Tongs plus poker is the right pair — the tongs do nine tenths of the work.

Best fire pit tools
$55.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 27, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

4
TUSGENK RAY 30-Inch Fire Pit Spark Screen with Handle and Poker

TUSGENK RAY 30-Inch Fire Pit Spark Screen with Handle and Poker

The accessory that turns an open fire bowl into something you can run near a deck, a fence or dry grass with a clear conscience. A spark screen does not stop smoke and does not make a pit smokeless — it stops embers leaving. The handle and poker in this set matter because you will be lifting a hot screen to add wood, and doing that with a stick is how people get burned. Measure the pit's outside diameter first.

Best spark screen
$68.98 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 27, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

5
Pine Mountain StarterStikk 100% Natural Fatwood Firestarting Sticks (5 lb)

Pine Mountain StarterStikk 100% Natural Fatwood Firestarting Sticks (5 lb)

Fatwood is resin-soaked pine heartwood, and it lights from a match in wind and damp where paper and kindling will not. That is the entire pitch, and it is enough. Two sticks under a teepee of kindling starts a fire pit reliably with no chemicals, no lighter fluid and no smell — which matters a great deal at a fire pit, because you are sitting in the smoke all evening. A five-pound box lasts most people a season.

Best fire starter
$14.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 27, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

6
General Tools MMD4E Moisture Meter

General Tools MMD4E Moisture Meter

The EPA's wood-burning guidance is explicit that wood burns best below 20 percent moisture, and this thirty-dollar meter is the only way to know whether the wood you were sold is actually there. It matters more with a smokeless fire pit than with anything else, because the secondary burn that makes those pits smokeless only works properly on dry wood — people blame the pit when the problem is the log. Split a piece and test the fresh face, not the outside.

Most useful gadget
$39.98 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 27, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

The picks in full

#1Best firewood rack

Sunnydaze Heavy-Duty Steel 8 ft Firewood Rack with Cover

The rack to buy if the wood lives outside all winter, because the cover is included and it is cut to the right shape — a top cover that leaves the ends open. That detail matters: the EPA's own wood-burning guidance is to cover only the top, because wrapping the sides traps moisture in the stack. A tarp thrown over everything is actively worse than no cover at all, and this solves it out of the box.

What’s good

  • Cover included and shaped to cover the top, not the ends
  • Matches EPA guidance on seasoning wood outdoors
  • Black finish rather than bare steel
  • Full 8 ft length

Trade-offs

  • Fixed 8 ft length — no adjustment
  • Fabric cover is the part that wears out first
  • Load rating is not published
  • Assembly needs two people to hold it square
TypeOutdoor firewood rack with cover
Length8 ft (per the listing)
MaterialHeavy-duty steel
Cover includedYes, per the listing

Specs read from the product listing, on October 7, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

#2Best cheap upgrade

QH.HOME 36" Round 600D Waterproof Fire Pit Cover

Sixteen dollars is less than the rust you are preventing. Any steel fire pit left uncovered through a wet winter will hold water in the bowl, and water in the bowl is what turns a three-season pit into a two-season one. 600D is the usual weight for this job and this is the cheap, correct version. Measure your pit's outside diameter before ordering, not the bowl — covers are sized to the widest point.

What’s good

  • Cheapest meaningful protection you can buy for a steel pit
  • 600D fabric is the standard weight for outdoor covers
  • Round 36-inch size fits most mid-size bowls
  • Takes ten seconds to fit and remove

Trade-offs

  • Measure the widest point, not the bowl — sizing errors are the usual complaint
  • A cover on a still-warm pit will melt: let it cool fully
  • Budget fabric; expect two to three seasons, not ten
  • Straps rather than a drawcord on some batches
TypeRound fire pit cover
Size36" round (per the listing)
Fabric600D, waterproof per the listing
WarrantyNot published

Specs read from the product listing, on October 7, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

#3Best fire pit tools

CKLT 40-Inch Stainless Steel Fire Tongs and Poker Set

Forty inches is the length that matters. Standard 26-inch fireplace tools are built for an indoor grate where you stand to one side; over an open fire pit they put your hand roughly where the heat is. These are long enough to rearrange a burning log without leaning in, and stainless rather than painted steel means they do not shed finish into the fire. Tongs plus poker is the right pair — the tongs do nine tenths of the work.

What’s good

  • 40 inches keeps your hands well back from an open pit
  • Tongs do far more useful work than a poker alone
  • Stainless, so no painted finish to burn off
  • Cheaper than most 5-piece fireplace sets and more useful outdoors

Trade-offs

  • No stand included — they live on the ground or a hook
  • Long tools are awkward to store
  • Stainless will discolor where it sits in the flame
  • Weight rating is not published
TypeFire pit tongs and poker set
Length40" (per the listing)
MaterialStainless steel
Pieces2 — tongs and poker

Specs read from the product listing, on October 7, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

#4Best spark screen

TUSGENK RAY 30-Inch Fire Pit Spark Screen with Handle and Poker

The accessory that turns an open fire bowl into something you can run near a deck, a fence or dry grass with a clear conscience. A spark screen does not stop smoke and does not make a pit smokeless — it stops embers leaving. The handle and poker in this set matter because you will be lifting a hot screen to add wood, and doing that with a stick is how people get burned. Measure the pit's outside diameter first.

