18” Vermont Iron Works Elm

[D. Hermit]

Finished restoring another of my 24in non cat Elms today . I love these , by far my favorite stove. But I may be bias because im from Vermont. Not sure yet if this one will stay in the collection or not yet...

 

[Hoytman]

Stop restoring them and sell me one to restore. Been looking forever! Tried to get in touch with Steve several times to no avail.

 

[D. Hermit]

Stop restoring them and sell me one to restore. Been looking forever! Tried to get in touch with Steve several times to no avail.

Sorry bud, I enjoy them too much! You can find them, but in even decent shape not restored, they are not cheap. And they are harder to come by every year. Most of the ones I buy were never listed, they come to me from word of mouth mostly these days. Still not cheap I assure you

 

[peakbagger]

My guess is the owner of the Elm website has left it up but it hasnt been active for several years.

 

[john sulllivan]

that is one cool looking stove. made in Vermont awesome. i see some others in the back ground, they look like new great job.

 

[SpaceBus]

Weren't these a part of the process that lead to the VC Defiant? I have found bits of information about these stoves before, but not much. Does it burn pretty clean? It's a very nice piece.

 

[peakbagger]

Sort of, the founder of VC and the founder of Elm all lived in a commune sort of situation in the Mad River Valley of VT. They lived in effectively a barn heated with a barrel stove. The claim is there was a competition amongst the friends for the best woodstove design and the Elm and VC was a result. A third stove design was developed but claimed impossible to build. If you look at the Elm, its basically a barrel stove on steroids although the owner did a lot research on improving the design to the point where his non cat version was cleaner than his cat version. I think there are links to You Tube videos of his experiments on that site I have kept an eye out over the years to get more info on the origin story as the story seems to be bit of a myth. The individuals were mostly well educated folks with a entrepreneurial spirit that were looking for ways to support themselves when they were not skiing and this was when off the grid living was making a resurgence. I dont see how a VC design could be made as a one off (unless they welded one up with plate) so unless they just submitted designs on paper I do not know how they could do an actual bakeoff. Nevertheless a great story. Many were architects and its obvious in the Elm and VC designs that aesthetics were important in the design.

For awhile the owner of the site was selling all of the parts to make a new stove.

The reputation in the northeast kingdom of VT 15 years ago when I lived there for awhile was they were a high output stove that didnt turn down well. That works fine in drafty old home (of which there are many in rural VT) .I think most folks own them as much as a piece of functional art (somewhat steam punk) as an actual stove.

 

[john sulllivan]

in 1992 me and a friend drove up to the VC factory and store, from south east mass, i came back with an intrepid 2, had it for 20 years, great stove.

we where given a tour of the facility where they where coating the cast parts of the stove it was pretty cool. parts when in a funky brown color and came out red. on the way back we got caught up in a snow storm, we where in a toyota pick up with the stove strapped down in the back. what a trip, but it was worth it.

 

[D. Hermit]

Lots of info on Steves website- Vermontironstove.com
Steve does still supply parts, he just does not do many refurbs a year any more. And does not build new anymore.
And they have zero affiliation with Vermont Castings, other than they were in the same contest and VC submitted the first defiant in the same contest, and went into production.
And Steve Slatter was still improving the design, but could not afford to get it epa tested. It may have passed. The “Wildfire” Elm, was Steves creation if adding secondary air tubes in, and it does burn very clean, but testing is 50k, pass/fail.
And I have met people with Wildfires, and they are notorious for being hard to turn down. But I live in the heart of the NeK, and as bagger said, our old farmhouses have crap insulation so we all love a barrel stove, they seriously pump out heat ha.
They do actually sell Elms overseas, but they do not sell well in Europe. All the parts are now cast in Europe using original molds that Steve owns.
Peakbagger-Whereabouts in the Kingdom were you? I live out on rt14 out twords Jay.

 

[peakbagger]

Good to know about Steve. He used to post a lot on Hearth.

I was hanging out in the Barton/Glover area for awhile 15 years ago. I went to a few social events with more than a few folks who had "charming old Vermont Houses" (also known as energy hogs) in their past. They might have been charming but they were energy hogs . Cut it in September and burn it in October seemed to be the normal approach to burning and 8 to 10 cords a year seemed not unusual. I worked with several Mad River valley folks who worked for Northern Power which was founded by one of the friends who hung out when the stoves were designed.

The Glover area is interesting as many of the flatlanders from NY and CT who came up for the Bread and Puppet annual events bought the back to the land lifestyle and bought up land and settled in the area. A lot of "aging hippy creative types" mixing with the old style farmers.

I and a lot of others were hoping that the big dollars being poured into the area by Stenger and that guy from Florida would put some real year round jobs into the area but that obviously crashed and burned. I guess these days about the only big business up there is the trash business especially with the border closed.

 

[Hoytman]

I had left voicemails and emails with zero returned from Steve. Not sure why. I was looking for parts to buy. Don’t need the stove “pipe”. Oh well...

 

[LarryInMontana]

Here’s a photo of our 1979 24” Elm. It is still used regularly to heat our kitchen.

Lawrence

 

[D. Hermit]

Here’s a photo of our 1979 24” Elm. It is still used regularly to heat our kitchen.

Lawrence

Thats awesome! Here is a 1980 24” non cat I just finished and sold last week!

