Is now the time to buy a Woodstock PH?

[Backwoods Savage]

Its DONE! Ordered a blue refurbished Progress today. They will paint it charcoal for me. I hope it gets real cold at the end of April so I can burn in it once or twice. Ordered the pipe too. Looks like their thermometers are pretty reasonably priced. Are they the way to go?

The thermometers that Woodstock sells are good. One came with our stove and we ordered a second one later. Those have been in use for 6 winters now and are very close. We check them against an IR gun occasionally and the most we've found one of them off was 20 degrees. We check them at various temperatures too. At 700 degree reading of the thermometer, we got 680 with the IR gun. That little bit we won't worry about. Most temperatures they either right on or off very little.

 

[ddddddden]

Its DONE! Ordered a blue refurbished Progress today. They will paint it charcoal for me. . .

I wonder if that is Todd 2's stove. . .thought it looked really nice in blue.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/new-progress-hybrid-installed-pics.100360/

You sure you want to paint it?

 

[ddddddden]

. . .In regards to the bright blue color in some stones, has anyone ever heard of someone oiling there stove similar to what is done to soapstone counter tops? I do not think I would do so even if it is safe practice, as I think the stones will fit in with their natural finish, I just though it would look neat.

I haven't seen any Woodstock stone that I'd call "bright" blue. More like light blue/aqua. I prefer this to the more green stone.

My stove has been smeared with oily smudges a few times, and the dark area seems to just burn off, but you can still see it as a slick area if you look at it at an angle in the light.

Oiling:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/cleaning-soapstone.36703/

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/soapstone-stove-top-kettle-oil-it.7812/

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/soapstone-stove-faded-any-solutions.43778/

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/soap-stone-cleaner.42596/