Dusting off my first sweep brush from twenty years back

I pulled my old chimney brush from a box in the garage yesterday. It was a simple, stiff thing for basic brick flues. Back then, we worked mostly by guesswork and long hours. Now, we use small cameras to see inside without all the mess. That old tool shows how the job has gotten smarter over time. In my view, these updates help us do better work for folks. It's a good reminder of how far we've come in this trade.

4 comments

4 Comments

ruby6591mo ago

Ngl sometimes the old way just hits different. That guesswork built an instinct you don't get from a screen.

wells.christopher1mo ago

My buddy learned that lesson the hard way, kinda proves rowan_lane's point.

rowan_lane1mo ago

Look at that old thing and tell me you really miss the mystery chimney era. Honestly ruby659, that "instinct" mostly meant hoping you didn't miss a huge bird's nest and burn someone's house down. It's cool to have the history, but I'll take the camera showing me the actual problem any day. Funny how we get all soft for tools that just made the job harder.

the_beth1mo ago

Reading about chimney sweeps history, it's wild how much got missed back then. Rowan_lane is right, cameras prevent real disasters that guesswork might cause. Nostalgia's cute until you picture a family roasting marshmallows over a bird nest fire.