Buck Stove models 21 and 74

brian89gp said:

For any owners of either of these two stoves, what is the door opening size? IE, how big of a log can you fit in them?

I don't have a firepalce yet but I am hand splitting some sweetgum for next winter and would prefer not to have to split it more then I have to. I am planning on putting in one of each type of stove for next winter (big house).

Click to expand...

With any luck you'll be finished splitting it by next winter... :grrr:

I'm feelin' for you buddy because I've been there and done that. I still do most of my splitting by hand but two things keep me from having to split gum by hand. I'm much more picky now (the beauty of being 2-3 years ahead, thank you hearth.com) and I let my uglies and any other hard to split stuff pile up and rent a splitter for a day. Right now I'm getting ready to rent one because I'm in that situation plus just got a decent scrounge (about 1.5 cords) in the neighborhood and want to just finish and get it all c/s/s soon.

Glad to hear that about the x27. I have one of the shorter ones and I love it for easy to split stuff because I can swing it all day long. I've been eyeing the longer 27 though.

I could measure my old 21 when I get home from Michigan, but I can tell you from experience thats its a SMALL firebox.. A friend of mine has the 74 and its MUCH larger... The 21 won't make it through the night with useful heat while the 74 can.. I seem to think the doors are the same size tho. I can get both measurements, but it will be about 3 weeks..

Jason

Not familiar with sweetgum, but to burn it next winter I'd probably split anything of much size. It'll dry faster.

Sweetgum dries pretty quick, mostly what I burn all winter. I have a smaller stove and try to split around 6" x 18" so I can stack them in EW.

I've burned a lot of gum this year because that's what I could get. I was taking anything and everything that would dry by this year because I had a BUNCH of oak that needed a couple years. It burns good but fairly quickly and use it up this year or cover it for next year.

I'm guessing you could do 5-7" squares from the centers and be fine if they are stacked single row out in the open. I used a hydr splitter so I split everything down to about 4" or so. I want to say I split it in Jan or Feb of last year and it was good to go by Oct/Nov

I have the 21 - just measured the door: it's 17 inches wide by 8 inches tall. However, at this very moment
I have an odd cut in there that's 19 inches long - well, it's in at an angle, but it's in!

I've had the 21 two seasons - it likes smaller logs, esp. to start with. My larger logs are cut to 16 inches and are about 3-5 inches wide.

by "smaller", I mean kindling is what it really needs to get a roaring fire.
Lots of smaller limbs work well, then one can put a few larger pieces on.

It heats my 16 x 20 family room and kitchen, but it's not enough size for
a whole house. I agree that it can't do an overnight fire.

Still, I love my little FS 21. Runs great, heats great. The fan is a bit noisy,
but doesn't bother me.