Outdoor chiminea recommendation?

I use our old retired Frankllin stove with about 6 feet of stove pipe.

Stoves like these come up on Craig's List for $100 or so from time to time.

My wife loves hers so much I bought her a bigger one for Christmas. This one is cast iron and will hold wood stove size splits. It has an intake air slider under the grate to feed air down into the coal bed. I heard the cast aluminum ones are best, but I can't recall why. That certainly is a real pretty one in your post. Here's a pic of the one I got her. It was a $300 stove, but it was on sale before Christmas for $180, so into the back of the wagon it went.

Not sure about the brand, but it probably arrived in the U.S. in a shipping container from China. Would it say "Blue Rooster" on it somewhere? Nothing fancy, and the castings look a bit unrefined. Heck, I don't need it to be airtight or anything, just hold some burning chunks of wood off my deck. Price was great, finish quality... not so much. The fire will look real pretty in it, so who cares? Lady BK loves to come home to a nice grilled dinner on the deck, followed up by a glass of port, a good cigar (ya, she's an independent thinking woman fer sure) and a nice warm fire in her chiminea. Who am I to deny her these things?

Same basic ting, mon. 'Cept mine is cast iron, so it weighs about 150lbs or so. Unfortunately, I got it locally in Saratoga Springs, NY. My eye surgeon is located in Philly, though. Next time I need major eye surgery I'll bring one down to you.

You should call several local garden supply and masonry supply shops around your area before spring decides to stick around. They may still have them reduced. That's where I got mine.

hyperion said:

Not ready to spring $400 for this thing.

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Yikes! Can't say I blame you. Folks here are getting real wood stoves for not a whole hell of a lot more.

Good luck with it, you'll enjoy the hell out of it. They are really nice. I sit outside on the deck in the morning with my coffee and burn papers and yard scrap and such. Nice way to start the day. We built huge, hot fires in our old one right into the fall. Flame leaping four feet out the top of the stack. Can't wait to see how raging we can get this baby. :cheese:

hyperion said:

Looking to add a chiminea for our deck, always preferred a chiminea over a firepit. I have been looking at the new cast aluminum ones like those from the blue rooster company:

But these are really expensive (about 4-5 time the price of a clay one) and I couldn't find any real reviews on the internet either.

Any recommendations?

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Before you go and buy one, check you local regulations. Where I am. you can buy them, but it is illegal to actually use them! check your codes first!

I picked up this one at Lowes. Its not Bluerooster quality but it works great and now I get to burn in the summertime!


http://www.lowes.com/pd_291623-63094-SRCH06_0_?productId=1179133&Ntt=chiminea&Ntk=i_products&pl=1&currentURL;=/pl__0__s?newSearch=true$Ntt=chiminea

Logbedford,

How do you keep your Franklin stove from turning to rust outside? I just replaced my Franklin stove (looks identical to yours) with a Jotul Firelight and had been thinking of selling the Franklin stove, but I like your idea of using it outdoors if it wont just rust away. How long has yours been outside? Do you cover it? Bring it in for the winter? Thanks.

I keep it covered with a tarp. It stayed out all winter. We burned a few times during the winter. My nieces toasted marshmallows in it on Christmas. It is starting to rust, but I figure it will be a long time before it rusts through. I might hit it with a wire wheel and paint it if I get around to it sometime. These old smoke dragons aren't worth much anyway, so if it falls apart, I could probably find another for cheap.

Lady BK fired up her new chiminea on Saturday evening to celebrate the first day of spring. It works well, and holds 16" splits just fine. Got a real nice fire in it, and the cast iron held the heat much better than the steel one it replaced. Word of warning, though. The Chinese paint gave off a vicious smoke that had us both running away from it while it burned off. We both actually got a bit ill from the fumes, and woke up the next day with massive headaches.

OK... maybe the headaches were from all the scotch we drank, but the thing reeked bad most of the time. Even the cats (a fixture laying near the base of the old one) ran away after a minute or so. Hope this smell goes away soon. I'm a bit concerned because it's hard to get these things up to 600º to burn the paint off completely. Now I'm more sympathetic to those folks who try to burn off their new stoves in their living rooms. :-S

Battenkiller said:

OK... maybe the headaches were from all the scotch we drank,

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Nothing better than cocktails and a fire outside at night.

Hi All,

We had the identical Franklin outside in the Quebec winters for 10+ years, uncovered and rusting. When we finally gave it away to the scrap metal guy, it had no holes or flaking, just plain old rust.
It was amazing how that thing lasted. Used it a dozen or so times per summer season, burnt all my scrap in it.