Questions

Frequently asked

If the answer is not here, ask us. Every message answered within one business day. Monday–Friday, 8:00am–4:00pm MT.

Orders and payment

What will appear on my card statement?: SUMMIT FLINT. That is the only thing a charge from this shop ever shows as, on every order, every time. If a line looks unfamiliar, please contact us before you contact your bank — we can find the order, tell you what it was and refund it the same day if it should not have been made. A dispute takes weeks to reach the same answer.
Is anything here a subscription? Will I be charged again?: No. Every purchase on this store is a one-time purchase. There is no subscription, no auto-renewal, no membership, no free trial and no stored card that can be charged a second time — including for the replacement parts, which are ordered one at a time when you need them rather than sent to you on a schedule. If you ever see a second charge from us that you did not place, it is a mistake and we refund it the day you tell us.
How are my card details handled?: The card number, expiry date and security code are typed into an encrypted field hosted by our payment provider, which is certified to PCI DSS Level 1. Those details never reach this website — what comes back to us is a token, plus the card brand and the last four digits. We also support 3-D Secure, so your bank may ask you to confirm the payment before it goes through. The full payment-security policy.
Why do you ask for a billing address as well as a shipping address?: The billing address is the one registered to your card, and your bank checks it against what they hold. It protects you more than it protects us: a card being used without its owner’s knowledge usually fails that check. If the order is going somewhere else — a second home, a job site, a gift — put that in the shipping field instead. Entering the shipping address in the billing field is the most common reason a perfectly good card gets declined.
What currency am I charged in?: All prices are shown and charged in US Dollars (USD). There is no other currency at checkout.
Can I change or cancel an order?: Yes, at any point before it is dispatched, for a full refund. Email orders@summitflint.com with your order number and put the word cancellation in the subject line. Orders placed before 1:00pm MT on a business day usually go out the same day, so send it early if it is tight. Once a freight pallet has been collected we cannot recall it, but we can help you refuse the delivery.

The service life mark

Where does the service life figure come from?: It is our considered estimate of how long that piece lasts in ordinary household use, arrived at from the material, the section thickness and how the piece is put together — not from a test rig and not from a formula. Cast iron and forged steel have no part that can fail, so they sit at the top. Blackened steel and solid brass with no moving parts sit below that. Wool, sheepskin and bridle leather have a real wear point and sit below that again. Anything with a genuine consumable in it — a horsehair head, a lantern wick — is rated on the consumable rather than on the body.
Is the service life figure a warranty?: No, and this is the one thing on the site worth reading twice. A service life figure is a statement about the object: how long we expect it to last, which part goes first, and whether we stock that part. It is not a warranty, not a guarantee, and not a promise to replace anything in year nineteen. The warranty is a separate and much shorter thing — 12 months from delivery, against manufacturing defect such as a failed weld, a cracked casting or a seam that was wrong when it left us. It is set out in the terms, and it is the document that governs.
Why does a set have a lower figure than the pieces in it?: Because a set is rated by its shortest-lived part. The Hearth contains a fender and a tool set from the 25–40 year band and a trivet that will outlive the room, and it still publishes a service life of eight years — because eight years is when the broom head needs replacing, and the broom head is the first thing in the box to ask anything of you. Quoting the longest-lived part instead would be true and useless at the same time.
What happens if a piece does not reach its figure?: Tell us. The figure assumes ordinary domestic use of the kind the product page describes, and the care in the making record — a poker used to lever a stuck grate, a rack left out in the weather or a sheepskin put through a washing machine will not get there, and none of those is a defect. But if a piece has genuinely failed early, we want to know which part and how, because that is a fault in something we sold you and it is also the only way the published figures ever get better.

Parts and repairs

Which parts do you actually stock?: Broom heads and ash handles for the fire tools, flat wicks and glass chimneys for the brass lantern, felt foot pads for the log rack and the fender, handle and sling sets for the log carriers, and striker strips for the fire-making pieces. Every product page names the parts stocked for that piece, next to the part the page says goes first. Where a piece has nothing that can fail — the cast fire back, the slate boards — the page says that instead of listing a part that does not exist.
How do I order a replacement part?: Email support@summitflint.com with the stamp mark of the piece — it is struck on the piece itself and printed on the card that came in the box — and which part you need. We reply with the price and post it. Parts are deliberately inexpensive and deliberately in stock, because a worn consumable should never be the reason a piece gets thrown out. You do not need to have bought the piece recently, or from us, to buy a part for it.
Can I replace a handle myself?: Yes, and that is why handles are pinned rather than glued. Drive the brass pin out of the ferrule with a nail punch, pull the old handle, tap the new one home and set the pin. It takes about ten minutes with a hammer and a punch. A glued handle would be cheaper for us to make and would turn the whole tool into scrap the first time it split, which is the trade we are not willing to make.

