wood cook stoves

[logcabn]

Hi, everybody I'm new at this so bare with me. We are looking at getting a wood cook stove, my husband wants a pioneer maid ( I've read bad things about those) I would like to have a margin gem ( I like the legs) anyway anybody out there have one or knows what they are like or could recommend another type that they had success with?
Thanks for all your help

[Ozarkquilter46]

I don't know anything about the cook stoves but hear is a thought. Let the cook pick the stove. Tell him that if he dose all the cookin, he can get the one he wants Sorry I am full of pi$$ and vinager this week if you know what I mean LOL I will be interested in what eveyone has to say that uses them thinks. My husband is one of those no fireplaces and no cook stoves and nothing that burns wood in the house kind of men. He thinks it will cost to much for homowners insurance with any of that stuff

[uncle Will in In.]

My mother was born in 1894. She cooked for a large family on a wood cookstove until around 1950. The most wonderful thing she ever experienced with a wood cookstove was the day the guys who delivered her electric range carried it outside and busted it up with a maul, then hauled it away.
My stepfather nearly cried. He had bought it new, and it was still in very good condition.

[diane greene]

My experince was with a Stanley (Lehmann's carries them) and it's a nice stove. I assume this will not be your only cooking source, since it is brutal to use them in the warmer months. However, they can be delight on a cold day like today. If you haven't used one I suggest you try and find someone in your area who give you the basics, most of it just comes from experience, but there are a lot of tricks a pro can show you. On hot days I swear I can tell the temperature just by feeling the air with my hand. I also have heard mixed things about Pioneer Maid, and they certainly are the "ugly ducklings" of cook stoves- go with what you think will give you joy.

[DayBird]

Is there one that can be used, safely, in a mobile home? One that's recommended for that use?

[logcabn]

Well we heat with wood right now, and when we let our insurance know all they wanted to know if it was regulation, it is and it never affected our insurance.
And as for cooking on one I grew up on grandma's knee at the wood stove ( my parents gave her a new electric stove that sat by the wood stove and as I recall she never touched that stove) that was fired year round so I have some idea of what they are like.

Following in their foot steps.

[Alex]

From another post, with updated image, showing veggies grilling on griddle, beans and veggie dogs in the pot. We love our cookstove.

Alex

We re-conditioned the one we bought at a garage sale for $87.50 USD in Vancouver. We added new cast iron fire box liners all around, did a little grinding to make the tops fit better and added a lift lever to lift up the top grate to add wood. And we glued new gaskets all around, we spent another $87.50 USD getting her in good shape.

The difference those few things made were amazing. After we added the improvements/reconstructions it was like day and night. The stove is such a pleasure to cook on now. There are "unique" (sorry Tom Robbins) cooking experience and temperature areas on the surface. None of the pleasure can fully be experienced without having your stove in top air tight condition and fully functional.

Even the lifting the grate to add wood, instead of the front door makes it nicer and we can use bigger wood that burns differently. Your project sounds like fun. Suggest you copy one, and then improve on the original design. The whole thing will be a bit tricky, that's why I suggest you consider getting one to model or copy and improve.


"Katie II"-The-Cookstove, 1934 Facwett $87.50 USD at Garage Sale, Note Lifting Lever At Left of Cook Top

Good luck, I think you are going to have a good adventure.

Alex

btw Our Katie II has a cast iron heat exchanger that is the left fire box liner. We have not hooked that up yet to our hot water system. It will serve as a water pre-heater for our currently electrically heated water after we connect it.

[Anataq]

I have heard excellent things about the Pioneer Maid and if you search the forum here you can find a couple of people whom own use the Pioneer Maid daily. Ask them if you have any questions, I think what you'll find is that they love their stoves. The Kitchen Queen is also another excellent choice, but does not have a warming oven. Remeber antique stoves are seldom airtight and are not up to todays standards for everyday use. Check out this website, the people have a lot of good infomation, give them a call.

http://www.woodstoves.net/cookstoves.htm


We have been up in the air on which stove to buy for the last few years. We are now down to two, and not because of price. We had originally intended to buy the Heartland Oval Stove, but decided to go with function rather than form. Not that the Heartland isn't a good cook stove. The only ligitimate complaint I have heard about the Pioneer Maid is that in order to use it to heat the house, you must open the oven door, it's either all the way open or closed, because the door opens up and down vs. side to side. The Kitchen Queen door opens side to side. Unfortunately none of the wood cook stoves are as efficient as a newer wood stove with cat. converters, for heating that is.

-Anataq

[Alex]

In the North you need a real stove for heating. The Blaze King we just got last year is the best. Long burn time during shoulder times, very large wood box, catalytic 82.5% efficient, window, only empty ash two or three times a year if pine or spruce or better, good ash drawer, dual fans (not used too much if small cabin).

For cooking get the one you like that looks good and works good - that you can afford. You should try to test the cook stove if it's a new one. We just got lucky with the one we got at the garage sale. Maybe you will too. However, if you can afford - then check it out - there are differences - though with brand new maybe they are all good.

Good luck,

Alex

[Terry - NW Ohio]

Originally Posted by logcabn

Hi, everybody I'm new at this so bare with me. We are looking at getting a wood cook stove, my husband wants a pioneer maid ( I've read bad things about those) I would like to have a margin gem ( I like the legs) anyway anybody out there have one or knows what they are like or could recommend another type that they had success with?
Thanks for all your help

Hi logcabin,

We have had a Margin Gem for two winters now and love it. I cook on it and bake in the oven clear up until May (last year anyway), starting in September. We heat our whole two story home with it alone - has a very large firebox and can be loaded from the top. Depending on the type of wood we use, we can go four to six hours at night without getting up to reload. And.....it's so nice to look at too .

It wouldn't fit in our kitchen so we put it on the back wall of the kitchen, which is the most centrally located room - the dining room. We now call it the "little" Great room because besides the cookstove and dining room table we keep an oval braided rug on the floor in the center of the room for a rocking chair or two and our treadle sewing machine in there. It's definately the room where everyone hangs out and I have not found it the least bit unhandy to cook on the stove in there. It was very easy to learn to cook on - no problems at all. Ours has the water reservoir and the warming oven and is the black model. Oh yes, and the manufactuer's instructions have less of a clearance to the nearest wall than I've seen on other stoves - State Farm insurance approved our placing it there too.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

[Suzanne]

We were blessed to find a Oval cookstove by Heartland on E-bay. They used it for decoration only and NEVER been used. Bought it for half the price of a new Oval. We were originally going to get a Margin gem like Terry's, I've seen her's it is awesome. Makes their house so warm and inviting. The Oval and Margin gem are almost an exact copy except for afew details. The price is the difference, I would go with the Margin Gem as its much more cost effective. And pretty much the same stove. Ours has been burning non-stop since September when we brought it home. We had used an old Monarch that we loved, so getting use to an airtight was different for me. But did not take long to figure it out. Ours will heat over 1500 sq ft. and it does have a summer grate that moves up for smaller fires. We also have friends that have a Pioneer maid, actually its their second one, they seem real pleased with theirs also. If you have a smaller place and don't need the heat from the cookstove, I think I would look for a nice older one. We had bought our Monarch for $75.00, found it in the local paper. They are out there if you look....