# Cook stove?



## Shari (Mar 26, 2011)

Does anyone use a wood fired cook stove?

We are thinking about getting one and are tossing around a 'true' wood fired cook stove versus a retro stove that has electric burners/oven.


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## coaly (Mar 26, 2011)

Yes. I can probably answer most any question you have with them......
 A real cook stove will have eyes (plates) you remove both directly over the fire and off to the side. Some eyes are multiple sections you remove to control how large the hole becomes. The proper pan to use will have a raised ring around the edge. This is called a smoke ring and seals the pan to the stove top directly exposed to the fire.
  Are you looking for new or antique?  I've used both and am currently working on a coal burning firebox for a 'listed for wood burning" only model.


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## Shari (Mar 26, 2011)

Coaly,

I'm looking to maybe purchasing something like this:







I did look at one locally but the son-in-law for some reason gutted out the oven.  Both heat elements were gone, racks were gone, etc.  I would have made him an offer on it but I guess I hesitated because even though I know I can get original replacement parts that doesn't tell me if the other wiring (to the controls) are good or not.  Plus, finances are limited and I didn't want to get involved in completely replacing interior wiring.

On the stove in the picture the 'pattern' is from an 1875 model cast iron wood fired cook stove but has been modernized with electric burners and oven.  I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of 'modernization' of the old cast iron stoves.


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## gfreek (Mar 26, 2011)

For years we had an Elmira Cook stove, 'Julia' model, wood or coal, 6 cast removable lids. Upper warming oven. Cooked quite a few turkeys in the oven.  Only thing when you have in bypass mode to heat the oven you get quite a bit of creosote buildup.  Kind of miss it at times.  Not the chimney fire I had though....


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## coaly (Mar 26, 2011)

OK, I was under the impression you were going to be cooking with wood or coal. The electric elements would be the same as they work on a electric range. Sloooow and expensive  ;-P 
  I can only give you the pros and cons on most wood cook stoves made today.
Once you get used to moving the food around to control the heat, you won't want anything else. They're great to bank off for the night and depending on how much heat is needed, they keep the entire house warm through the night. The larger the firebox the better for wood. All the older antiques lacked any sizable firebox since they were mainly built for coal with a shaker grate.


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## coaly (Mar 26, 2011)

gfreek said:
			
		

> For years we had an Elmira Cook stove, 'Julia' model, wood or coal, 6 cast removable lids. Upper warming oven. Cooked quite a few turkeys in the oven.  Only thing when you have in bypass mode to heat the oven you get quite a bit of creosote buildup.  Kind of miss it at times.  Not the chimney fire I had though....



That's because they all circulated across the top of the oven first, down the side, across the bottom, and out the back. The exhaust would cool off too much under the oven and gum up when burning wood. The Kitchen Queen circulates sidways off the fire and under the oven first, up the side, and across the top to get out. Much cleaner and designed for wood with the largest firebox made in a cook stove. It's the only one with the reverse circulating oven and it works!


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## gfreek (Mar 27, 2011)

Pancakes or eggs cooked directly on the cast top....  times were much simpler then...


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## soupy1957 (Mar 27, 2011)

Even though you are in Wisconsin, the following link will take you to a company that the wife and I bought from, in Massachusetts.  They ship all over the USA (and I think "internationally," as well).

http://www.goodtimestove.com/

We've seen "Richard's" ability to renovate "real" stoves.  He can rebuild the unit to "like new" working condition for just about any application you desire (gas, electric, wood).

We bought a Precision B Boston foundry (circa 1930) wood stove and it is ready to work.  We have to (this summer) get the piping in yet, but the stove was very nicely re-done, and we are excited about cooking with it.

-Soupy1957


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## TX-L (Mar 30, 2011)

I have this stove sitting in a room at my house.  My grandparents and parents used it for primary heating and cooking for decades.  I feel there is no substitute for cooking with this type of stove; why does the food taste _soooo_ dang good?  It also has a lot of mass, so once warmed up it will heat a space very well, but requires frequent loading of the very small firebox.   This one is a Home Comfort, built by the Wrought Iron Range Company, St. Louis, MO.


