# Kitchen Wood Stoves



## nate379 (Feb 1, 2012)

Wondering if anyone would be familar with this setup?

My memere (grandmother for you english peoples) had a big kitchen stove.  I'm not sure on the age, I'd guess 50s-60s but I know it was used till the early 2000s when house was sold and remodeled.

It looked similar to a modern stove,  Had a white finish, 4 burner cooktop and oven.  All that ran on propane.
But then on the left hand side was a "box" about 12-16" wide and the height of the stove.  It had a cook surface on the top, but for that to work you would have to burn wood in the "box".  I'd imagine it would also provide heat for the house as well.

Kinda looked something like this, just not as modern of course: http://www.number1direct.com/produc...nding-Electric-Range.html?trackcode=AmazonAds


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## jimbom (Feb 1, 2012)

They come on the market around here from time to time.  The local stoves I think were made in St Louis.  White porcelain with wood fire box on the left.  We have never had one, but pepere used one in the river cabin.  Not uncommon in these parts.  Likely still found in fishing and hunting shanty.  

Used, they are cheap, so I thought about one for the basement for long power outages.  Bottle of propane and stack of wood - good for the long haul.  Wife had more sense and said no.  She was right.  Things are big, ugly, and not UL.  Would have been a waste of our time.


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## Dakotas Dad (Feb 1, 2012)

The family we just met/bought our Mansfield from sold the manny to make room for a Flame View. It was a very nice looking stove, they got all the bells and whistles.. It will be providing heat, hot water and doing all the cooking during the cool months.

http://www.stovesandmore.com/index.php/products/stoves-a-heaters/flame-view


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## dougand3 (Feb 1, 2012)

Royal Leader cook stove in north Alabama on CL.

http://huntsville.craigslist.org/atq/2778434979.html


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## ScotO (Feb 1, 2012)

dougand3 said:
			
		

> Royal Leader cook stove in north Alabama on CL.
> 
> http://huntsville.craigslist.org/atq/2778434979.html


that's a beauty!  I have an early 1900's Home Comfort cookstove that I plan on redoing someday (hoping to build a small camp on the mountain) but just too many projects on the burner right now!


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## SteveKG (Feb 1, 2012)

The combination wood/gas ranges were made at least as early as the 1920s. Perhaps even earlier, I don't know. I once read a book about cooking on wood ranges, and they had a history of this stuff. Don't recall the title. Anyhow, I wanted one badly for my house when I built it back in the 80s. Never found one, so I went with a wood-only range and gas countertop burners.

Anyhow, what I read was that the combination stoves worked ok but the wood range portion was a compromise, with a small firebox that needed constant tending. A real pain, but probably not a big deal for a cabin used part time or something. I eventually did run across some in antique stove stores. They were priced quite reasonably and much less expensive than a wood-burning range.


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## Wade A. (Feb 1, 2012)

I've used wood burning ranges, and my grandmother and mother did as well. Grandma held out a long time after rural electrification happened in that part of the country (Shen. Valley of VA).  After that, she moved it to her smokehouse, where she canned all her vegetables on it for decades longer. She was very comforrable with the technology, to say the least.  All experienced cooks of her generation could tell the approximate temperature of a stove by opening the oven door and putting a hand inside. There is even a formula, based on counting the seconds you could comfortably hold your hand there, that would give you the temp within about 25 degrees...crucial when trying to cook baked goods.  Other models of course have door thermometers. Wood stoves are only incidentally wood heaters.  Mostly, the excess heat is seen as a real negative when cooking in the warm months. In winter, the size of the firebox and the non-airtight construction make it near impossible to heat anything but the immediate area.

Back when I was into metal detecting, around VA and Maryland, I'd always find numerous wood stoves parked in the back corners of old fields, grown over and covered up. Some of the iron work was really impressive. In my current house I have a couple of warming shelf brackets off an old stove holding up a granite kitchen counter. I tell you though, when the women got a chance to retire their woodburners, they jumped on it. That tells you alot about the labor saving properties of the modern gas or electric range.


