Papineau/Belanger kitchen wood stoves

Is there a bypass to close to direct the heat around the oven? What size type and height chimney is it hooked to?

Dune said:

Wait, that looks like a coal grate.

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yes it is definatly a coal stove but wood should work ok but it will burn up in a hurry

If it is lined you probably have enough draft I would guess it is probably the fuel like dune said if you are burning those large chunks it probably wont work to well.

Charlotte987 said:

So this is a coal stove? That makes sense with the firebox being so small. Sheesh where on earth am I going to get coal in this day and age.

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Yeah the shaker grates are a dead giveaway but many people burn wood in them coal would work better but you should be able to get it to work with wood. We can get caol all over the place here but we live near allot of mines

Charlotte987 said:

But, isn't that dangerous and won't it leak smoke inside the house?

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no that is how you need to do it to heat the oven dune obviously knows this particular stove better than me i have never seen that particular stove so i cant give specifics

Sounds like you could use a few tips common to all wood cook stoves;
You can increase the heating capacity by opening the oven door, but you need to know when you can do that. Your oven temps are indicative of my oven temp with oven off and a normal fire to heat the home. Once the oven is up to temp, (without making exhaust circulate around oven) you can open the oven door. When starting the fire, you want it closed to allow the chimney to heat quicker. Opening the door takes heat away from the firebox. When you figure out how to make it circulate around the oven, never leave the door open with oven "ON". The exhaust gasses cooling as they go around the oven with it closed is enough to create creosote and soot around the oven passageway. Leaving the door open with it "ON" extracts so much heat, water vapor will condensate and make a gooey mess under the oven. If you have a pipe damper, always keep it wide open when oven is in use. You need maximum draft to circulate around oven.

I'd imagine you've already figured out moving pots and pans around is the way to get the correct heat you want.
The lids remove to set pans directly over fire. It will cook faster than a gas or electric cook top, so be ready to keep food moving when cooking directly over firebox flame. Older cast iron pans will have a smoke ring around the bottom for a better seal. It won't let smoke in, but it will allow air to leak in increasing fire when you may not want it. Opening lids will give it lots of oxygen at first, but is detrimental to the fire since it allows indoor air to rush up chimney cooling the flue and reducing draft. Below is the most handy stove top lid I've found that allows a smaller pan or just the right amount of heat to the bottom of a kettle if you don't have one large enough to cover the full size eye;

"Nest"

When you get the oven working right and it comes up to temperature, you'll find you won't burn things like in a conventional oven. That's due to no air circulation that's required in electric and gas ovens that dries food out. (the secret why they bake better, and food just tastes better in a wood oven) Keep face and body back when opening door since the steam from cooking food will come out at you when you open the door.

It's common for the front oven door to condensate and drip on the floor when open during basting or turning meats. A kitchen towel on the floor under door may be needed to catch the drips.

Yes, a conventional oven requires lots of air circulation. Many people don't know many gas ovens are made to open the broiler or storage door under the oven for proper circulation when on. Cookie sheets need to have air space all around the edges...... and most ovens vent out the top somewhere. All that circulation carries away heat and moisture. Wood ovens don't circulate, but you need to move the food since the fire box side will be hotter. It steams as well as bakes, so everything is moist. It's difficult to burn things in the oven and very hard to brown the top of casseroles. We have a Garland commercial double gas oven in the same kitchen that is rarely used since putting in the wood cook stove. You'll find when doing a full bird, the cooking time is much less than a conventional oven too.
When you don't need much heat in the house, but want to cook on the top, you'll find removing a lid makes the pan hot enough to cook fast without heating the entire cook top. That's how they cooked in the summer. A small wood fire with just kindling, and cook over the flames with lid removed. If you have an upper air intake OVER the fire, when done cooking, you open that to allow indoor air to be pulled across stove top and up chimney. That is dilution air up the chimney that cools it and slows draft. The upper air intake was also used when burning coal. Coal requires all the air to come up through the fire bed. It will only burn with oxygen coming up through it. Very little is added above the fire to ignite coal gas that escapes from the coal and burns blue. Since they burn out overnight with all the draft from chimney pulling through fire, opening a vent above the fire or into the chimney slows the fire. Same principal as a barometric damper. So to ensure a fire in the morning, the bottom intake is almost closed, and the upper open to lengthen burn time. That's only with coal. A wood fire doesn't care where the air comes from.
You may also find a large flat bottom griddle that fits over the entire opening over the fire. Large copper boilers were shaped correctly to fit over the hole created by removing both lids and center section as shown in your picture.

Are you oiling your top occasionally? It looks dry with no protective coating in your pics. It should season the same as pans.