Buck Stove

[laynes69]

My dad has an opportunity to buy a wood stove like this one. Its been taken care of, and it has a bypass lever on the top. I think it may have taken a combustor at one time. He has a woodstove made by the amish that is a smoke dragon, and it plugs his chimney quite fast no matter how he burns it. What would be the ballpark range for the stove? If anyone has any info or has one I would like to know a little about it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Buck-Stove_W0QQ...ryZ41987QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[BrotherBart]

The old Bucks were tanks just like my Sierra was. The biggest problem will be that you can't adapt a liner to them without major expense. Adapters run around a hundred and up. And they still plaster the chimney with creosote because of the inefficient burns. By the time he buys the stove and a liner adapter he could have bought something like the Century or Englander stoves brand new with warranty and clean burns.

And usually if the big Buck will fit in a fireplace so will the wood stove. Best thing I ever did was blow off inserts and put that free stander in that fireplace. A lot more heat.

The model in the eBay ad wasn't a cat stove. I almost bought one of them in 1985 but bought the Sierra insert instead.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

nice old girl, always like the look of the old buck stoves,BB is right , the liner usually isnt rectangular... back in the day when that stove was built "slammers" were a common installation (essentially , taking it outta the crate , and "slammin" it into the fireplace, then sealing the surround to the fireplace face) newer units simply will not burn that way and regulations do not allow it anyway.

looking at the price alone . its attractive , but by the time you have gathered all the stuff you need to install the unit to current nfpa211 standards (if it is even available with that squared off opening)you will be approaching new stove and install cost. so if "revenue neutral" if you go with a new unit , you will have a warranty, a stove that is still in production meaning parts and accessories will be available , and one that is EPA compliant. in many places you cannot install that unit simply because its non compliant to epa phase 2 even though the unit itself predates that and if still installed in its origional position would be grandfathered, by the unit being removed and sold , it no longer carried grandfathered status and cannot be installed legally. i'd look at a newer epa unit even a used epa insert would be a heck of a lot less a headache

by the way BB , i spoke to a guy today who bought a 30 and wanted a blower, who used to build sierra woodstoves. i told him about yours and the story behind it , we had a nice chat for a while about the old "battleships" like the sierra's and our old monsters.

 

[elkimmeg]

I third the advice you have received mNo matter what price it is you are trying to burn and opperate a 20+ year old stove
A smoke dragon by deffinition will beltch large amounts of smoke cresote up your chimney and consume 30% or more wood.
Really not the way to go and way too dangereous with that cresote build up. An acccident waiting to happen

 

[kwburn]

i have burned that same model or one close to it for the last 5 years or so. mine has the catalytic combustor (Nu-Tec) which was a retrofit to a stove that was originally designed without it as far as i know. we're talking literally one of the first combustor stoves out. if the one you are looking at has it and needs a new one (very likely), combustors are still available for it through Condar and are not expensive because it is a small round. mine has burned actually quite clean and made very little creosote although it is using the combustor and i burn good dry wood. i clean my own chimney so its easy for me to keep an eye on it. i can't bash this stove for what it is because it has served us well during some really tight financial times that i'm happy are behind us. it absolutely cranks out heat. it has a 3 speed thermostatically controlled blower. blower kicks on and is producing heat in only about 15-20 minutes. there are screens available and it can be burned like an open fireplace. parts can still be ordered for it here:
http://servicesales.com/woodburning/older_buck_stove_parts2.html

now that i've given the Buck its due respect i can say that i will be replacing it this fall. the advice already given here above me is the right advice. you have better options. you can compare stoves to cars in this scenario very easily. an old car that was king in its day may still be very fast and got you from point a to point b. however it got pathetic gas mileage, polluted more, and was lucky to have seat belts installed. a comparable car today will have the same if not more power while using half the gas, burn incredibly clean, and have antilock brakes and airbags to help protect you in an accident. stoves are the same way. my Buck stove inhales wood and has short burn times (maybe 4 hours max and thats being nice) for such a huge firebox. i can run my intrepid II all day on a small basket of wood whereas for the Buck probably burns 5 times as much for the same amount of time. safety and convenience are a no brainer. the air controls on the Buck take constant attention and a keen eye on the thermometer to avoid smoldering and/or having a raging fire out of control. there are other comparisons i can make but i think you get the idea.

i'm grateful to my Buck as it got me started in this great world of wood burning. but it also has taught me how great a modern stove (no matter how basic) is in all aspects in comparison. others here have burned the same Buck up until just recently as well and have seen the light with getting something newer. you don't necessarily need to go totally brand new but if you can you won't be sorry.

 

[BrotherBart]

by the way BB , i spoke to a guy today who bought a 30 and wanted a blower, who used to build sierra woodstoves. i told him about yours and the story behind it , we had a nice chat for a while about the old "battleships" like the sierra's and our old monsters.

That sucker served me well for 21 years and would still be burning if that weld hadn't popped. I did some looking and the Sierra name and logo is owned now by an outfit in California. All cats now but still a substantial looking stove. They appear to still be building them like tanks. Still 3/8 and 1/4.

Back then it was a close race between the Sierra and the stoves you guys were building. Just couldn't jam one of those tall boys of yours in that fireplace. It came down to an insert or putting one of your furnaces in the basement. Jimmy Rice was selling both of them so I went with the Sierra insert. When I went to buy the new stove Jimmy was dead and the boys didn't want to sell your stoves because the box stores sell them. Well, as you know, they said they sold them. And the rest as they say is history. The 30 is re-piped, heat shielded and ready to romp for 2007-2008.

First full season will tell the tale.

 

[hardwood715]

That sucker served me well for 21 years and would still be burning if that weld hadn’t popped

As I posted earlier, I'm doing at least one more year with the MARC. Pulled her last weekend, Was really surprised how the chamber, smoke shelf area, and lower flue tiles were really clean.
Went up- brushed down. and again, small amount of fine stuff, was all there was! Learnig to burn properly, and tips from you guys, old stove burners like you BB gave me lots of needed tips, Elk has me on the constant lookout for problems and awareness, May be a little assinine climbing up there in the winter months checking the flue tiles, but pays off in the safety department! So I'm all set to start what I hope will be my last year with Goldie, and can retire her!