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## bsj425 (Feb 1, 2012)

The woodway in Fairbanks sells them new they have several manufacturers some are absolutely beautiful but far out of my price range 

http://thewoodway.com/cookstoves.htm


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## firefighterjake (Feb 1, 2012)

Ah Memeres . . . if I was a betting man I would guess she made some fantastic ployes . . . and even today you may enjoy eating poutine.


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## Clodhopper (Feb 1, 2012)

I had a Bengal Blue Jet that I burned for about 12 years.  We never did hook up the propane because all the valves needed to be re doped.  We bought it for 3 bushels of tomatoes.  I ended up giving it to a friend who has it in his sap house now when we decided to go with a stove that could burn all night and didn't take up so much space.  Here is a pic.


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## burleymike (Feb 2, 2012)

My Grandma had one in her kitchen and she cooked on it until she moved in 1984.  My dad has lots of stories growing up with that stove.


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## nate379 (Feb 2, 2012)

Yes, looked very much like that model other than it had 2 doors at the bottom instead of what looks to be 3.



			
				Clodhopper said:
			
		

> I had a Bengal Blue Jet that I burned for about 12 years.  We never did hook up the propane because all the valves needed to be re doped.  We bought it for 3 bushels of tomatoes.  I ended up giving it to a friend who has it in his sap house now when we decided to go with a stove that could burn all night and didn't take up so much space.  Here is a pic.


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## nate379 (Feb 2, 2012)

Yes sir!



			
				firefighterjake said:
			
		

> Ah Memeres . . . if I was a betting man I would guess she made some fantastic ployes . . . and even today you may enjoy eating poutine.


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## eclecticcottage (Feb 2, 2012)

I have wanted a wood kitchen stove for many years.  I always figured when we bought our next house I'd make sure it had room for one, even if it was in the basement.  Well, I'm definately not fitting one in the Cottage, considering it's smaller than the Old House, and has no basement   Now I am thinking eventually I'd like to build a summer kitchen somewhere on our property, and put a wood cook stove in it.  I looked at a few of the new ones, thinking I might relocate the Temco and put one in the sunroom, but none are UL listed and I don't think my insurance company would like that very much.


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## Grannyknot (Feb 2, 2012)

This is a random story and one that probably doesn't deserve mention here but.....

Many years ago, my wife and I were hiking a short section of the Appalachian Trail in the middle of winter.  It was very cold, and there were 4 foot snow drifts in many places, but we were trudging right along.
One section on the TN/NC border (the max patch area for those familiar), goes right next to a very old mountain farmhouse.
Outside the farmhouse was an older man, probably in his late 70s/early 80s, outside in the blowing snow, splitting wood.  (They had a massive stash of seasoned firewood).
Their old stacked stone chimney was smoking a bit, and the farmhouse looked very cozy.
When we passed by, the man stopped his work and walked over to talk to us, we exchanged pleasantries and a short conversation, and at the end, he asked if we would like to come in for some coffee and a "biscuit".
We quickly said we'd love too.  The old farmhouse had electricity, but looked like most of the amenities hadn't been updated since the 50s, and had an old wood fired range/oven setup in the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, the mans wife was tending to some chores and working on a quilt.  She opened the little door on the oven and threw a few small splits of seasoned oak in.  They flamed up immediately.
Then she did something that I had never seen before.  She pulled open an old wooden drawer in the cupboard.  It was very deep, lined with sheet metal of some sort, and full of flour.
She made a little cavity in the flour, threw some butter in, poured some buttermilk in, and whipped up some biscuit batter right there inside the drawer full of flour.
She pulled a pre-heated cast iron skillet out of the oven, dolloped some lard in the center, and watched it melt immediately.  Then she dolloped the biscuit batter in 7 different spots on the skillet.
The coffee left a little to be desired, but the biscuits were amazing, and I've still had nothing that was their equal.  No butter or jelly was required....just plain.
My wife asked her how she regulated the temperature in the wood fired oven, and she just replied "70 years of trial and error".
Before we left to hit the trail again, she wrapped up two biscuits for us, each with a piece of country ham in the middle.  We had those later in the tent....needless to say, they were delicious.

