Did a couple tweaks on the Buck 91...

[Woody Stover]

Got a couple of "go-er" loads in the 91 when SIL loaded the stove last week...combustor up around 1800. I am able to load to compensate for the slight amount of air coming in through the ash drop but I wanted to tighten up the air a little so that it's less sensitive to how it's loaded, and others don't have to worry about that when they load the stove.

Here you see the air wash control rod and the right-side plate covering the right inlet, with a slight gap at the front of the plate. There's an identical plate mounted to the same rod on the left side, under the other air wash inlet. It's possible they left a bigger gap on the right side to compensate for a bit of air coming into the left side of the fire box through the ash drop, I don't know..
You can also see the saddle that the control rod rides in.

I cut a piece of flashing and wrapped it around the bottom of the saddle to lift the right rod/plate slightly. I didn't want to cut too much air because previously, when I wedged a wood chip between the rod and the ash lip to hold the plates up tight, the stove back-puffed. I want the operator to be able to close the air all the way without any problems. I didn't make any adjustments to the left-side saddle, as that plate fits a bit tighter.

I also smeared some silicone on the edge of the ash drawer gasket. I had my doubts as to weather this would help, thinking that the air was probably being pulled through right where the gasket contacts the housing, not through other areas of the rope. It seems to have helped a bit though.
I may at some point try to totally 'rubberize' a gasket so that the sealing edge contacting the housing is a silicone seal...

 

[mellow]

I know you don't want to hear this but if that doesn't work I would put furnace cement over that ash pan drop, I never liked mine anyway. With that sealed my stove runs like a top now.

Get yourself a good coal rake and ash shovel and metal bucket and be done with it

 

[Woody Stover]

I know you don't want to hear this but if that doesn't work I would put furnace cement over that ash pan drop, I never liked mine anyway. With that sealed my stove runs like a top now.

Get yourself a good coal rake and ash shovel and metal bucket and be done with it

Yeah, I really don't want to give up the ash drop. I kinda like the idea of letting the coals burn out in the stove, though the actual amount of heat gained may be small. Also, MIL is sensitive to parts-per-million of any kind of smoke or dust, so I want to keep that to a minimum. Heck, if I even open or close the load door too fast I can get a tiny amount of smoke in the room. I can burn quite a few loads before I have to empty the pan, which beats having to shovel and carry out every couple loads, IMO. And...I just like to experiment.
I'm getting pretty close now to this thing running like the proverbial top.

 

[WoodpileOCD]

OK, I see what you did with the flashing but I'm not sure I understand what it is doing. By raising the slider bar in the bracket (saddle) are you lifting the plate higher and sealing the opening better?