Thank you to all at the Hearth for the hints and tips!
The sooteater performed admirably for a bottom-up cleaning after I got the plastic cords trimmed to size (manage to get two sets by not following the instructions as per advice here).
The baffle needed a fair bit of wiggling before I could get the pin out, but it came out eventually.
I tried one member's suggestion of a bucket with a small hole in the side placed over the flue hole in the stove box (to keep to mess contained). I did manage to slide the rods through, but it was a pain in the a** so eventually I gave up and just slid the sooteater straight up the flue.
There really was very little mess, although my creosote was the black stuff with small flakes in, so maybe that's tidier to clean than the brown soot which experienced Hearthers aspire to. I got about 3/4 cup, which I was happy with considering we are weekend-only burners (lots of very cold starts) and we had pretty damp wood this year.
I thought the baffle gasket actually made it through the cleaning fine initially, but I went to put it back and it fell apart in my hands. Next weekend will be my attempt at a Hogwildz-like homemade gasket: https://www.hearth.com/talk/index.p...ustom-baffle-gasket,-shes-cooking-now..23717/
We still have about 1/2 cord of mixed wood from last year, and we've been busy cutting and splitting another 2 cords of Doug fir from logs that have been down for at least 10 years. Those are now in the new 'woodshed' (really a frame with a roof - no sides) out of the rain - ready for the summer westerlies to finish the drying process! (hopefully). Regular overnight burns with a stove stuffed with dry Doug fir is my goal for next year.
Thanks again to all of the posters here - all of the advice and pics are so great for a first-timer like me!
The sooteater performed admirably for a bottom-up cleaning after I got the plastic cords trimmed to size (manage to get two sets by not following the instructions as per advice here).
The baffle needed a fair bit of wiggling before I could get the pin out, but it came out eventually.
I tried one member's suggestion of a bucket with a small hole in the side placed over the flue hole in the stove box (to keep to mess contained). I did manage to slide the rods through, but it was a pain in the a** so eventually I gave up and just slid the sooteater straight up the flue.
There really was very little mess, although my creosote was the black stuff with small flakes in, so maybe that's tidier to clean than the brown soot which experienced Hearthers aspire to. I got about 3/4 cup, which I was happy with considering we are weekend-only burners (lots of very cold starts) and we had pretty damp wood this year.
I thought the baffle gasket actually made it through the cleaning fine initially, but I went to put it back and it fell apart in my hands. Next weekend will be my attempt at a Hogwildz-like homemade gasket: https://www.hearth.com/talk/index.p...ustom-baffle-gasket,-shes-cooking-now..23717/
We still have about 1/2 cord of mixed wood from last year, and we've been busy cutting and splitting another 2 cords of Doug fir from logs that have been down for at least 10 years. Those are now in the new 'woodshed' (really a frame with a roof - no sides) out of the rain - ready for the summer westerlies to finish the drying process! (hopefully). Regular overnight burns with a stove stuffed with dry Doug fir is my goal for next year.
Thanks again to all of the posters here - all of the advice and pics are so great for a first-timer like me!
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