What’s good

  • Stops embers leaving the bowl — the actual fire-spread risk
  • Handle and poker included, so you lift it safely
  • 30-inch size fits the common mid-size bowls
  • Cheap insurance next to the cost of the pit

Trade-offs

  • Does nothing about smoke — this is not a smokeless conversion
  • Mesh restricts airflow slightly, so fires burn a little lazier
  • Must be lifted every time you add wood
  • Sizing is to the pit's outer diameter, which people get wrong
TypeRound fire pit spark screen
Size30" round (per the listing)
IncludedHandle and poker, per the listing
MaterialSteel mesh

Specs read from the product listing, on October 7, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

#5Best fire starter

Pine Mountain StarterStikk 100% Natural Fatwood Firestarting Sticks (5 lb)

Fatwood is resin-soaked pine heartwood, and it lights from a match in wind and damp where paper and kindling will not. That is the entire pitch, and it is enough. Two sticks under a teepee of kindling starts a fire pit reliably with no chemicals, no lighter fluid and no smell — which matters a great deal at a fire pit, because you are sitting in the smoke all evening. A five-pound box lasts most people a season.

What’s good

  • Lights from a match in wind and damp
  • No chemical smell — you sit in this smoke all evening
  • 100% natural pine per the listing: nothing added
  • Five pounds is roughly a season for most people

Trade-offs

  • More expensive per light than paraffin cubes
  • Resin makes the box sticky in summer heat
  • Still needs kindling above it — it is a starter, not fuel
  • Stick count per box is not published
TypeNatural fatwood fire starter sticks
Pack size5 lb (per the listing)
Composition100% natural fatwood, per the listing
Stick countNot published

Specs read from the product listing, on October 7, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

#6Most useful gadget

General Tools MMD4E Moisture Meter

The EPA's wood-burning guidance is explicit that wood burns best below 20 percent moisture, and this thirty-dollar meter is the only way to know whether the wood you were sold is actually there. It matters more with a smokeless fire pit than with anything else, because the secondary burn that makes those pits smokeless only works properly on dry wood — people blame the pit when the problem is the log. Split a piece and test the fresh face, not the outside.

What’s good

  • Answers the one question that decides how your fire behaves
  • EPA guidance is to burn below 20 percent — this tells you if you are
  • Pays for itself the first time you reject a wet delivery
  • Doubles as a damp meter for walls and leaks

Trade-offs

  • Pin meters read the surface — split the log and test the fresh face
  • Readings vary with wood temperature
  • Pins bend if you force them into hardwood
  • Another gadget to keep a battery in
TypePin-type digital moisture meter
ModelMMD4E
UseWood, walls and water leak detection, per the listing
Measuring rangeNot published on this listing

Specs read from the product listing, on October 7, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

Go deeper in Accessories

Narrower picks, model reviews and guides for exactly what you’re shopping for.

Fire pit tools: what length, and what you actually use

Buy a 40-inch tongs-and-poker set, not an indoor fireplace set. The CKLT 40-inch stainless set above is the pick, and the length is the entire reason. The five-piece wrought iron sets sold for indoor hearths run roughly 26 to 30 inches, which is built for standing beside a grate behind a screen. Held over an open fire pit, 26 inches puts your hand roughly where the heat is.

Tongs do far more useful work than a poker.The job you actually need to do over a fire pit is lift and reposition a burning log — pushing it with a poker mostly rolls it somewhere you did not want it. A long pair of tongs and a decent pair of welding gloves cover nearly everything; the bellows is a genuine help getting a reluctant fire established, and a shovel and brush are indoor-stove tools that do very little outdoors.

Gloves are the cheapest real upgrade here. Leather welding gloves rated to high temperatures let you move a grate, reposition a screen or pick up a hot handle, which is the difference between tending a fire and waiting for it. Our safety guide is specific that heat-resistant gloves are protection for handling equipment, not a license to hold a burning log.

For an indoor stove the answer flips completely: a 40-inch poker is absurd in front of a stove door, and a traditional five-piece set with a shovel and brush is exactly right. See wood stoves for that case, and stove fans for the accessory that actually changes how a stove heats a room.

What to buy first, and what to skip

Buy the rack before the pit, if you can.Wood that has been stacked off the ground with only the top covered for six months is a different fuel from wood delivered last week and left in a pile. It lights faster, burns hotter, smokes far less and leaves less ash. That is not a marginal improvement — it is the difference between a pit you use most weekends and one you gave up on. The rack roundup explains why the cover shape matters as much as the rack.

