Wednesday, March 11, 2015

First step for the wood cookstove

Some of you have been wondering about the status of our wood cookstove and whether or not we'd installed it.

In a word, no. Not yet. We've been blitzed with tankard orders and needed to get things done. Besides, we want to install the stove properly, and the infrastructure will take a little time.

So the stove has been patiently waiting in the barn.


But we wanted to move it into the house in order to see how it fits in its appointed space. The stove weighs about 450 lbs. Don used the tractor's tine attachments to lift it out of the barn.



To get it into the house undamaged, we put an old blanket on top so nothing would scratch, then put ratchet straps around the stove.


These straps were designed to anchor vehicles, so they're huge. We bundled the long ends and rubber-banded them so they wouldn't dangle and get caught under the tractor tires.


We put two straps around the stove, then used a third strap and looped it around the lower straps so the tractor could lift and dangle the stove.


You'll notice it's still bolted to the pallet. The reason for lifting the stove is we have porch steps to get it over, as well as a low porch roof to get it under.


Don carefully maneuvered the stove over the steps and through the doorway. Notice the low beam on the porch he had to avoid.


Then he lowered the stove to the floor and I took the straps off the tines. The stove is now in the house.


We manhandled the stove off the entry platform onto a furniture mover. (We couldn't use the furniture mover in the driveway because it won't move on gravel.) The house was a mess with tracked-in mud, shoved-aside furniture, and other evidence of a heavy lifting job.


We're not ready to install the stove yet, but with it in the house we can start measuring how large a platform to build, etc. We could also assemble the various parts it came with.



It comes with a small seven-gallon water tank that affixes to the back of the stove.


That's as far as we've gotten so far. As I said, we've had lots of tankard orders and other commitments that have pushed the priority down on installing the stove. But I still can't wait to start using it!

10 comments:

  1. We too are patiently waiting to install our new heater/ cookstove too, A small extension has to happen first, then painting and new flooring. Yours is a beauty will have to follow along ans see your progress.We need to get moving before winter arrives, seems way off but has a way of creeping up on us
    Cheers
    Jane.

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  2. We too are patiently waiting to install our new heater/ cookstove too, A small extension has to happen first, then painting and new flooring. Yours is a beauty will have to follow along ans see your progress.We need to get moving before winter arrives, seems way off but has a way of creeping up on us
    Cheers
    Jane.

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  3. Hope you get a lot of joy (and heat) from your new stove!

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  4. Last fall hubby and I replaced our old cast iron woodstove with a new Lopi Endeavor. It was like moving the pyramids!!! Well worth it, though. I look forward to watching your progress. K

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  5. Can't wait to see it in! If/when we ever replace our little woodburning stove I want a cooker version.....

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  6. Where's the Internet connection on that thing? B-)

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  7. Any plans for Pi day?

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  8. My grandmother had a wooden cookstove and I have fond memories of sitting at the big old table and staying warm while she made biscuits and gravy and greens. My mom has an O'keefe and Meritt that I am going to ask for when she passes. I have a modern JennAir with all the bells and whistles but I want her stove.

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  9. I have to admit that I am clueless about woodburning cook stoves. My first thought was how are you going to stand the heat in the house during summer cooking. I know in "the olden days" that was all that was available, but then they did not have insulated roofs, walls and floors. Have these stoves changed so much that this is not a problem?

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  10. Hi Patrice,

    I have a question that I'd like to pose to you and/or your readers; It's about building and maintaining dirt roads. Ingress & egress is such a basic thing I'm not sure if people over look this as just the norm of rural life and I'm making a bigger deal of this, or if we have bonafide issue. I've only found 2 articles written specifically about homesteaders having to deal with questionable roads to their property, other YouTube videos but they all seem to be out west and not deal with clay soil.

    First, I'd like to give you a little bit of background. My husband and I are selling our house in Florida and moving to a 30 acre pice of property that we had purchased about 9 years ago in Tennessee. It is very raw land with just a dirt road that amounted to a small fire break/logging road and no infrastructure (electricity, water, etc). We have been slowly working on the land and putting in some infrastructure, & improving the road but it has been a slow go since we do NOT want to incur debt. We are now getting to the point where we need to move and will live temporarily in a garage structure on the property until the house is finished.

    The fire break/logging road has been there for over 100 years (there is an old cemetery with grave sites over 150 years old) and we have met the family of those souls in the grave & learned some of it's history which is very interesting. This particular area of Tennessee has a lot of clay, it reminds me of the kind that potters use on a potters wheel. So when it gets wet, it get VERY VERY SLICK! This is somewhat mountianous terrain, so there is a real danger of sliding right off the road in a few places. This does not do my flatland heart good! From end of the blacktop to our garage is 2 miles of this dirt road - some of the road isn't bad and some had deteriorated with the construction trucks that have been going back & forth, and some of it has steep grades that need to be addressed. The county grader came out and from what I can tell actually did damage to the road by grading most of the rock off to the side of the road in a nice long pile on the side of the road & exposing even more of the slippery clay.

    My basic question for you or anyone that has knowledge and experience is how do I fix this right? I know for a while we won't even be able to drive down it, will have to park, walk in & out until the road dries out some. The rest of the year should be OK. One of my major plans is to improve the road and I know that drainage is a major component. Do you or anyone you know have some tips or a resource that might help me out? Any new or old technology that can get a dirt road passable during most weather situations?

    Thank you so much for your help!

    Joanna

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