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## Mt Ski Bum (Mar 30, 2011)

I was browsing around Hearthstone's website the other day & saw that they now offer a wood-fired cook-stove: http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/wood-stoves/stove-details?product_id=26


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## coaly (Mar 30, 2011)

Yes, all cookstoves are exempt under federal law. However California and Washington States have their own law that ALL stoves must be EPA certified. If others follow, this could be the end of the cookstove industry.
Sit DOWN for the price starting at $4999.
You can buy 2 Kitchen Queen 480s for that price with the largest firebox, 24 gallon water reservoir, stainless water heating coil........ and a summer grate that raises the fire to prevent heating the entire stove in the summer.
http://www.kitchenqueenstoves.com/kitchenqueenstoves/index.html


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## woodchip (Mar 30, 2011)

coaly said:
			
		

> Yes, all cookstoves are exempt under federal law. However California and Washington States have their own law that ALL stoves must be EPA certified. If others follow, this could be the end of the cookstove industry.



We cook on our woodburner which has a flat top. I'd love a woodstove like the ones in your photos, but we can get by with ours. 

Not actually sure how we'll cook in Summer when the stove goes out, almost forgotten how to switch the electric cooker on............


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## woodchip (Mar 30, 2011)

Apologies, just noticed this is the pre epa thread. Shouldn't have put that piccy of my stove on...........


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## Obadiah (Sep 27, 2012)

Great thread folks about one of my favorite subjects, so I could not resist.......For questions concerning old cookstoves or converting old cookstoves, go to the guy I go to, Ed over at Antique Stoves. http://www.antiquestoves.com/index.htm He is very knowledgeable, honest and fair. They have a large selection of new, old and reconditioned cookers along with parts to rebuild Antique Stoves, just like the name says. They have been in business and online as long as we have, so they are "oldtimers" like us. I have never heard anything negative concerning them. No one I know, knows more about old stoves, Ed is also a good friend.

Obadiah's offer's one of the largest selections of new cookstoves currently online. Everything from reproduction cookstoves like Grandma had......Margin Stoves, Heartland, and Elmira..... redesigned Amish and English cookstoves that get long burn times, heat very well, plus cook ,bake and even heat your domestic hot water supply. Stoves like ESSE, Kitchen Queen, Pioneer Stoves, Suppertime Stoves, and Hearthstone. http://www.discountstoves.net/Obadiah_s_Wood_Cookstoves_s/37.htm 
I also take cookstoves apart so you can see how they are built, put em back together and burn them for you on You Tube so you can see what your REALLY getting for hard earned cash.....
. http://www.youtube.com/user/WoodyChain/videos?query=cookstoves  We show you the difference between Grandma's cookstove and the redesigned cookstoves and explain what it means to you. If your cooking, baking, or heating, few stoves do all well. Having lived remotely "off-grid" in North West Montana since 1999 and using a cookstove for heat, cooking, baking and heating our hot water, I have some firsthand knowledge in this area I am willing to share with those seeking to be more self sufficient. If you have cookstove questions, feel free to call me on my dime, I'll take the time to answer your questions and give you honest answers with no pressure to buy from me. Just old fashion service and advice.........
In the meantime maybe you'll enjoy an article our youngest daughter Sarah did on "Wood Cookstoves The Alternate Source For Everyday Life" http://obadiahs.blogspot.com/2012/06/wood-cookstoves-alternate-source-for.html


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## ScotO (Sep 27, 2012)

OK, I know this is a pr-EPA thread but couldn't resist either. I modified the top shield and trivet on my Napoleon 1900p to accept a pot or pan, and it works really nice for cooking.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/modified-the-trivet-on-my-napoleon-1900p.90542/ 

However, if Woody lets out a bargain on those Esse Ironhearts someday, I'd REALLY consider buying one.  What say ye, Woody?

Pic of my trivet conversion cooking some taters and eggs last Sunday morning .....


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## Obadiah (Sep 28, 2012)

Ahh my favorite woodstove, the Napoleon 1900, love ours. After 15 yrs, still love it. Yours looks great, but I think you need and Ironheart too, where's your oven with the fresh bread?
Sure Scotty I actually have one that is sitting here that was damaged during shipment, so we sent the customer another Ironheart. The damage is all cosmetic and I have all the parts to put it back together again, but not the time. Once wildfire season is finished that will change and I wont be going so many diffrent directions at once. I'll put it back together some weekend and let you know when it is ready.
So what color do you want your new Iornheart there..... Scotty?