Buy the cover the same day as the pit.Any steel bowl left uncovered through a wet winter will hold water, and water in the bowl is what turns a three-season pit into a two-season one. Sixteen dollars of 600D fabric is the single highest-return purchase on this site. Let the pit cool completely first — a cover on a warm pit melts, and that is the other common complaint in the reviews.

Buy the screen if the pit is near anything. Decking, fencing, a hedge, dry grass, low branches: in any of those situations a spark screen is cheap insurance against the actual risk, which is embers leaving the bowl rather than the fire itself spreading. Be clear about what it does not do: it has no effect on smoke, so it is not a cheap conversion to a smokeless pit.

Buy long tools, not a fireplace set. The five-piece wrought iron sets sold for indoor hearths are typically 26 to 30 inches, which is built for standing beside a grate. Over an open fire pit that puts your hand roughly where the heat is. Forty inches is the length that works outdoors, and tongs do far more useful work than a poker, because lifting a burning log is what you actually need to do. An indoor set is still the right buy for a wood stove, where a shovel and brush matter and a 40-inch poker is absurd.

What to skip.Decorative fire pit accessories that do not solve a problem: ornamental log holders smaller than an evening’s wood, novelty flame colorants, and the 20-piece tool kits where you will use two pieces. Also skip buying pellet fuel packs as your main fuel — they are excellent where storing real firewood is unrealistic, and expensive per hour if it isn’t. And if you are running the pit on a deck, the one thing you must not skip is a mat.

New on this hub. Best wood stove fire starters compares cubes, squares and fatwood on cost per light, and includes the top-down method that lights a cold flue when nothing else will.

New this week. Fire pit accessories: gift ideas — written for someone buying for a fire pit owner rather than for someone who already owns one, grouped by how much you want to spend.

Just added. Best fire pit fire starters is the outdoor version of that decision — written for a first fire, with starter logs, wax squares and fatwood ranked on how forgiving they are in wind and on damp wood. And best small firewood racks covers the hearth-corner and balcony log holders, judged on the footprint and load figures their listings actually publish.

Frequently asked questions

What accessories do I actually need for a fire pit?

Three: a firewood rack with a top cover so your wood dries properly, a waterproof cover for the pit so water does not sit in the bowl all winter, and a reliable fire starter such as fatwood. Add a spark screen if the pit is near decking, fencing or dry grass, and a mat if it is on a deck. Everything else is an improvement rather than a necessity.

How do I size a fire pit cover?

Measure the pit's widest outside diameter, not the bowl. Covers are cut to the outer dimension and sizing to the bowl is the single most common ordering mistake in this category. Also let the pit cool completely before covering it — fabric covers melt onto warm steel, and that is the other recurring complaint in the reviews.

Does a spark screen stop smoke?

No. A spark screen stops embers leaving the bowl, which is the real fire-spread risk from an open pit. It has no effect on smoke at all, and it slightly restricts airflow so the fire burns a little lazier. If smoke is your problem, the answer is drier wood or a double-wall smokeless pit, not a screen.

Are 26-inch fireplace tools long enough for a fire pit?

Not really. Standard indoor fireplace sets are built for standing beside a grate, and over an open fire pit that length puts your hand near the heat. Forty inches is the practical length outdoors. Tongs matter more than a poker, because lifting and repositioning a burning log is the job you actually need to do.

Is a firewood moisture meter worth buying?

For thirty dollars, yes — it answers the one question that decides how your fire behaves. The EPA says wood burns best below 20 percent moisture content, and a meter tells you whether the load you were sold is actually there. Split a piece and test the fresh face rather than the weathered outside, or you will get a misleadingly low reading.

Sources

  • EPA Burn Wise — Best Wood Burning Practices — EPA on firewood: “Wood burns best at a moisture content of less than 20 percent,” and “Season wood for at least six months. Be sure to store wood outdoors, off the ground, with only the top covered -- covering the sides traps in moisture.” The same page lists what must never be burned, including household trash, “coated, painted, and pressure-treated wood,” plywood and particle board, driftwood, and “wet, rotted, diseased, or moldy wood” (accessed October 7, 2026)
  • Smokey Bear — Campfire Safety — The official “Drown, Stir, Drown, Feel” method for extinguishing an outdoor fire — “Pour lots of water on the fire until the hissing sound stops, drowning all the embers,” stir the water into the embers with a shovel, keep adding water until all material is cool, then “Hover the back of your hand over the ashes to feel that the embers are cool.” The same page gives the siting rules: clear “at least a 10-foot diameter around the site,” “stay at least 15 feet from tents, vegetation, and low-hanging branches,” and “ensure you have vertical clearance at least 3 times the height of the flames” (accessed October 7, 2026)

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