Sparrow's Wood Stove - she heats she cooks!

[Sparrow]

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/9714/jenstove.jpg

There she is, what a beast! I think I will call her Bertha. Bertha the Vermont Castings cast iron wood stove! She cooks, she heats, she will last 50 years before needing another TLC session.

Stone: 3/4" 3' x 3' Granite slab set into 3" concrete slab I poured

Heat shield: aluminum and ceramic

The whole setup in the image regarding the stove install cost under 700. Everything (except 12 bucks of cement and the materials to maintenance the stove) was second hand.

Yeah, I haven't put in the new oak floors yet! Lots more work to do for this old farmhouse / homestead / BOL*.

[Sniper-T]

Looks Awesome Kiddo!!! Great Job!

Is that a second pc of granite in front of it? Spark/ember catcher?

[Sparrow]

Thank you! I took her all apart ... fixed her up and put her back together. She feels like my baby now. Best stove, operating, my mom has ever used. I have nothing but good things to say about this stove. I am now keeping an eye out for other ones by Vermont Castings for this house.

The granite was a DEAL. They are table tops from the 90s I got off kijiji. I tossed the ugly bases, they has no use. One is 3' x 3' the other is 2' x 2'. Cost: 50 bucks cash. The 2 ' x 2' will be level with the floor once I install it. Much nicer then a piece of metal.

I am looking for more granite tables for this house to use for: in front of bathtub, two entrances, second floor wood stove install.

[Evolver]

Very nice job Sparrow!!! I like the cook top on that one.

[JustAPrepper]

AWESOME!! You did a fantastic job!

[bacpacker]

Very Nice! You have done well. You sure can't beat the price either. Great work.

[helomech]

Nice a wood burning stove is high on my list of things to get. The top opens for cooking?

[Sparrow]

Nice a wood burning stove is high on my list of things to get. The top opens for cooking?

Yes, the top opens (I put in a new gasket) so that you can load wood easy adding to the stove when it is almost full. I assume this brings the temperature up when you want to fry on the cast top plate? Looking for info if this isn't the way to do it?

[helomech]

Did you get it used?

[Sparrow]

Did you get it used?

Yup.

[Sniper-T]

We used to have a stove like that at my cabin, many years ago... When that thing was full of tamarack at a good roar... the entire stove would glow a dull red. An old uncle had a neat trick... he'd crack an egg on the side of the stove, and hold a plate underneath. the egg would sizzle and "roll" down the side, and when it hit the plate it was done.

Probably not the most sanitary of cooking especially now-a-days... but to a 3' tall Sniper-T it was the coolest trick ever!

lol

For the most part we didn't use the cook plate much... but there was always a dutch oven of something simmering away on top.

We would take a grate off the gas stove to put under the pot to 'turn down the heat' without having to let the fire die down:

http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/pict/2603893671104040_1.jpg

[Sparrow]

It really is a fantastic stove! It is so air tight and self regulating for heat output I had no idea it was so easy to work a stove like this. However, my mom assures me that not all stoves are this way ... one my dad paid 1200 for in the 80s sure wasn't!

So yeah, I am ecstatic with this stove! And keeping my eye out for others .. even if it just sits in the barn. :)

That is a great idea about the metal piece to let some air circulate under! I was also thinking of getting a piece of soapstone for the top. When in Mtl next month I am going to try to score some big casti iron dutch ovens. Would be nice to fine one enamel on the outside but raw cast on the inside. I don't want anything enamel on the inside, that shit it toxic and goes into the food eventually.

Also, I did a lot of research about cooking and opted for this stove because she is so versatile and rugged. But no oven! *cries* ... since I put in everything at such a low cost I am going to try to locate this portable oven unit, made my Pacific Energy, for the top of the stove.

http://forums.homestead.org/uploads/Skye/2006-12-15_185640_hot-spot.jpg

Anyone have any experience with this 'hot spot' oven? I also wondered if I could make one myself from an old toaster oven .. removing and replacing anything that isn't metal.

[helomech]

Wow, I need to find one like that.

[shtfsurvivalist]

LQQks great! I miss the smell of a wood stove.