Anyone using a wood cooking stove?

[PaulinNY]

Im planning on remodelling the kitchen in the next couple of years and my wife wants a wood cook stove in the plan. This is in addition to an electric stove mind you. Just alittle extra heat and thought it would be fun to use time to time. Any thoughts or even better, photos. My father in law says not worth it for heat, he says the firebox is so small youll be constantly feeding it.

 

[coog]

Search the threads,Paul.Just had one dealing with this a couple of weeks ago.

 

[woodbooga]

Both I and my in-laws cook and heat with century-old Glenwoods.

If heat is your prime objective look into one of the newer EPA high efficiency models.

That said, our old cooker is a massive piece of cast iron that throws off a lot of heat. To be sure, the firebox is small and requires frequent reloading. Kept our drafty old farmhouse bearably warm during the recent ice storm that whacked NH late last week. Would have kept us even warmer, but its located in the rear kitchen ell - not ideally situated to radiate heat to all parts of the house.

My feeling in terms of the real drawback is that the small firebox precludes loading enough fuel for an overnight burn. If I top off and bank the fire at 11:30, the oil furnace kicks in around 2 or 3 a.m. depending on how cold it is outside.

If getting a cooking appliance with some olde tyme charm is what you're after, you will find you'll need to make some adjustments in your techniques. Not for stovetop pan frying, really. The lids over the firebox=high heat; those in the middle are medium; the ones to the far right are for simmering.

Baking's what takes getting used to. Most important thing is rotating your dish during the baking process. If you don't, your casserole will come out half burnt/half raw.

As with any kind of stove, you will need to have a ready supply of wood. You also have all of the chimney maintenance issues of any other stove.

 

[Mike Van]

Our old farmhose had this massive old Andes stove, 8 lids I think? Oven, warming oven & even a tank for hot water. When I was a kid, maybe from 7 on up, I'd get up early, start the fire & get the water on to make coffee in the drip pot. The insides of it finally burnt out & fell apart, we replaced it with an old Glenwood that had been in the barn for years. Those old stoves must have dried a thousand gloves & mittens on the hooks behind on the wall.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Knox Mealmaster

Still being made...
www.knoxstove.com

Knoxville, Tenn. 888-438-5346

 

[cruzer]

we have a coal/wood cook stove in our kitchen...used it to cook some food for thanksgiving dinner in the oven - deffinitly takes some getting used to but well worth it in the end i think.

Stew

 

[danlauer6]

Saw this on CL

http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwi/hsh/955667472.html

 

[Bullshop junior]

we got my mom one a few years back, and she liked it so much she gave away here brand new propane stove.
we got a origanal coal stove, and the fire box is very small, but the people down the road for a new one, and it has a fair sized box. when you fire ours up evan at -50 it still blast ya out of the kitchen.
BIC/Daniel/BS Jr.

 

[Rookie1]

Heres one I found yesterday http://cleveland.craigslist.org/hsh/953548658.html

 

[Patrick62]

How about a combination?

I have used a wood & electric combination before. A real odd-ball for sure.

I have heard of combination wood & gas as well. Also a relic from the 50's

With that in mind a buddy of mine is living in my shed, the sole source of heat is a older cook stove. It is doing the job, but can't bank a fire very well. Frequent feedings are required. Small fire box.

Other than that, they are lots of fun.

-Pat

 

[A. Stanton]

Someone in my neighborhood has one and it smokes like an SOB.

 

[woodbooga]

Hello,

I have (and use) a wonderful Round Oak Chief wood cook stove that I need to sell (built in 1910, cast iron, 6 burners, many extra features, large firebox, very easy to use). It is currently listed on Craigslist (Central Michigan) where you can read a detailed description and see a picture, or I can send pictures to you directly if you're interested. I am new to Arborsite so please let me know if there is another way I should respond to your inquiry.

I am asking $2,000 but will consider all offers. The stove is in very good condition.

Thanks very much,

Judi

I think this should be listed in the Classifieds section. We try not to buy/sell/swap/trade openly in the other threads.