I'll never forget that sweet old couple, their ways of living up on that mountain, and often wonder if they are still alive, kickin, and making the best biscuits i've had.


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## pen (Feb 2, 2012)

Grannyknot said:
			
		

> This is a random story and one that probably doesn't deserve mention here but.....



yea, it may not be directly related to what the OP is looking for, but since it's such a good story who cares.

I hope someone, someday, can have such a good story about the wife and myself.  What a compliment.

pen


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## ScotO (Feb 2, 2012)

pen said:
			
		

> Grannyknot said:
> 
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I agree Pen.  What makes the story so wonderful is its simplicity and randomness.


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## Wade A. (Feb 2, 2012)

Grannyknot....sounds like you were initiated into the glories of cathead biscuits, or "drop" biscuits, to use another name. The alternative method is to roll them out and cut them out, of course, and to be "regulation" the cutter should be the open end of an old baking powder can.  Nothing exists that you can stick in your maw that won't be improved by a little pure leaf lard either!  That piece of furniture you saw sounds like what is commonly known as a "Hoosier" cabinet. It was used primarily for baking goods and most had a flour hopper that had a built in sifter and an enamel top that could be used for rolling out pie pastries, etc., without sticking. This was an essential piece of equipment in a time when most kitchens did not have the wide open space and efficiency of countertops. 

(And, take it from an old AT bum.....don't eat ham biscuits (or any other food) in your tent! Right? Right.) 

Great story.  Those characters from that era are just about gone in that part of the world. I've known a few, and they genuinely knew where deep satisfaction can be found.


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## begreen (Feb 2, 2012)

I was in that area a few times in the early 70's. The best way to describe it is that it was like time had just stood still. I met folks there that had no electricity or even central plumbing. Inside of their home it was hard to tell if it was 1870 or 1970. They were good folks, with a peculiar accent, yet they were kind and helpful to me, a stranger. I wonder if it's still like that.


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## Wade A. (Feb 2, 2012)

Not so much anymore BeGreen. The old timers who lived through the depression era are just about gone from the landscape, and the ethic they had goes with them. I'm always wary of getting romantic about another's self-sufficiency though. To live like that takes a lot of stoop labor and long hours of drudgery. Most don't do it for its quaintness, but out of necessity and out-and-out material poverty. Certainly out of a lack of alternatives as well. But, still, you can't overlook the positive benefits of that life.  Shoot, I guess everyone here knows that.

What I regret is that these people took with them many, many useful skills that were not passed on.  The good news, sort of, is that we're going to be needing those skills again as we come down the long descent that goes along with the depletion of cheap energy sources.  There are many people hunting around to try and rediscover the tricks of living that way.


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## begreen (Feb 2, 2012)

For sure they were very poor. It was an eye opener for me as a young lad coming from an affluent NY county. But there was a humble respect and dignity there too. 

I'm currently reading a fascinating book about a pioneer in Colorado. It starts back in England and how the wars forced many Scots out of their country. They went to jail or they were sent to the colonies as indentured servants. The NC hills are full of Scots too. After the hardships they endured in England, those that survived became remarkably rugged individuals. 

http://www.amazon.com/At-Home-Range...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328210258&sr=1-1


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## Wade A. (Feb 2, 2012)

Talkin' about my people there, for sure. The Scots-Irish are pathologically self-reliant, and as fractious and belligerent a group as this continent has ever seen. I've noted that this heritage is shared by the majority of posters here, not a coincidence, I'm sure. With the passage of the Queen Anne's law, divesting the Scots-Irish Presbyterians of most of their property and religious rights, they took to the New World in droves, bringing their distrust of the Crown with them.  (It is no small accident that the U.S. Constitution draws heavily on the Presbyterian Book of Order)  As long as they kept the Shawnee and Cherokee W. of the Allegheny, they were free to practice their peculiar Presbyterian rites, without interference from the Anglican church, and to cook their whisk(e)y and generally go feral.  Thereafter, the law of unintended consequences kicked in...big time.

