1st year burning

Each installation is a bit different as is the wood that is being burnt. If the stove is already warm when you reload, I suggest to start cutting the air once the wood is engulfed in flames. Do it in stages: Reduce air until the flames start to move slowly, wait for the fire to pick up again, reduce air again until flames slow down and so on. Over time the flames should move to the top of the firebox since most of the air will be coming from the burn tubes. The stove should settle in the 500 F to 700 F range and stay there for a few hours. The air will probably be between 1/4 open and fully closed in its final setting depending on your draft and dryness of wood. Burn time depends on your definition and species of wood you are burning. 6 to 7 hours of meaningful heat (stove above 300 F) with good hardwood and a full firebox should be possible. 10 to 12 hours with plenty of coals left for an easy restart.

We have Woodstock cat. stoves. But I'm not so sure I think that makes all that much difference because what you're asking is really about "what signs" do you look for before you damper it down.

If I reload on a coal bed I rake the coals into a heap (door to back wall) and I put a couple of smaller splits on top of the heap. I leave the door cracked and let them "catch", then I'll add however many splits I think will be needed to feed the stove for as long as I want it to burn. Bear in mind that we don't burn 24/7 unless the power is out. Once I hear the door latch "jingle" I close it, check the stovetop thermometer for 250F and engage the combustor. A few minutes later I'll close the dial door damper and finally the sliding damper to half way. Once I see the thermometer "take off" I know "we're good to go" and I go about my usual business.

You do develop a feel for the way your particular stove burns, but it takes some time to recognize the good signs. And it takes time to develop confidence in your ability to read the signs effectively. I can tell you that over the years we've reduced our use of firewood a good deal yet we've improved our overall comfort. Long gone are the days of 80F... no need for that wastefulness! instead, we now know when to reload for maximum coziness with minimal wood! And much of that requires understanding incoming weather fronts and predicted temperature fluctuations. It just takes time and practice!

Stoves are like new lovers... you have to try different things and see what works best for her

I don't know what the temp is when I begin to close the air, I start to close it when the flames look right to me. I close the air down as much as I can without the fire going out, usually about 3/4.
When the night time temps are above 25, I can get as much as 14 hours between loads. When the temps are below 10, that time shrinks to about 8 hours. I can't think of a time where my reload time was less than 8 hrs and we've had more than a few nights of sub-zero temps this winter.

One of our stoves (the one in my shop) has no window. I can't see what the fire is doing and I have to use the thermometer on the top of the stove (directly over the combustor). So, while I think watching is a good way to "keep an eye" on a fire, it's not really useful if your stove has no "window"!! see?!

I've trained myself to listen to the telltale jingle of the door that tells me the fire has really caught and then I move to the next phase of feeding the fire and then dampering down to infuse it and really cranking it up to "cruising efficiency"!