 

[nlts]

Thanks! I'm just figuring this site out. I'll post there.

 

[Crofter]

Some of the newer manufacture have a much larger firebox and airtight. google "Kitchen Queen" to get an idea. I put one in last fall. The oven temperature is very even and dont have the problem of lopsided heating but the temperature guage on the door is totally out to lunch. It takes a quite a while to get oven temperature up to 375 F and if it is in a small room or not too cold a weather it pumps the heat out. We cook some on it but you cant put something on, set to a familiar number and walk away like electric or gas. I have never filled it up to see how long a burn you can get but it is no comparison to a lot of the older stoves as the firebox is at least two or three times larger and you can shut draft down to the point where the fire would go out, it is that airtight. I have a 1500 sq ft rated EPA wood heater also and I would say it is more efficient as a heater than the cookstove.

 

[Zodiac45]

I'm also of the Glenwood persuasion. Mine heats about 2/3 of the downstairs and is a great cooker. You need too be a little more patient than a modern cooker but results are great. As WB said spin the bread or whatever you bake at half time and you'll be fine.
Not sure what A Stanton means? They don't smoke anymore than any other woodstove? If you don't keep them cleaned out around the oven and bottom (every 6-8 weeks for me) you will get a creosote build up and it will eventually smoke (out the lids) when the oven control is on bake. Most come with a tool for this purpose. Access is under the oven step on mine. The good part is most all the creosote condenses in the stove and not the chimney. Here's a well seen pix of mine for the original poster.

 

[woodbooga]

The oven temperature is very even and dont have the problem of lopsided heating but the temperature guage on the door is totally out to lunch. It takes a quite a while to get oven temperature up to 375 F and if it is in a small room or not too cold a weather it pumps the heat out. We cook some on it but you cant put something on, set to a familiar number and walk away like electric or gas. I have never filled it up to see how long a burn you can get but it is no comparison to a lot of the older stoves as the firebox is at least two or three times larger and you can shut draft down to the point where the fire would go out, it is that airtight. I have a 1500 sq ft rated EPA wood heater also and I would say it is more efficient as a heater than the cookstove.

Thanks for the summary of yours. I didn't know they still made them. Bigger firebox sounds like a real plus, but managing the drafts and dampers would take some getting used to since I'm used to the old school way.

Managing oven and stovetop temps is definitely an art. Takes about 30 minutes to get the oven up to heat. Like your newer one, my "Heat Indicator" is useless. I keep a small oven thermometer on the bake rack of mine. When the needle's pointing straight up, it's 350°. I get mine up by kindling with pine, and putting in progressively bigger pieces of popple, hemlock, birch, and red maple.

Gotta be careful not to get too quick an oven lest you overheat the stove, which leads to warping of the lids and "T's"

I'm also of the Glenwood persuasion. Mine heats about 2/3 of the downstairs and is a great cooker. You need too be a little more patient than a modern cooker but results are great. As WB said spin the bread or whatever you bake at half time and you'll be fine.
Not sure what A Stanton means? They don't smoke anymore than any other woodstove? If you don't keep them cleaned out around the oven and bottom (every 6-8 weeks for me) you will get a creosote build up and it will eventually smoke (out the lids) when the oven control is on bake. Most come with a tool for this purpose. Access is under the oven step on mine. The good part is most all the creosote condenses in the stove and not the chimney. Here's a well seen pix of mine for the original poster.
[/IMG]

My first cooker was a ca. 1930 Glenco. Intended for coal. An even smaller firebox. Real leaky. Does coal smoke less than wood? Also, if there's any compromise to the draft (especially in a downdraft situation) I can imagine a real smokey fire.

You're right about the creosote. I had very little when I cleaned the chimney in the fall. I just try and keep an eye on the stalagtite formation under the right rear lid. Not too many of those fuzzy stalagtites, so I know I'm burning good fires with well-seasoned wood.

 

[coog]

Glenwood

Hey Zodiac do you think that, if you shoved real hard, you could get BOTH of your knuckle-headed senators into that stove?