Soapstone covered Cast Iron

Love soapstone, so much i had an island top in my kitchen made from the stuff.

Holds heat forever. You can put your hand on it when its hot, youll still get burned, but it may not take a layer of skin like a cast or steel stove would. they call it softheat, youll understand. Its not the blasting, light your britches off standing near it type heat, but put off the heat she will.

Brian, I would be a bit suspect of any stove that you could hold your hand on and not get burned. If that is the case, they've made this into a convection heater rather than radiant and you'd definitely notice a difference in how it heated your home.

We have a cast stove that is wrapped in soapstone and you won't be catching me putting my hand on it! We also have soapstone blocks that are used as boot driers and glove driers. Believe me, when I remove these from the stove top, I will have gloves on else I could not handle them.

You asked if the soapstone stove will put out enough heat. It doesn't sound as if that stove will but ours surely does. We not only use half the wood we used to but also stay a lot warmer. In addition, we used to close off part of the house with our old stove. That no longer is the case and as stated, we are now warm; a lot warmer. We keep our house 80 degrees or above.

brianbeech said:

Well, I think I would like the 'even' heat of a soapstone stove. I like the looks, but it is advertised as a convection heater. Of course, with the large glass window, I assume you'd get a good amount of radiant heat while in front of the stove.

Glad to know that soapstone does heat up enough where it would be uncomfortable to keep your hand on. I thought it was odd for him to say you could keep your hand on it and not get burned.

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Did you get a look at his hand?

brianbeech said:

gyrfalcon said:

brianbeech said:

Well, I think I would like the 'even' heat of a soapstone stove. I like the looks, but it is advertised as a convection heater. Of course, with the large glass window, I assume you'd get a good amount of radiant heat while in front of the stove.

Glad to know that soapstone does heat up enough where it would be uncomfortable to keep your hand on. I thought it was odd for him to say you could keep your hand on it and not get burned.

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Did you get a look at his hand?

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No, but I'm not confident that he'd ever really had the stove hot. It was in a shop and I doubt they would give it the attention to keep it hot. I mean, the thing only takes 12" splits.

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Wow, that's even smaller than my Tribute! You'd have to reload that thing about every hour, and do a lot of fussing in between, to keep a reasonably hot fire going, I would think. It took me about three years of trial and error and sitting and thinking and reading most every thread here on the site to get to the point where I can consistently get my little stove up to 400-450.

I'd suggest that if this guy doesn't know enough about the stove to know what its cruising temperature is, maybe best not to buy from him. He should be able to tell you that.

If you like soapstone and what serious heat, drop that stove. Looks at Woodstock's line and Hearthstone - good looking stoves which are meant to heat, no accent a space. Cheers!

NH_Wood said:

If you like soapstone and what serious heat, drop that stove. Looks at Woodstock's line and Hearthstone - good looking stoves which are meant to heat, no accent a space. Cheers!

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It's rated to heat up to 1200 sq.ft. and the EPA numbers indicate that it does in fact put out some heat...

It does appear to be an adequate space heater. Hard to cut wood 12inches just for that purpose. Maybe bio bricks.

brianbeech said:

If it were up to me, I'd get a larger stove. Of course, with our small house, we need something with great clearances. This one definitely looks good, and has super great clearances. As Woody said, it appears that it will put out heat.

I'm also not looking for a wood stove that will heat our house - I KNOW this wouldn't fit that bill. It should, however, be able to heat our living area on a cold evening or a nice long Saturday morning...right?!

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It's a very beautiful object, I have to say, and having it be vertical rather than basically horizontal or box-shaped sure does reduce the footprint. Still, it's a tiny total firebox, even smaller than my Tribute. If you just want it for fun and enjoyment and aren't counting on it to actually do much heating other than a little extra in the immediate area around the stove in an otherwise heated house, you'll probably do fine.

brianbeech said:

Stump_Branch said:

It does appear to be an adequate space heater. Hard to cut wood 12inches just for that purpose. Maybe bio bricks.

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I get all the free wood I want, just have to process it myself. Going to cut some Red Oak tomorrow (as long as the rain holds off). It will mean a lot of work though for those small splits.

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Problem!!