I'd highly recommend Jim Webb's: "Born Fighting" if you want a good summary of the entire history, going all the way back to the border conflicts in Northumbria, the Ulster plantation, the siege of Derry and all points in between.


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## eclecticcottage (Feb 2, 2012)

ploughboy said:
			
		

> What I regret is that these people took with them many, many useful skills that were not passed on.  The good news, sort of, is that we're going to be needing those skills again as we come down the long descent that goes along with the depletion of cheap energy sources.  There are many people hunting around to try and rediscover the tricks of living that way.



I don't know...whether or not the skills are needed, it would be nice to know HOW to do certain things.  Have you ever gone to an estate sale, auction or the like and come across a tool that is obviously old and you can't determine what it was used for?

I think while we may not NEED to know some things, it might be better to do them the old fashioned way sometimes.  Ok, I prefer the splitter and chainsaw over a maul and axe.  But for example-we made brownies from a mix last night.  Ever read those ingredients?!  I think it's probably better (health wise) to know what to throw together to make your own.

I finally saw Wallie (the movie..or was it Wall-e) the other night.  Seems like the path we could be on, forgetting how to do the simpliest things because we CAN. Scary.

I don't think I'd want to live like Noah John Rondaeu (the Adirondack Hermit), in a tent in the mountains, but I would like to be able to can my own fruits and root cellar my own veggies.  Although I'd need a cellar first, lol.  I had to read up on raising chickens.  I've never cooked on a real wood cook stove.  I'd like to go to a "continuing education" class on that, instead of the latest in social networking. 


ANYWAY, OP, I've seen stoves like that on Ebay.  They look basically like a regular 40's or 50's era stove (maybe a little more basic).


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## StuckInTheMuck (Feb 2, 2012)

These people might know what you are looking for.  http://stovehospital.com/


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## Dune (Feb 2, 2012)

StuckInTheMuck said:
			
		

> These people might know what you are looking for.  http://stovehospital.com/



Thanks, I just wasted a disturbing amount of time at that wonderful website.


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## jimbom (Feb 5, 2012)

ploughboy said:
			
		

> ...What I regret is that these people took with them many, many useful skills that were not passed on.  ...There are many people hunting around to try and rediscover the tricks of living that way.


Try the "Foxfire" books.  My dad had them.  His opinion was the Ozarks' old ways were well documented even though the books came from the eastern mountains.


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## nate379 (Feb 5, 2012)

I will ask my Mom tomorrow when I give them a call to see if she can remember more about it.


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## nate379 (Feb 21, 2012)

Was talking to my Mom about this and I was mistaken on the stove.  It was actually kerosene for the heat part and propane for cooking.  It was an older stove before the one I was talking about that was wood.


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## TX-L (Feb 22, 2012)

This stove was used by my grandparents virtually their whole lives.  My great grandmother even used it all summer to cook on; how hot would the kitchen be then?  I can't really put my finger on why, but all the food that was prepared on this stove tasted better somehow.  Maybe I'm just nostalgic, but there are no better pancakes in the world than were made on a big round cast iron griddle on top of this stove, and with syrup we made ourselves.  It still sits in a spare room in my house, and saw use as recently as 4 years ago.  Also in the house is an enamel roller-counter flour-holding cabinet/cupboard, as referenced in a previous entry.  I expect my grandparents, while not from the mountains of the south, had very similar values and a way of life.  They grew up on dairy farms, and milked a whopping 10-12 cows on their own farm.  Who could raise a family and make a living doing that?  They had to be very self sufficient with most everything, from gardening, canning, clothing, raising and butchering their own meat, hunting/trapping/fishing, etc.  And obviously, the only heat they had was wood.  I wish I had their accumulated knowledge in my head.


