BK Ashford, Woodstock PH

[rideau]

Wanted to stop the hijack of the OPs thread. Not fair to him...let him enjoy his new stove.

There is no need for contention.

Alforit tried the PH, expected and wanted to like it, and it did not work for him. He is a very reasonable person.

I love my PH, and also loved my Fireview. I am very impressed by Woodstock's quality and service, and recommend them without reservation.

I have never used or seen in action any BK stove. BK owners feel the same way about BK products that Woodstock owners feel about Woodstock products.

I am delighted there are two companies in North America making a substantial, quality product that is designed to have a long life, building the product in NA with NA labor.

I am also not such a fool as to be unwilling to entertain the idea that an Ashford may be a better product than a PH. I am willing to entertain the reverse idea, that a PH may be better than an Ashford. Once the manufacturer achieves the quality of these stoves, I believe the point is moot.

Ultimately, both stoves are excellent products. When placed in appropriate settings they are both likely to delight the vast majority of purchasers.

That should give us all a deep sense of satisfaction.

 

[begreen]

Most folks like to think their stove's the best. And it is... for them.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

It's just to bad he had to spend that money first. It took a failed experience for me to realize a stove was not for me and a furnace might be better. We all learn be our endeavors.

 

[begreen]

I've gone thru lots of stoves. Haven't regretted any of them. Each was a good learning experience.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

I LOVE that Bertrand Russell quote.

 

[rdust]

Plenty of capable stoves out there, what works in one home may not work in another. We see that many times a season around here. I love the posts where an Englander(30) doesn't heat for someone, we all know they work we've seen countless posts of them doing great in most instances.

 

[alforit]

Wanted to stop the hijack of the OPs thread. Not fair to him...let him enjoy his new stove.

There is no need for contention.

Alforit tried the PH, expected and wanted to like it, and it did not work for him. He is a very reasonable person.

I love my PH, and also loved my Fireview. I am very impressed by Woodstock's quality and service, and recommend them without reservation.

I have never used or seen in action any BK stove. BK owners feel the same way about BK products that Woodstock owners feel about Woodstock products.

I am delighted there are two companies in North America making a substantial, quality product that is designed to have a long life, building the product in NA with NA labor.

I am also not such a fool as to be unwilling to entertain the idea that an Ashford may be a better product than a PH. I am willing to entertain the reverse idea, that a PH may be better than an Ashford. Once the manufacturer achieves the quality of these stoves, I believe the point is moot.

Ultimately, both stoves are excellent products. When placed in appropriate settings they are both likely to delight the vast majority of purchasers.

That should give us all a deep sense of satisfaction.

Thanks Rideau for the compliment of me being reasonable.........Feeling is mutual.

Its my opinion and viewpoint. And from my experience of owning both the PH and the Ashford, that the Ashford is superior in almost every way........That's not to diminish the PH.
Its just a simply stated fact of what I experienced from using both stoves in my house and in the same flu with the same wood.... That's all....

 

[rdust]

Thanks Rideau for the compliment of me being reasonable.........Feeling is mutual.

Its my opinion and viewpoint. And from my experience of owning both the PH and the Ashford, that the Ashford is superior in almost every way........That's not to diminish the PH.
Its just a simply stated fact of what I experienced from using both stoves in my house and in the same flu with the same wood.... That's all....

That's all you can offer, it's your experience with both stoves. Not many people have burned both, if someone else has done it their experience could be the complete opposite of yours.

 

[alforit]

That's all you can offer, it's your experience with both stoves. Not many people have burned both, if someone else has done it their experience could be the complete opposite of yours.

Absolutely

 

[fire_man]

My stove choice was narrowed down to BK or Woodstock. I had to discount BK because unfortunately they were top vent only - and because my wife did not like the BK looks.

 

[chance135]

My story is the exact same as fire_man's. I would love to try a chinook 30 but it's top vent only. Maybe someday.

 

[TX-L]

I burned a Woodstock Classic once upon a time, it was a great stove, but just too small for my needs. Woodstock enjoys their reputation because they earned it; they are superb.
Over the years I have also burned a Quadrafire 3100, Lopi 380, Lopi Liberty, Fisher Grandma Bear, Bullard Falcon, Home Comfort Cookstove, Timberline, an old pot belly coal stove... Each and every one of them made heat just fine for my needs. In fact, the Liberty is in my camp right now and works beautifully, but there are reasons I have a BK in the house. It's not the build quality, or that the steel is thicker, or it looks better, or the glass is cleaner (its not!), or whatever: The real world "superiority" for me is the output control and the load cycle -- once per day with real, meaningful heat over the entire time period is fantastic!

 

[shoot-straight]

having just purchased an ashford, i will say i looked at the PH, it seems to be a great stove, but it was a side loader. would have been tough for me. additionally, i dont really like the look of their stoves all that much. seems like all the soapstone stoves are super blue nowadays. really not a fan of the aqua blue color. my hearthstone looked completely differernt, had greys, black and streaks of brown and red. looked great on my brick hearth. i am having growing pains with the ashford. hope to have them ironed out soon. BK and dealer want me to be happy. time will tell if i made the right choice.