Shipping and delivery

What does shipping cost and how long does it take?: $9.50 flat for standard shipping, however many pieces are in the order, and free on orders of $150 or more measured on the merchandise total before tax. Standard arrives in 4–7 business days after dispatch. Express is $28.00 and arrives in 2 business days. There is no surcharge for a heavy piece and no oversize fee. Every order ships with tracking.
How do the Cast Fire Back and the Log Rack ship?: Both go freight, on a pallet, through a carrier running a lift-gate truck — the fire back is 68 lb of cast iron and the log rack is 31 lb and 36 inches wide, and neither is a parcel. Expect the carrier to telephone you to arrange a window rather than simply turning up, and allow up to 10 business days from dispatch. Delivery is kerbside: the driver brings the pallet down to the ground and no further, so plan for two people to move a fire back from there. Express shipping is not available on either piece — if you select it we contact you and refund the difference. Freight goes to the contiguous United States; anywhere else, email us before ordering and we quote the real cost rather than guessing at checkout.
Do you ship outside the United States?: No. We ship anywhere in the United States including Alaska, Hawaii and APO/FPO addresses, with the freight exception above, but there is no checkout path that accepts an address outside the country and we cannot make an exception by email. We also cannot ship to a freight forwarder.
Something arrived damaged. What now?: Photograph the carton or the pallet before you unpack any further, then photograph the piece, and email orders@summitflint.comthe same day. Two photographs settle almost every case in a single exchange. We replace or refund, your choice, and for parcel items we do not ask for the damaged piece back. On a freight delivery, note visible damage on the driver’s paperwork before you sign — it is the one thing that makes a carrier claim quick.
Where is my order?: We email a tracking number when the parcel is collected, and freight orders travel on a pro number that tracks the same way. You can also check at any time from the order-status page using your order number and the email address you ordered with — no account and no password. If an estimate slips by more than two business days, email us and we chase the carrier rather than making you do it.

Returns

How long do I have to return something?: 60days from delivery, on unused pieces in their original packaging, for any reason at all — including that the piece is not what you pictured in that room. The clock runs from the carrier’s delivery date, not from the day you ordered. The full returns policy.
Where do I post a return to?: Nowhere, and that is deliberate. Email orders@summitflint.com with your order number and we send a prepaid label, so there is no address for you to find and no return postage for you to pay. The two freight pieces are collected rather than posted — tell us and we book the pickup; please do not hand either one to a parcel carrier.
How long does a refund take?: We issue it within 5 business days of the return reaching us, and we email you when it goes. After that it is with your card issuer, which is usually a further 3 to 5 business days and occasionally a full billing cycle. It goes back to the card you paid with.
Are opened parts returnable?: Consumable parts — broom heads, lantern wicks, glass chimneys, striker strips — cannot come back once the pack is opened. Unopened packs can, inside the same window.

Materials and finishes

Will the black oxide wear off?: It changes, and that is the finish working rather than failing. Black oxide is a conversion coating: the black is a chemical change in the surface of the steel itself, so there is no film to chip and nothing to flake off into the hearth. What it does instead is lighten and mottle towards graphite with heat and handling — fastest at the poker tip, then the shovel pan, then anywhere a hand goes. Most pieces arrive an even matte black and are noticeably mottled after two or three winters. It cannot be touched up, it does not need to be, and none of it is a defect.
Why do sheepskins vary in size and colour?: Because each one is a single skin from a single animal, tanned with the wool on and with no dye at all. Sizes vary by up to four inches in each direction and the colour varies by a shade or two — the greys and browns are the fleece, not a finish, and a skin is denser at the spine than at the edges. If you need an exact size, this is the wrong product and we would rather say so here than have you measure a wall first. It is still returnable inside the window either way; natural variation is simply not a fault.
Will unlacquered brass stay bright?: No. It arrives bright and goes brown-gold over the first year, faster where a hand holds it. That is what unlacquered means and it is the reason we do it: a lacquered piece looks new for a few years and then the lacquer yellows, crazes and lifts in patches, and there is no fixing that short of stripping the piece. Patina can be polished back to bright any weekend you like, as many times as you like.
Is the cast iron meant to rust?: A dark surface rust on the fire back is normal and protective — it blackens over the first few fires and holds that surface afterwards. Brush the ash off when the hearth is cold and do not paint it. Standing water is the only real enemy: keep any cast piece dry and off a bare concrete floor if it is stored out of use.
How do I look after undyed wool?: Cold and flat. Wool felts if it is washed warm and it will not come back, so cold water, no agitation, and dry it laid out rather than hung. Shake a sheepskin out rather than vacuuming it and it holds its loft for decades. Expect a little pilling in the first season before it settles.

What these things are not

Is wool fire-safe? Can I keep one near the fire?: No. A wool throw is not a fire blanket, it is not safety equipment, and it must never be used to smother a fire or to protect a person. Nothing in this catalog is tested, rated or certified to any fire standard. A sheepskin in particular is a wool pile on a leather hide and it will take a spark, so keep it clear of the hearth stone rather than in front of an open fire. If you want protection at the hearth, that is a fireplace screen from someone who makes them and tests them.
Will the fender stop sparks coming out of the fire?: No — it is a fender, not a spark guard, and it does not replace a fireplace screen. What it does is mark the edge of the hearth stone: a low steel kerb, 5 inches tall, that keeps a rolled log, a dropped ember or a dog’s tail on the right side of a line. It is also not a child barrier; it is 5 inches of steel that gets warm. The product page says all of this in the block listing what the piece is not for, and every product page has one.
Can I use the fire tools with a wood stove?: No. The tools are cut for an open hearth and their handles are unshielded, and the fire back is for an open firebox at least 24 inches wide rather than for a stove or an insert. Each product page names the exception that applies to it — it is worth two minutes before you order, because a piece used outside what the page describes is also outside the warranty.

Still stuck

Email hello@summitflint.com and a person answers. Every message answered within one business day. If it is about a charge you do not recognise, remember that a statement from this shop reads SUMMIT FLINT — and email us before your bank, because we can settle it the same day.