How to choose and use a wood stove

Wood stoves are commonly made of several materials. Cast iron, enameled cast iron, soapstone, and steel are among the choices available. I have not had the privilege of owning a soapstone stone, but have had both steel and cast iron. I think the cast iron, especially the enameled ones, are highly preferable.

We've owned Vermont Castings brand, but the Napoleon brand compares very well.

What are the pros and cons of each type?

Steel Stoves
Economy sums up the benefit for a steel stove, it is lighter in weight, and less expensive than other material choices, usually. It heats up quickly, but is dangerously hot to the touch ( if you should accidentally come in contact with the hot metal.) The finish is usually easy to care for.

Cast Iron Stoves
Solid, heavy, and retains heat well. Cast iron stoves will need some maintenance work to keep the finish looking good. Quality stoves range from $800 up depending on factors such as size and features.

Enameled Cast Iron Stoves
The beauty of the enameled finish is one obvious feature. The finish is easy to wipe clean and maintain, but my own experience is that it crazes and cracks with use over the years. Still, a beautiful choice and not every user is as hard on their stove as my family has been.

Soapstone Wood Burner Stoves
As one manufacturer says,"Unlike standard wood burning stoves, a soapstone masonry heater uses the soapstone mass to store the heat, and slowly radiates it over time. The heat released by the soapstone, very much feels like the heat from the sun when you sit in a sunroom." Soapstone is not only quite beautiful, it is safer should you happen to make contact with it while hot. Quite heavy and expensive, as well. Expect to pay between $5,000 to $10,000 for your stove.
Learn About Soapstone

Stone requires more time to heat up, but once it has, it holds heat much longer.

Wood stove heat is cozy, it is a steady and soothing radiant warmth on chill wintry days. It removes the sting of electric outages and gas price fluctuations. It is efficient if you purchase a well made, air tight and technologically up- to-date model. What is not to love?

I wouldn't trade the good feeling of radiant heat for anything else in our cold winters, but there are some drawbacks to living with the wood stove.

You have to feed it- hauling in wood daily. The wood supply is usually kept outside, and you have to get several logs into the fire several times a day.

Even an air tight stove produces some fine ash. Ashes around the stove, and regular clean-out of the ashes is necessary. You might feel a little like Cinderella, cleaning it all up.

Wood needs to be purchased each year, or obtained and split to size. It is usually up to the purchaser to stack it after delivery.

Chimneys should be cleaned annually.

There may be issues with your insurance company which need to be worked out.


Wood Cookstoves

Most cookstoves are made of cast iron, some are trimmed with nickel, some have an enamel coating. They are very heavy.

Cooking with woodheat is a little different. That is an understatement! The wood-burning cook stoves of today, such as the replica 1800's stove made by the Elmira Stove Works company, are far more efficient than the predecessors they were styled upon, but they still operate in ways that make cooking and baking much more time consuming and inexact.




A few things to note about cooking with this type of stove:

• Temperature gauges tend to be inexact when it comes to baking. Use a standalone oven thermometer.


• Wood stove heat requires more attention, adjusting temperature through dampers and relative distance to heat source (the woodbox)


• You may need to rotate the pans during the baking process


• Size and type of wood makes a difference in resulting temperatures.


• Stovetop cooking temperatures are adjusted by moving the pans to different areas of the top surface

When investigating buying a new stove, I was impressed with the Waterford manufacturer. It is compact, and efficient, with a clean white enameled surface. That is the one I would buy. The one I had was an antique and I don't advise this choice on several counts. It can be missing racks, and other types of parts, which aren't easy to replace. If it is cast iron (mine was) it will need blacking. Not being airtight, a great deal of heat is lost.

Still, whatever wood heating cookstove you have, it will heat the room well during the cold season, and you can continue cooking regardless of electric power. Stews, soups, and other meals that are best slow cooked will be the perfect choices for this type of stove.

EPA Wood Gourmet Cook Stove

Research... that is the basic source of information gathering that you will do when purchasing your stove, but I also like to talk with those who have a particular wood stove and to visit showrooms. These aren't located just anywhere, I realize. In Ohio the Lehman's store, which is known nationwide, has a large showroom for wood cookstoves and heaters. There used to be more, but the economy means that not every store is displaying a number of wood stoves. Public tastes seem to have shifted towards gas and electric as energy prices eased, but wood energy is not dependent on whether you have electric working or not. That is one of the beauties of it.

Answering questions of sustainability, "Use of USA Forests for Home Heating".