May I second 'Hairy Cannonball's' sentiments as well. For every one who asks a question or offers some advice here, there are hundreds who are peering in saying: "wow, I never knew that," or "so that's why properly seasoned wood is important," and so on. When I learned of this site, I set out to gleam all the experience that I could from those souls who bared their mistakes in the limelight--thank you. My background in burning was a hodgepodge of camp fire skills, a bunch of fireplaces, and an old VC my dad had...actually still has! And what I leaned using my first free standing stove some years ago was marginal at best.
So within a a few months of self directed study of searching various subject at Hearth, I was able to refine my technique to burning cleaner, hotter, and longer than I thought possible. But now that I am burning much more often than I used to...new questions have come up and I've returned again for additional suggestions. What I found is most stuff has been covered in one form or another so I encourage others to dig into those archives to sift out those golden nuggets. My only problem with this whole business is that I'm now (egads!) "lusting" after other stoves, be it a PE or a Joule...and yet my modest stove is plugging away just fine "doing the do" on my behalf, keeping me nice and warm. Now I fully understand the terrible dangers that lurk for the unaware on the internet--beware my friend! :lol: