Need some objective advice about old woodstove and chimney fires......

That stove (at least the Glenwood in the photo) could be 130 years old. Your father isn't that far off track with thinking it is getting too much air.
These old cast iron stoves are bolted together with furnace cement as gasket material. Chances are it is far from as airtight as it should be (could be).
Bolting the air shut isn't the answer though. Fixing the problem is. And part of the problem is the air supply itself. Close up photos will help diagnose what is going on.

The Glenwood pictured is a wood burner only. It will have no coal grates in it. Dune is right, unless you tear that stove apart and fully rebuild it, it will be a leaky stove. Also, IIRC, the air intake control on that stove is not able to be closed too well. Even in it's closed position, air will be leaking past it. If you really want to use it for heat, you may think about how to make modifications to the original air control...

dj

Unless you guys were in love with the style, chip in a little each and get a decent used EPA stove maybe. Also, quite a few of the chimney fires I get involved in looking at are due to the "well, once a week or two I burn it hot to burn out the creosote" So what you are doing is spending two or so weeks making the creosote, then igniting it. If you are going to use that method to keep a chimney clean, I'd open it up once or twice a day and make sure it is connected to a safe chimney.

Bassmantweed said:

New stove ain't happening. Believe me, I'd love too.

All fires are slow starting. I don't think there is ever a really hot burn, which is part of my concern.

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Those are great stoves, awesome space heaters. They are not tight even when fresh and put out lot's of heat.
Definitely need to free up the air control, smoldering is how you create creosote.
Couple things to really help it;
line as much of the inside as possible with plastic refractory (about $70 for a box, more than enough. This will help is reach gasifying temp.
Next, fabricate a new slide control so it is much more airtight. (this is assuming the joints are all good{seams in the stove, not the ones you roll yourself}).
Finally, if it there is still too much air, allow ash to build up over air inlet (shovel it up there if you have to) then poke holes to provide air through the ash blocked opening.
Of course make small hot fires from dry wood. Burn pine during the day so as to not build too big a bed of coals, then switch to oak/hickory/locust etc. as evening comes on
(now you want big bed of coals. Last load of the night should be large unsplit rounds to lengthen burn time with splits or small stuff in between to fill the spaces.

Store firewood inside camp building so it is truly dry next time you need it.

Best is a complete rebuild, not really that big of a job with that particular stove unless it is an indirect draft (base heater). Then there are lots more parts, some moving.
If the unit really is massive overkill the indirect draft could be eliminated with no problem whatsoever, though it is an awesome feature when it works correctly.

Again lots of close up pictures will help.

My guess is it is just too much stove for the size of the room.
Repair the air slide, install the refractory and post instructions on stove use (small hot fires) on the wall behind the stove.

If you have a torch or know a welder, you could have it brazed up. That would make it more air tight and they could add any features you want. Secondary air is fairly easy to add.

very cool old stove. if you are going to keep burning like that, at a min. u should but a chimney brush at the cabin and tell everyone to clean weekly.