Hey thanks so much for the response. Most of that stuff is why I haven't bothered to start posting much on these forums. I just don't have all the facts yet and I need to do my own homework. It definitely gives me hope though.
To address a few of your points.
Wood: While I have not used a moisture content meter, I'm guessing the wood is pretty well seasoned. Here in Nor Cal we have some great options for wood. I bought around 1/2 cord of almond that had been sitting around for two years from an old lady who got a gas stove. It's realllllly dense hard stuff, but very well checked and when I split it with an axe, it feels very dry and it's very splintery. Then I found a good deal on almond delivered and that was definitely not as seasoned. The guy claimed it was. It was checked/hollow sounding/etc when it arrived, but I could tell after comparing the two that it wasn't quite up to snuff. It still burns plenty well though. Finally, I decided to try 1/4 cord of Eucalyptus (for a trial run this time) which is pretty well known for burning really hot. I picked this up in person because I really wanted to give it a once over. It looked super dry, and was surprisingly light compared to the almond. That made me a little nervous just because I felt like it would just burn out super quickly like pine or cedar. While it catches almost instantly, it also seems to go the distance and actually seems to mix well with the almond by keeping the almond hotter than it normally would be? I don't have any proof of how dry any of this actual wood is either though so it could all be too wet for all I know.
Temps: This is where I suspect most of my problem is after reading your post. After reading the Osburn manual and all of the warnings about over firing, I think I could be too conservative. I know I need a temp gun to be sure. Typically I get a fire started with a full box and let it get raging for a 15-30 minutes. I hear the metal creaking as it's expanding quickly as the secondaries start rolling. I leave this for a while and then back it off. I'm trying to get slow flames with good secondary action and I think this is where I may be losing the temps. I think I'm choking it back too much trying to get the most out of those super slowmo flames. The secondaries are usually glowing in places where the flames are concentrated, and occasionally you can see the stone above the secondaries glowing a bit...especially at the front where the smoke drafts up. It's not always though. I probably would have gotten a thermo gun earlier, but I was unaware you could get a super accurate reading with an insert. A lot of other threads I was reading said it was hard to tell.
I have not done the block off plate either. Right now I have a gap above the stove which will give me some access to install one. I'll make sure to stuff a crapload of roxul above the plate, but I don't think I plan on getting too crazy with the caulking, etc. I still need to fill the gap above the stove with a custom 4-6 inch faceplate backing plate, but for now it's open. I was thinking about making a plate with some scallop venting so the heat could escape out the front above the stove. Might be overkill though. I can draw a diagram if you want to see the idea. I was even thinking about rigging up some kind of extra fan in there to circulate the air out when it's all buttoned up. I even thought one of those automatic electricity free thermo fans might work as some sort of passive system. I suspect I'm probably getting ahead of myself.
House size: Our house is about 2200 sf, but there's an attic upstairs which although insulated doesn't factor into the official square footage. While I'm not burning 24/7, I am trying to get just the living area warm because that's where the wife and I spend almost all of our time. We have a big comforter and flannel sheets. My goal has never been to heat the whole house. Mainly I just want the area where we spend most of our waking hours to be warm. Our downstairs is about 2/3 of the square footage of the house. We have some drafty windows. The thermostat occasionally gets up to 70 once the fire's been running a few hours, but that's where it seems to top off. For example it's 69/70 in the house and the fire has been on since 3pm. I've done three complete cycles and it's almost 11pm now. The temp outdoors when I started the fire was about 60 degrees and it's 50 degrees now. The thermostat is located 20 feet from the fireplace and is about equidistant to our couches where we hang out at night. Keep in mind that reading is near the fireplace only though. If you walk to the far corner away from the fireplace it's still very chilly.
Last thing is our chimney is about 30 feet. We have a steep peaked roof and it definitely extends above the highest point. I've never had a problem getting the fire started!
I'll check things out this weekend and get some real facts.
Thanks for the help!
Oliver