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## ScotO (Sep 28, 2012)

Obadiah said:


> Ahh my favorite woodstove, the Napoleon 1900, love ours. After 15 yrs, still love it. Yours looks great, but I think you need and Ironheart too, where's your oven with the fresh bread?
> Sure Scotty I actually have one that is sitting here that was damaged during shipment, so we sent the customer another Ironheart. The damage is all cosmetic and I have all the parts to put it back together again, but not the time. Once wildfire season is finished that will change and I wont be going so many diffrent directions at once. I'll put it back together some weekend and let you know when it is ready.
> So what color do you want your new Iornheart there..... Scotty?


wow, let me know, I'm interested!  What color is the one you have Woody?  I like the black or natural iron colors the best, but I'd probably be willing to repaint the whole dang kitchen to match whatever you have!


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## ScotO (Sep 28, 2012)

Woody, I actually built that hearth in my kitchen to fit the Esse, but found the 1900p locally in a classified, was like new and I couldn't pass up the price.  I love that stove too, even more-so now that I have the 'latest and greatest' one-piece baffles in it, and I fixed a faulty draft rod (looked to be a factory installed boo-boo).  That thing is a great woodburner, we love it.  But boy oh boy, I'm having an emotional affair with that Esse Ironheart.  Probably the prettiest stove out there, IMO.  What size is the firebox on that stove?  How many sq.ft. can it comfortably heat?


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## Obadiah (Sep 28, 2012)

Scotty please tell me more about this cooking trivet you designed. I am always interested in helping folks form cottage industries as the economy continues to erode as our jobs disappear. As long as it is safe, useful, and reasonably priced, I will look at how we can offer it to our customers. That's how our heat shields were born, good friend needed work, he can fabricate well, has high standards, so we put our heads together came up with a prototype, tested it thoroughly, and offered it to a few select customers to see what would happen and bingo. Win, win for everyone. It’s taken off and I can now offer our customers a way to safely install a cookstove without it sticking out 3’ from the wall. Our customers appreciate this and our cookstove sales have gone up as a result.
Like my Idaho buddy Jim Rawls from Survivialblog talks about in some of his books that I have never read.......we may all have to start rethinking things. Looks like the edges of society as we know it is beginning to unravel. http://www.survivalblog.com/ so many folks are thinking outside of the box right now and looking for ways to put food on the table and warmth in their homes. As I see it from my side of the fence.....America and the World is changing fast and folks are very concerned that things will not end well. I am so thankful that we live in Montana……”the last best place”.
I am sure there is a huge market for a cooking trivet for the Napoleons that would have a larger cooking surface and better heat transfer. Once someone perfected that……. an optional oven that would fold flat when not in use and open into a box and sit on the trivet and actually bake would be great. Those are the million dollar words, it has to work, a metal box does not work very well, so the idea needs work but is doable with some ingenuity, time and testing. So there we go a free idea for anyone who has the fortitude to attack it. 

I am one of those guys that sits there looking at the fire in my woodstove and thinks........where we live we call it "Yaak TV"  until satellite came along there was no TV, or radio unless you were on top of a mountain......winters are long so there is plenty of time to contemplate things......the Napoleon 1900 convection properties is also a perfect design for someone looking to produce a kit using Thermo-electric modules stuck to the sides and rear of the stove so the woodstove will make electricity using the Peltier Effect which is how every thermopile/thermocouple in the world works. The dissimilar metals react to heat or cold and can produce current from the molecular reactions taking place. Anyhow long story short I have an excellent idea for a package that could be strapped onto any Napoleon 1900 and make enough electrical power and hot water during the winter to supply a small homestead or medium size cabin with a family of 4 who are conservative in their energy consumption. No electric heat, ranges or dryers of course, but enough clean free power to turn on lights, run a well pump, washer and dryer as long as it is propane, or gas heated. The package would consist of the thermoelectric modules, heat exchanger, battery bank and 2500 watt inverter. I'm looking for North American partners who want to help me develop this product. Most of the initial groundwork is already done; just need someone with the time and facilities to take this to its next level.
For those who are interested and want to explore this further, here are some links. http://www.hi-z.com/products.php  and http://www.hi-z.com/documents/Hi-Z.Brochure.2006.pdf


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## ScotO (Sep 29, 2012)

Woody, we're out of town with on a scouting trip on the mountain, when I get back later this weekend or early next week, I'll PM you what I did and how I did it on the 1900.  When the stoves running medium to medium-high, it easily brings a big stockpot to a boil.  Did you see my link above?  I'll repost the quick link to see the basics of what I did to open the top shield up.  I tried the cheesy heatsink that Napoleon sells to fit in the factory trivet hole, and it is lame to say the least as far as real cooking is concerned.  I like the way you think, we'll do some brainstorming on the idea.

