Shelburne vs Castine vs Keystone

I can give you a little info on my new Keystone I just purchased. The Keystones fire box is probably a little smaller than those other two but I'm willing to bet my stove against theirs that I can get a longer burn. Side loading is not a problem unless you want to throw a big huge oversized chunk in there, you have to load the big one in first then fill in from there. The side loader also reduces the front clearance to 8" which worked out perfect for my install. I've never been a big fan of ash pans but this one seems like it's going to work out just fine. The ash slots in the fire box are small enough to just allow ash and small embers to drop down into the pan and the pan is concealed by an air tight door. Just open the door and the pan slides right out, dump the ash, insert pan, close door and continue burning. Woodstock quality and customer service is second to none and I highly recommend them.

BeGreen said:

The F400 is a shallow firebox stove. It loads only E/W unless you have some short splits. We had issues with our Castine at first when it was rear vented. It turned out the installer had put it in the rear connector elbow with a slight downward pitch. Raising it so that it had a slight upward pitch of about 1/4" made a huge difference. After that we only got a little smoke spillage if we opened the stove door quickly when the temp was above 45°F. Once it got below 40 the stove drafted great. There's a lot to like about this stove. The fit and finish are first rate. It is easy to operate and has a very nice fire view. The ash pan is actually usable. And the stove can put out a lot of heat. We were burning softwood, so our long burn times weren't great. But usually I could have coals for a restart in the morning. The exception being when it was really cold outside and we were pushing the stove at higher temps. It's also a nice stove to look at all summer long.

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What begreen said!!

I own a Castine and it is a great stove. If sized properly to your application it will perform exceptionally well. I don't think you can beat Jotul build quality. Their stoves are well designed, well built, easy to operate, and they tend to last for decades if properly maintained. The door latch and hinges are robust, you can easily remove the top plate and baffle for cleaning, the ashpan is actually a functional, well-designed assembly. Imho, Jotul makes the finest cast iron stoves on the market today. As the oldest stove manufacturer in the world, Jotul has been building stoves for 157 years.

The Shelburne is an interesting stove. It is assembled in Vermont from imported cast iron pieces from their foundry in Spain. It gets you a 2.0 cu. ft. box which is a bit bigger than the Castine. It is a fairly well built stove though some people have had problems with the hinges and latch mechanism on the front door. I can only imagine this is from improperly using the door as a crutch when you stand up because the design is not bad. Hearthstone, in general, does not have the same build quality track record as Jotul. I think you would do fine with a Shelburne, but Hearthstone's claim to fame is really in their soapstone lineup. If you compare a Castine and a Shelburne side to side, you will notice that the Castine has finer detailing in their cast pieces.

Woodstock stoves are of exceptional quality and the company takes great pride in ensuring that their customers are satisfied. Many on here are very happy with the design, build, and performance of their Fireview. The Keystone is not quite as popular (probably due to its smaller size and still big pricetag), but it is a great stove. If a side-loader works for you (it didn't for me), this is an option to consider. Also, if you live near Lebanon, NH you might as well go pick it up yourself at the factory and pocket $100.

My new Shelburne looks great, has a great draft, and is easy to load. It appears to be well made (no defects of any kind that I've noted). Watching the burn (with secondary combustion) is better than cable!

I am very happy with my Shelburne, besides the fact that it may be a tad bit undersized for our application.
When we went to purchase a new stove we were comparing the Jotul F400 and the Shelburne. The Shelburne has a slightly larger fire box (not much), but the price was a little less than the Jotul and the stove shop we bought it from was running a special. This was the deciding factor in our purchase, and we have no regrets. Hearthstone's warranty is pretty inclusive, and that also pushed us in their direction.

The stove is very easy to use and we've had no draft problems using a 6" stovepipe to 8" chimney liner. Like BG stated above, the fire box is a bit shallow (like the F400) which forces you to burn East/West. I have had no problems with the hinges or door mechanism, but the draft control on my particular stove has been a little "sticky" (which may or may not have anything to do with my 18 MO son playing around the stove). The ash pan is usable - although i don't really use it (ash spills onto the bottom heat shield if you try to remove it when it is really full), but it is cleverly concealed with a panel in front so you can't tell it's there. I've run it pretty hard in the dead of Vermont winter and it puts out some serious heat... it sorta seems to want to run hard - I have to keep a close eye on it or it will over fire.

That said, I wouldn't fault you for going Jotul - that was our first choice... They are one of the best in the cast-iron business, and you will find oodles of loyal Jotul owners/fans on these boards. But, if money is tight, Hearthstone cast-iron is a viable alternate that has worked out really well for us. We are heating a 1900 s.f. house (closed down to around 1500 s.f in the winter by not using a bedroom/room) nicely. We have had no problems with our stove and actually prefer it's styling/looks/lines to the Jotuls (a little more contemporary looking) in the living space we have it in. We bought the Basil Green enameled Shelburne.

BG and cy. are right on the money in their assessments of the Castine strengths and limited weaknesses. However, I have a rear exit Castine and do not have issues with smoke spillage or drafting. I also have have an Oslo and to be truthful I think the difference in output between the two is fairly minimal. The main difference is burn time I can get at least one /one and a half more hours out of the Oslo. I doubt you would be terribly disappointed with any of them but I only have experience with the Castine( which looks good in the off season too) and am fairly well pleased. Good luck with your decision.
Joe.

Samiz said:

I'm beginning to narrow down my search for a new stove. The current front runners are the Jotul Castine, Hearthstone Shelburne, and Woodstock Keystone.

For anyone who has one of these stoves, can you comment on how well it works? Does anything stand out as being especially nice about the stove? Or especially frustrating? I'm interested in stuff that matters day in and day out while you're using the stove, but wouldn't be apparent from a spec sheet or a photo.

For instance, is the door easy to open and close, with a comfy, sturdy handle? I've seen some models in the store (Craftsbury, Lopi Leyden) with really crummy handles that would be downright annoying to have to deal with every day.

Or, the Keystone has a side loading door that looks smaller than a typical front loader. Does this make it harder to light a fire, add new wood, or clean out old ashes?

Thanks again for all of your help!

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I'm surprised you left out the Woodstock Fireview as it has a larger firebox than the Keystone. That can make a big difference in how long the fire lasts and total output of heat.