 

[Blazzinghot]

I had no idea such a stove existed. What neat looking stove. As I was very carefully looking over the pictures I could not help but think the window looks like a glass pie dish. Hmmm I wonder. I can see why others are wanting one. Thanks for sharing other pictures as I was thinking I wanted to see the collection.

 

[D. Hermit]

I had no idea such a stove existed. What neat looking stove. As I was very carefully looking over the pictures I could not help but think the window looks like a glass pie dish. Hmmm I wonder. I can see why others are wanting one. Thanks for sharing other pictures as I was thinking I wanted to see the collection.

It absolutely is! The outside glass is a 9” pyrex pie dish! There is inside glass as well, that is your standard ceramic fire glass.

 

[D. Hermit]

Here is the Cat model 24” w original nickel tree and handle, thats in the background, I did last month. I cleaned up all the nickel in my etank. The whole thing came out amazing. I did this one for a guy from out of state who is picking it up in a couple weeks. I do have a few 36” models to do when I get back from vaca next week. But I also have a flood of F-series jotuls to tackle. Shaping up to be a busy start to the season!

 

[Blazzinghot]

Is the pie dish standard? The cat model is super this is the first time I have ever seen one of these stoves and believe me I am looking online for stoves almost every day. How many sq., ft. does this stove heat? That would be very rewarding to fix up one of these stoves. Are these stoves in very bad shape when you first get them? Thanks for sharing your cat model it looks brand new.

 

[D. Hermit]

The pie dish is 100 percent standard! I think the 24” non cat is rated for 1500sq/ft, and the 24”cat is for 2000 sq/ft. Ive asked Steve before but I forgot. Its one of those stoves that people know pretty much exactly what they want as far as model/size, they are more worried about the restoration quality and trim (nickel or not). This is just my experience here in VT where they were made, they are crazy popular.

As far as condition, Ill attach a before(and a pic of the inside glass on the door), Ive gotten them pretty beat up before and rusty, and I sandblast them and replace anything that bad. Including I use the same machine shop Steve did, when he was building them, for barrels.
And I think you may be hard pressed to find any out on your side of the country. They never took off nationwide. Only here in the northeast/new England really.

 

[Blazzinghot]

I can see why these stove would be popular. I am in the process of building a sand blaster but you have given me a nudge to finish it as I can see how it works on the rust. Makes it look brand new. It takes a good sized air compressor to do sand blasting. The other thing I like about these stoves is the design of the legs and of course the round window and the neat décor on the door. You have done some nice work in fixing these up these great looking stoves thanks again for sharing your work with us.

 

[D. Hermit]

Of course! And I have to admit, I actually dont do the sandblasting myself. My shop is too small, I have a guy out in Barre who blasts granite and marble head stones, his sandblasting room is the size of my shop. And huge overhead crane and cable system to move everything around. So he doesn't even have to lift the actual barrel part himself ha. Just all the small pieces.

 

[SpaceBus]

Of course! And I have to admit, I actually dont do the sandblasting myself. My shop is too small, I have a guy out in Barre who blasts granite and marble head stones, his sandblasting room is the size of my shop. And huge overhead crane and cable system to move everything around. So he doesn't even have to lift the actual barrel part himself ha. Just all the small pieces.

Blasting rooms are nice! I used to work for a family business that made blasting cabinets, custom cabinets, and rooms. I managed the parts warehouse. One of the "display models" has/had an aluminum Viper block sitting in it to show what fits.

 

[D. Hermit]

Blasting rooms are nice! I used to work for a family business that made blasting cabinets, custom cabinets, and rooms. I managed the parts warehouse. One of the "display models" has/had an aluminum Viper block sitting in it to show what fits.

Its one of the coolest things ive seen! And the quality you get is nothing like what you can do at home. I want to try an experiment and bring in an enameled stove and see if he can take the enamel completely off down to bare cast again, and how long it would take. I have not met a sandblasting set up at home yet that can take enamel completely off in any economical way, but it would be a real game changer if I could pick up Jotuls w trashed enamel for next to nothing and could take it back to bare cast.

 

[SpaceBus]

Its one of the coolest things ive seen! And the quality you get is nothing like what you can do at home. I want to try an experiment and bring in an enameled stove and see if he can take the enamel completely off down to bare cast again, and how long it would take. I have not met a sandblasting set up at home yet that can take enamel completely off in any economical way, but it would be a real game changer if I could pick up Jotuls w trashed enamel for next to nothing and could take it back to bare cast.

I know it's not anywhere near you, but call Blast-It-All in Salisbury NC. They can advise you on what type a media you need for that application. It would be tough to get the enamel off without damaging the cast iron, but someone there will be able to advise you. They sell all kinds of blast media and there used to be a flat rate for individual bags for small consumers. I bet your blasting dude would be thrilled if you showed up with a paying job plus your own media.

 

[D. Hermit]

I know it's not anywhere near you, but call Blast-It-All in Salisbury NC. They can advise you on what type a media you need for that application. It would be tough to get the enamel off without damaging the cast iron, but someone there will be able to advise you. They sell all kinds of blast media and there used to be a flat rate for individual bags for small consumers. I bet your blasting dude would be thrilled if you showed up with a paying job plus your own media.

Ill check it out. Thanks for the tip!

 

[sinai]

Need help would like to know the worth of a Elm Wood Stove that want to sell