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## bluedogz (Feb 22, 2012)

eclecticcottage said:
			
		

> ploughboy said:
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Cook's Illustrated magazine has a regular advice column for tag-sale "what-is-this-thing" letters... people are always mailing in a photo of a cast-iron whoozywatsit they found at a yard sale....


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## eclecticcottage (Feb 24, 2012)

TX-L said:
			
		

> I can't really put my finger on why, but all the food that was prepared on this stove tasted better somehow.  Maybe I'm just nostalgic, but there are no better pancakes in the world than were made on a big round cast iron griddle on top of this stove, and with syrup we made ourselves.  It still sits in a spare room in my house, and saw use as recently as 4 years ago.  Also in the house is an enamel roller-counter flour-holding cabinet/cupboard, as referenced in a previous entry.  I expect my grandparents, while not from the mountains of the south, had very similar values and a way of life.



I think cast iron does really make things taste better, but I bet wood stoves make it even better!

Ooohhh...a hoosier!!  I SO wanted one of those.  No room though.


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## coaly (Feb 24, 2012)

I prefer the Kitchen Queen for various reasons.
We have cooked on an antique Buckwalter "Real Apollo" 6 eye with oven. The first thing you learn is to move the pan around to the correct heat. You also need the right type of old pans with a smoke ring on the bottom. They seal to the stove top at the outer edge of the pan. You remove the eye and put the pan over the hole so the heat is directly on the bottom of pan for fast cooking. Just as quick as gas. Some eyes have a small center piece with graduated removable rings to make the hole larger to adjust the direct heat. Biggest problem with all the antiques is the circulation around the oven was across the top, down the side, and across the bottom with an angle deflector directing it towards the exhaust in the back. This cools the exhaust to below the condensation point and creates a sticky creosote mess below the oven. You really need to burn them hot when the divertor is pulled to direct the heat around oven. We used ours on coal, most are made for coal with shaker grates. I learned real fast the danger of using an antique waffle iron on top of the stove. You only brush very little cooking oil on the inside of the iron to prevent sticking. Too much, and the thin hot oil will run out when you open it and flare up on top of the stove ! Your hand still on the waffle iron handle if you're not ready for this creates the burnt arm hair smell associated with stove top cooking.

The Pioneer Maid line now includes the Bakers Choice which is built well, but not fancy. Regular paint, not porcelain enamel, it's very fixable. All steel plate with cast one piece top. These were the first airtight cookstoves made by Amish brothers in 1979. They are affordable and a utilitarian stove. They do require a custom made brick for the firebox. A coal grate with coal burning design firebox is in the works for the Pioneer line made in Canada. The owner, Suppertime Stoves  (John Tschirhart) also makes custom pool tables.

The Kitchen Queen is an enameled stove with steel plate throughout including the top. (unpainted top) The circulation around the oven is the opposite of all other cookstoves. The exhaust is directed off the fire UNDER the oven first, up the side and across the top eliminating the tar and soot build up. There is a "Turbo Charger" air intake on the bottom as well as the regular air intake on the front. Regular size firebricks are used and summer grtae is avalable to raise the fire near the top for summer use of the stove top without heating the mass of the stove. The 2 eyes are steel plate as well, 10 inch diameter. So it would be easy to make your own with multiple pieces to remove for different size holes. The oven thermometer goes from 0 to 1000*f. An Amish Bishop is actually the business owner.

 Both loose their UL listing when used with coal, but the Amish self insure, so it's not a problem for them.


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## coaly (Feb 24, 2012)

eclecticcottage said:
			
		

> Ooohhh...a hoosier!!  I SO wanted one of those.  No room though.



Got to set the Hoosier into Fisher Bear Paw Feet !


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