Brian, I do not know where you are located but if you are cutting red oak tomorrow, plan on splitting it right away and then stack it out in the open where it will get lots of wind. However, do not plan on burning that red oak next year! It will not be ready to burn then. True, oak is one of the best woods you can get for firewood but oak gives up its moisture very reluctantly. I cut some red oak this winter too but it will be 3 years before we attempt to burn it. Some can get by with 2 years and we might but it still won't burn the best. For best results, give it 3.

If you want to cut wood now for next winter, your options are very limited, but it can be done. Not ideal, but can be done. If you ever get to the point of letting your wood season for 2-3 years you will simply be amazed at the difference it makes and one benefit is that you will get the maximum heat from it so will burn less of it.

Backwoods Savage said:

brianbeech said:

Stump_Branch said:

It does appear to be an adequate space heater. Hard to cut wood 12inches just for that purpose. Maybe bio bricks.

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I get all the free wood I want, just have to process it myself. Going to cut some Red Oak tomorrow (as long as the rain holds off). It will mean a lot of work though for those small splits.

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Problem!!

Brian, I do not know where you are located but if you are cutting red oak tomorrow, plan on splitting it right away and then stack it out in the open where it will get lots of wind. However, do not plan on burning that red oak next year! It will not be ready to burn then. True, oak is one of the best woods you can get for firewood but oak gives up its moisture very reluctantly. I cut some red oak this winter too but it will be 3 years before we attempt to burn it. Some can get by with 2 years and we might but it still won't burn the best. For best results, give it 3.

If you want to cut wood now for next winter, your options are very limited, but it can be done. Not ideal, but can be done. If you ever get to the point of letting your wood season for 2-3 years you will simply be amazed at the difference it makes and one benefit is that you will get the maximum heat from it so will burn less of it.

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What size splits, Dennis? He's got a teeny stove that's going to require not just short but quite thin splits (no matter what kind of wood he's using), which will dry out much faster than yours if he's got a good place to stack them. I had no problem a couple years ago burning 2 and 3-inch splits of Red Oak after only half a winter of sun and wind drying and suffered no creosote build-up. Not ideal burning, but OK.

He'll be much happier and better off if he can let even the small stuff he'll need sit until winter after next, but he can certainly get by with it for next year, as long as he has some dry stuff to start his fires with. IMO, of course, but speaking from direct experience with freshly cut red oak in a stove only a little bigger than that. (And yes, if he can cut some maple and/or ash for next winter, that would certainly be better.)

gryfalcon, yes, considering his stove I'd say 2 years but would not go only a year for sure even if splitting small. It just burns so much better given the time which means you get more heat from the wood which means you stay warmer which means less work, etc., etc.

Backwoods Savage said:

gryfalcon, yes, considering his stove I'd say 2 years but would not go only a year for sure even if splitting small. It just burns so much better given the time which means you get more heat from the wood which means you stay warmer which means less work, etc., etc.

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Totally agree with you, and I'd give the same advice. But I wouldn't wave my arms frantically and tell him it's impossible, just not desirable if he has better options. There's burning decently, and then there's burning better, two different questions.

Or mebbe we should shut up and ask the OP if he wants to talk about fuel supply...

:lol: Sounds like sage advice!

Actually, guy is no neophyte. He's been around here for a while and has been using a stove already.

:lol: No advice on that one Brian. Good luck.

I have been using an 8150 for a couple of winters now and have been really happy with it. We use it as supplemental heat in a 1900 sf 2nd floor unit. The fire box s small but if you are cutting your own wood it's not such a big deal. When up to temp the soapstone is pretty hot, you can touch it without getting instantly blistered but you cannot leave your hand on it. Once you have a good bed of embers you can put a couple of large chunks in it will burn for several hours. After a little trial and error I am now usually able to get an overnight burn 8-9 hours, in the morning I riddle down some of the ashes give the embers some fresh air toss a couple logs on, take the dogs out for a walk and have a nice fire to have my coffee by when I get back. I ended up burning about a cord and a half last year and probably will do about the same this year . I do need to keep a couple of fans going to distribute the heat but have been able to cut back using the boiler substantially.Good luck.