 

[Bluezx636]

having just purchased an ashford, i will say i looked at the PH, it seems to be a great stove, but it was a side loader. would have been tough for me. additionally, i dont really like the look of their stoves all that much. seems like all the soapstone stoves are super blue nowadays. really not a fan of the aqua blue color. my hearthstone looked completely differernt, had greys, black and streaks of brown and red. looked great on my brick hearth. i am having growing pains with the ashford. hope to have them ironed out soon. BK and dealer want me to be happy. time will tell if i made the right choice.

What is it that you don't like compared to your Hearthstone?

 

[shoot-straight]

What is it that you don't like compared to your Hearthstone?

if you are asking why i liked the look of my hearthstone over a PH, well i said my heartstone's stones looked quite different than most i see now. again thats just my preference given my brick hearth.

 

[Bluezx636]

My bad! I thought there was something about the operation of the Blaze King you didn't like by saying "I am having growing pains with the ashford."

 

[shoot-straight]

yes, i am having diffculty getting my desired operation from my ashford. but ive only had it for 2 weeks so im not jumping off the bridge yet. working with BK and dealer to get it right. there are learining curves with every stove and i have never had a cat stove before.

 

[doug60]

yes, i am having diffculty getting my desired operation from my ashford. but ive only had it for 2 weeks so im not jumping off the bridge yet. working with BK and dealer to get it right. there are learining curves with every stove and i have never had a cat stove before.

Stoves Ive burned a few. The progress is a great heater & IMO a great looking stove. Woodstock Customer service second to none. What the stove lacks is control. If this thing had a thermostat & the burn times blaze king owners experience. It would be that much better

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We too have had many stoves. Some we liked and some we didn't. Love the Woodstock Fireview though as it is the best we've ever owned or operated.

 

[webbie]

I've burned a few. Don't have a favorite. We sold Woodstock in our showroom for years - hearthstone too. Same with VC, Jotul, Morso, Avalon and many many many others.....

Tell you the truth, the Upland 107 and Avalon 945 were my favs, although I liked the Concorde Catalytic too. Lots of other favs. 90% of the folks we sold our thousands of stoves to thought theirs was the best one they ever had. Nature of the beast.

We had a saying around the retail store - it was "the $800 turkey" parable. This saying was made up to apply to "dog" stoves like the early Consolidated Dutchwests and others. I tell you this as a fact - we had dozens of owners of the worst stoves made come into our shop and swear up and down that they were the finest and most efficient stoves ever made! Yes! After a while we stopped debating with them.....pretty much the same here on hearth.com, which is why a sticky in this forum and all our advice says stuff like this:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/read-before-posting-or-answering-which-new-stove-to-buy.115094/

Oh, if it's not obvious. the "$800 turkey" theory is the same as the Emperors New Clothes. The folks who bought those early CDW stoves were so madly in love with the marketing materials and their own decision making that they made all their friends buy the same one.

I can honestly say, though, that there are not any stoves as bad as that (that I know of) on the market today. However, the rule still applies. Misery loves company and those who make the "right" decisions want theirs reinforced forevermore. Heck, look at the Windows/Mac thing!

 

[webbie]

I should note that we had the same problem with VC, especially in their mail order days. The smug VC owners would walk into our shop and look down at us and all the horrible stoves we sold. They would take up our valuable time....for nothing. Once we got the brand (VC opened dealers in the early 80's), the same characters would come in and bend our ear even more.....

Now you can see where Hearth.com came from!

 

[fire_man]

We sold Woodstock in our showroom for years - hearthstone too. Same with VC, Jotul, Morso, Avalon and many many many others.....

I thought Woodstock never sold in showrooms? Was there a time they did??

 

[webbie]

Sure, my BIL has one we sold him and so do some of my good friends!

Back then the joke was that it was a "dealers stove", because we (who knew more) all loved the stove, but customers never came in and asked for them. The reason was pretty simple. Hearthstone had been the BIG name in both direct (at first) and in lots of advertising and marketing of soapstone stoves for years. So in the minds of Joe Public, there was only one soapstone stove company. Dealers didn't do well with Woodstock, so they took it direct to the consumer so they could get their message right to the customer - probably a great move for a hand-made limited production item like theirs.

Some dealers, like ourselves, were connoisseurs of stoves...but many (probably most) would sell whatever made the largest profit or was in too big of a pile in the warehouse. Some makers even offered "spiffs" to the sales people on the floor to sell their models...a practice which was debated among many of us dealers.

Buy, yeah, I remember the fireview and the catalytic Palladian on my showroom floor.

 

[fire_man]

Good Woodstove history details - stuff like that you just can't read about in a book - you had to be there.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

For sure Tony. You can ask Woodstock about it. There is a good reason why they stopped selling through dealers.