# "Cottage" Crawford cook stove



## snapper (Dec 17, 2012)

Hey all, this is my first post and I realize the stove I'm asking about is long before the timeframe covered here but I'm hoping someone can help me nonetheless.  We replaced our Stanley Waterford wood cook stove with a circa 1910 "Cottage" (the model) Crawford (the manufacturer).  I've been having some difficulty bringing the oven up to temperature for baking and wonder if anyone has had any experience with any of the Crawford models.  If you have any suggestions as to how we can get the most out of this stove I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks, in advance, for any tips, tricks or suggestions you can give.  Take care and until next time...

Be well.

snapper


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## pen (Dec 18, 2012)

Is there a bypass for start-up that may not be closing to warm the oven up?

Welcome to the site. 

pen


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## snapper (Dec 18, 2012)

Pen - Thanks for your reply.  There is a sliding piece on the back of the firebox that has the words: "bake" (on the far left), "check" (in the middle) and "kindle" (on the far right).  Prior to last night I thought I really had to warm up the stove before the oven would get warm enough for baking but last evening the light bulb went off (I'm hoping) and I just slid the knob all the way over to "bake" about a half hour after starting the stove.  Within 30 minutes the oven registered 350 degrees and in another 15 minutes the range was up to 500 degrees; which is what we need when we do pizza.  In the end, we brought the temperature down and my wife baked a cheesecake and then a bunch of pan rolls over the span of about two hours.  By keeping good coals and adding an occasional piece of wood (in this case ash & maple) I was able to keep it at a steady 325 degrees.  I'm hoping this is how things will work from here on out but if you have any suggestions I'm all ears.

That's all for now.  Take care and until next time...Be well.

snapper


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## pen (Dec 18, 2012)

Very jealous!

Glad it's working as it should.

pen


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## snapper (Dec 18, 2012)

Thanks for your reply and, more importantly, suggestion. I appreciate it!

That's all for now.  Take care and until next time...Be well.

snapper


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## Dune (Dec 18, 2012)

Crawford made beautiful cookstoves.
My only hint, small pieces of wood. Pretty much kindling size. Also, pine burns hotter.


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## snapper (Dec 19, 2012)

Dune - Thanks for your reply.  I'm reluctant to use pine (or any conifer for that matter) for anything other than my initial kindling due to creosote concerns.  While my wood has aged a year under my lean-to shed by the time it makes it into my stoves, I did experience a chimney fire years ago and I'm not interested in another one.  As for your comment on wood size, the success I have had has been with pieces about 2" in diameter so that seems to fit with your suggestion.  Thanks for the that.

For what it's worth, we baked again last night (my wife is having a large gathering at our home tonight) and by going with both your's and Pen's suggestions the oven was up to 400 degrees in about an hour.  The end result was lots of cream puff shells and other goodies.  Hopefully this means we're finally finding the stove's best operating conditions.

That's all for now.  Thanks again.  Take care and until next time...Be well.

snapper

PS - Might you know of any place where I might be able to pick up an owner's manual for the Crawford; if there even was one?


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## Dune (Dec 19, 2012)

snapper said:


> Dune - Thanks for your reply. I'm reluctant to use pine (or any conifer for that matter) for anything other than my initial kindling due to creosote concerns. While my wood has aged a year under my lean-to shed by the time it makes it into my stoves, I did experience a chimney fire years ago and I'm not interested in another one. As for your comment on wood size, the success I have had has been with pieces about 2" in diameter so that seems to fit with your suggestion. Thanks for the that.
> 
> For what it's worth, we baked again last night (my wife is having a large gathering at our home tonight) and by going with both your's and Pen's suggestions the oven was up to 400 degrees in about an hour. The end result was lots of cream puff shells and other goodies. Hopefully this means we're finally finding the stove's best operating conditions.
> 
> ...


 
Creosote does not develop from burning pine or coniferous wood for that matter...it develops from burning incompletely seasoned wood of any type.
Constuction site cutoffs, pine, spruce fir or whatever will be kiln dried, already in small pieces, easy to spit into smaller pieces. Search "burning pine" on this site;
you will find hundreds of threads wherein the pines myths are resoundingly refuted.

If you could find an owners manual, it would tell you to make your cooking fires with pine, that is what the stove was designed for.


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## snapper (Dec 19, 2012)

Thanks!  I know that pine and other conifers burn very hot and I have used them to bring the temperature up but never have used them long term.  Your suggestion about kiln dried pieces obviously makes sense.  I guess I just never thought of it like that.  Thanks for opening up my thought process to new things!

Until next time...Be well.

snapper


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