Hello all. We have returned from our long trip to the Woodstock factory and what a time we had
They not only have a great place but everyone in the company I would rate as first class....with a lot of class. I was a bit humbled. They made me feel like a King for 2 days! I'm almost at a loss for words to describe what happened as it really was that great. We met a lot of really nice people and even a few of the guys from hearth.com
I'll be writing more on the trip we made and probably posting some more pictures but wanted to get in this post before I looked at all the threads I've missed in the last week. Shoot. I just remembered I still have not loaded the pictures onto the computer and I have to resize them so I'll try to edit this post when I get the pictures ready. That might take a day or two. I have so much to do it makes my head spin...
The new stove is still in R & D and is wired for all sorts of data. It is about finished though so it should not be to much longer before a move is made. The stove will have to be shipped to an independent lab for testing and certifying. The emissions are going to be extremely low on this baby. It looks like it will be 80,000 btu and will have some of the Fireview looks and some of the Keystone looks. Take a peek at the latest update on their blog.
Woodstock Blog
At present, the stove has 2 cats and I don't remember if it will be that way in the final design or not. Talking to Tom (the owner) they have had some fantastic reads on the emissions with the stove burning cleaner than anything they've ever seen. The stove was going all weekend and with just a couple sticks of wood that thing could give off some serious heat so I do not doubt it will be a real heavyweight stove when finished.
Friday morning right off we found out that Branchburner was there and looking for me. It did not take long to find each other because the Woodstock folks were all hurrying around to find him while I was chatting with several other folks. Sad to say, somehow he left before I knew he was leaving so we didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. Dang, and I wanted to talk to him more too. Fireman was the next hearth.com fellow to show up and I really enjoyed our time together. I was surprised to meet Slow1 but was very happy he came and he also brought his wonderful family. My wife fell in love with his little girl and I even got to carry her around for a short time.
Craig got there in time to get something to eat on Saturday and I think there were some pictures taken with the hearth.com people but I don't know where the pictures are. I got to pass out some hats and Super Cedars and even sold a stove for Woodstock while passing out the Super Cedars. It just seems natural to talk to the folks as I handed out the samples and I met some real nice folks too. Well heck, it appears we helped to sell 4 stoves while we were there and I was happy to do so. No, I did not get a commission. And no, I did not win that stove they gave away (see Todd, I did not rig it after all). Sadly the winner was not there when the drawing took place.
Hopefully I can write more about our visit and hopefully the pictures turned out okay. I did not take enough pictures but that seems to be one of my bad habits. It seems I simply forget to take the pictures even when I have the camera. Maybe it is because I talk too much.
btw, they sold a bunch of stoves in the 2 day affair; I was amazed at how many!
In the sales area there are many fine folks including Ron and Mike who have posted on here. Wonderful folks; all of them. In the factory we met a lot of the workers and everyone we met were very helpful with questions and I got to see how the stoves are put together. I had some questions on replacing some gaskets because in future years some will have to be replaced. I was especially concerned with the window glass and Vaughn showed me an easy way to do it. Lewis was a great fellow to talk to too and I have a new friend and possibly someone who is interested in crewing in RAAM as it seems Jose rides recumbents and is a good mechanic. Perhaps I can get him in on a crew.
That's it for now folks. It is good to be home but that is a trip I will never forget.
They not only have a great place but everyone in the company I would rate as first class....with a lot of class. I was a bit humbled. They made me feel like a King for 2 days! I'm almost at a loss for words to describe what happened as it really was that great. We met a lot of really nice people and even a few of the guys from hearth.comI'll be writing more on the trip we made and probably posting some more pictures but wanted to get in this post before I looked at all the threads I've missed in the last week. Shoot. I just remembered I still have not loaded the pictures onto the computer and I have to resize them so I'll try to edit this post when I get the pictures ready. That might take a day or two. I have so much to do it makes my head spin...
The new stove is still in R & D and is wired for all sorts of data. It is about finished though so it should not be to much longer before a move is made. The stove will have to be shipped to an independent lab for testing and certifying. The emissions are going to be extremely low on this baby. It looks like it will be 80,000 btu and will have some of the Fireview looks and some of the Keystone looks. Take a peek at the latest update on their blog.
Woodstock Blog
At present, the stove has 2 cats and I don't remember if it will be that way in the final design or not. Talking to Tom (the owner) they have had some fantastic reads on the emissions with the stove burning cleaner than anything they've ever seen. The stove was going all weekend and with just a couple sticks of wood that thing could give off some serious heat so I do not doubt it will be a real heavyweight stove when finished.
Friday morning right off we found out that Branchburner was there and looking for me. It did not take long to find each other because the Woodstock folks were all hurrying around to find him while I was chatting with several other folks. Sad to say, somehow he left before I knew he was leaving so we didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. Dang, and I wanted to talk to him more too. Fireman was the next hearth.com fellow to show up and I really enjoyed our time together. I was surprised to meet Slow1 but was very happy he came and he also brought his wonderful family. My wife fell in love with his little girl and I even got to carry her around for a short time.
Craig got there in time to get something to eat on Saturday and I think there were some pictures taken with the hearth.com people but I don't know where the pictures are. I got to pass out some hats and Super Cedars and even sold a stove for Woodstock while passing out the Super Cedars. It just seems natural to talk to the folks as I handed out the samples and I met some real nice folks too. Well heck, it appears we helped to sell 4 stoves while we were there and I was happy to do so. No, I did not get a commission. And no, I did not win that stove they gave away (see Todd, I did not rig it after all). Sadly the winner was not there when the drawing took place.
Hopefully I can write more about our visit and hopefully the pictures turned out okay. I did not take enough pictures but that seems to be one of my bad habits. It seems I simply forget to take the pictures even when I have the camera. Maybe it is because I talk too much.
btw, they sold a bunch of stoves in the 2 day affair; I was amazed at how many!
In the sales area there are many fine folks including Ron and Mike who have posted on here. Wonderful folks; all of them. In the factory we met a lot of the workers and everyone we met were very helpful with questions and I got to see how the stoves are put together. I had some questions on replacing some gaskets because in future years some will have to be replaced. I was especially concerned with the window glass and Vaughn showed me an easy way to do it. Lewis was a great fellow to talk to too and I have a new friend and possibly someone who is interested in crewing in RAAM as it seems Jose rides recumbents and is a good mechanic. Perhaps I can get him in on a crew.
That's it for now folks. It is good to be home but that is a trip I will never forget.
