The eye is removed if you want to get the pot boiling almost instantly...just remember, that the wood smoke will black the bottom of the pot. I have used this feature a lot in my past cooking days.

 

I always remove the eyes to fry eggs and potatoes, as it gets hothere in Okla, and I want my frying done as quick as possible, and with as little wood and heat as possible.

 

I thought the eyes were to be removed to place ashes around the top of the oven part to prevent hot spots in the oven when you are baking. If you put slices of bread on a cookie sheet (when the stove is hot enough to bake with) and leave them in there long enough to toast, you can see if there are spots that need ashes to cool it down in spots. I'm probably not explaining it very well, sorry.

Yankee

 

I remove the main eye to stick wood in my cook stove. I never remove it to cook. Never have to do that, but I guess I could.

 

The way I remember wood cook stoves (and correct me if I am wrong)... My folks were old fashioned... and frugal, before it became fashionable. And I loved it! THey both were kids in the depression era, and my sis and I came along late in life for them.

We had antique combination wood/gas stoves in two places. One of them had a smallish door on the front, it seems to maybe drop coal through? I do remember the cast iron grates in both with a square wrench to shake the clinkers/ ashes through. A long time ago, and being a kid I didn't pay a lot of attention to it. THe way I remember wood was always loaded removing a lid?

And, like others have said, for a quick heat.

 

We use a lot of cast iron for cooking but almost never remove the eyes. It makes a bad mess on the under sides of the pots, but will speed things up. I have a large collection of old cast pots and pans, and some of them have an, "eyelet drop" in the bottom of the pot that fits into an eye hole and lets the pot bottom be about an inch below the top surface of the stove. One of them is an old donut kettle in black iron, and it worked great when we used it last, but haven't used it in a few years. My old cooker and cast iron pans is one of my favorite things in my house.

 

I remove the main eye to stick wood in my cook stove. I never remove it to cook. Never have to do that, but I guess I could.

Same here.

 

We use a lot of cast iron for cooking but almost never remove the eyes. It makes a bad mess on the under sides of the pots, but will speed things up. I have a large collection of old cast pots and pans, and some of them have an, "eyelet drop" in the bottom of the pot that fits into an eye hole and lets the pot bottom be about an inch below the top surface of the stove. One of them is an old donut kettle in black iron, and it worked great when we used it last, but haven't used it in a few years. My old cooker and cast iron pans is one of my favorite things in my house.

Cast iron is all I use too. I love cooking on them and the fact that since I started using them about 16 years ago, I never had to buy a new pan or pot. I got lucky one year when my friend's new boyfriend gave me his mother's collection when she died. GAVE them to me! I could not believe it.

Yes, if you remove the eye and put your pan there it will be all sooty.

 

Original Dimensions for coffee pots and such was the same as the eyes for a reason. If you fry or boil the eye is off. If you want to have only medium hot Eye on. If you want to Simmer use a trivet. People have the miss conception of moving the pot to the heated spot of choice and part of that is true. The main cooking area for most will stay the same and they will adjust.
Black on the coffee pot isn't that bad. the black mixed with salt pork stops rust in the old days.

 

Thank you for the replies, all.
the eyes on my stove are on the coolest part of the cooktop. I may be able to get more heat out of that side by removing the eyes. I'll give it a shot and I'll be aware that it will make the bottom of the pans sooty.

 

The eye is almost always out. We don't drink coffee but the kettle is always there, keeps moisture in the air and hot water ready. We have a "bean" pot with a rounded bottom that sits down in the eye, doesn't take much fire to cook there. Works great if boiling something....James

 

On the stove we use to have the left rear eye had a smaller eye inset into it. I would take that one out to use for the coffee pot because it sat closer to the fire and the water would boil faster.

My stove had a side opening and a front opening. The side was for coal and the front for wood. Like others, I would remove the front eye to feed wood instead of opening the front door.

This particular stove had 6" and 8" eyes and a griddle. Several of my cast iron pots and pans had a rim on the bottom that, when the eye was removed, would sit down perfectly inside. I don't know but it appears they were made for cooking like that. I never washed the outside of my cast iron as they hung on the wall near the stove anyway. Well, I would wipe them down and wash them if they had stuff on them but not just for the soot.

Debora
featherbottoms

 

I used to cook alot over a fireplace and in a camp fire. Same with a wood stove, if you want to keep soot of the bottem of your pans- take a soap, bar soap with water, real strong on the soap and put on the outside of the pan-before you start to cook. It will was off real fast when you go to do the dishes.

 

On the stove we use to have the left rear eye had a smaller eye inset into it. I would take that one out to use for the coffee pot because it sat closer to the fire and the water would boil faster.

My stove had a side opening and a front opening. The side was for coal and the front for wood. Like others, I would remove the front eye to feed wood instead of opening the front door.

This particular stove had 6" and 8" eyes and a griddle. Several of my cast iron pots and pans had a rim on the bottom that, when the eye was removed, would sit down perfectly inside. I don't know but it appears they were made for cooking like that. I never washed the outside of my cast iron as they hung on the wall near the stove anyway. Well, I would wipe them down and wash them if they had stuff on them but not just for the soot.

Debora
featherbottoms

That ring is called a heat ring,it was origionaly done this way to help with even heating of the bottem of the pan. Later it was called a smoke ring because it did exactly what you have said.

 

used to have an old majestic wood burner with 6 eyes..you can remove them if you have a pan that fits snugly down into the hole or covers it well enough to keep smoke from coming out through them..but generally I cooked on top of the iron..and often kept a cast iron pan on the wood stove in a cooler area semi hot all the time..and slid it to a hotter spot when I needed to cook with it..have a HUGE cast iron collection still from when we had that stove..and bought a gas range with cast iron top which I use it on now..still have 2 cast iron pans sitting on it all the time.

 

I remove the main eye to stick wood in my cook stove. I never remove it to cook. Never have to do that, but I guess I could.

Exactly!