Here's that link again....

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/modified-the-trivet-on-my-napoleon-1900p.90542/


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## Obadiah (Oct 2, 2012)

Thanks Scotty,
"With the troops in the mountains", I like the way you act, mentorship, there is far too little going on these days. I owe a lot to those who took their time and invested in me, to guide me to a better place, thanks for doing what you do along with all the guys and gals that are investing in our future, through the scouts and other similar groups.
Thanks for the link to the trivet, what great idea, I love how you took a Plasma and cut it so perfectly, cooking down on top of the stovetop itself makes so much more sense. They get much hotter like a cooktop on a cookstove. Pretty clever!! great looking hearth, I can see that you also pay attention to details. I guess we could provide the Nap pre-cut tops already cut out for a reasonable price if folks would send in their old ones as a trade in. We'd have to kick it around a little. Few folks have access to a Plasma cutter. 
BTW... I apologize to everyone, here I am talking about Thermoelectric modules and making juice from a woodstove on a pre epa stove thread, sorry got carried away. If it means anything I love cookstoves and they are currently EPA e exempt....
My goal eventually would be to build a Thermoelectric system that could be used with certain cookstoves that employee convection in their design to power a small cabin in the woods. The technology exists and is readily available to assemble into a package. I am an "open source type guy" and would love to see someone run with this idea as my plate is already full. Here is some more info that some may interesting someone selling the heart of a system that could work. http://www.thermoelectric-generator.com/thermoelectric_power_generator_devices_for_sale.htm Perhapse some folks have already played around with this technolgy. Speaking from experience, in the North in the winter, we don't get much sun, just lots of snow, so solar is not a good option. The woodstove stays stoked until June, so using it to make electricity makes sense.


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## Obadiah (Oct 2, 2012)

_"wow, let me know, I'm interested! What color is the one you have Woody? I like the black or natural iron colors the best, but I'd probably be willing to repaint the whole dang kitchen to match whatever you have! Woody, I actually built that hearth in my kitchen to fit the Esse, but found the 1900p locally in a classified, was like new and I couldn't pass up the price. I love that stove too, even more-so now that I have the 'latest and greatest' one-piece baffles in it, and I fixed a faulty draft rod (looked to be a factory installed boo-boo). That thing is a great woodburner, we love it. But boy oh boy, I'm having an emotional affair with that Esse Ironheart. Probably the prettiest stove out there, IMO. What size is the firebox on that stove? How many sq.ft. can it comfortably heat?"_
Scotty, I missed the post about what colors, firebox size and burn times, sorry about that.
We have any color Stove Bright Paints has and I'll paint it for you, or you can do it yourself and save even more $$. The stove comes in a Anthracite black which is what most folks choose, optional factory colors are ( Black, Green and Brown) I am working on re-painting my youngest daughter Sarah's Ironheart right now and will have another You Tube up soon all about how to do that. I am leaning towards the green, we painted each part a different color and sat back for a while to see which color grew on us.
The firebox is 13"H x 10"W x 19" D which is not huge, the extended wood box replaces the cast iron grates in the floor of the firebox (the ESSE burns coal) and allows you to expand the size of the firebox and make it deeper. I am able to get 10-12 hour burns with our Ironheart with the Extended Woodbox about 9-10 hrs without it. We had some issues with the OEM Exteneded Woodboxes holding up and burning properly. Some customers were not happy so we re-engineered them here at Obadiah's and we offer our own improved version which is twice as heavy and is aviliable with an Vented Ashpan. Charlie here at Hearth.com helped us design it based on his experiances with his Ironheart. (His coals were not burning completely)
Here is where you can find more info on the options and what the list prices are "before our discounts". http://www.woodstoves.net/esse/woodcooker.htm or http://www.discountstoves.net/Ironheart_p/ironheart.htm will get you more info. I did a buch of You Tubes which can be seen right on discountstoves.net, we just re-launched woodstoves.net and we are still working on getting all the info I have put up.
Here are some pics that may be helpful for you to see what the ESSE factory colors are and some actual pics of the firebox. Looking forward to working with you.


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