Crazy but true

[barbsat]

I was living in the city in an apartment with gas heat the past five years. I had enough of the crime and the cost of living in Baltimore and moved back home to my mountains in PA. My old place was in rough condition. Mom was staying here but passed away three years ago. I have heated with and cut my own wood for many years before moving to the city. I know what works and how to make a fire. Since moving back here my poor 31 year old Riteway stove has not performed well at all. The old girl kept it warm in here in the past when it hit 15 below zero with heavy wind. Had one night when it was 10 below I woke up to 40 in here by morning. The old Riteway is falling apart wreck. Cast iron parts are broken and dampers no longer work. Has a crack in the back filled in with furnace cement. The door is warped and needs to be held shut with a 2x6 against the handle and the wall. In other words the old girl is done for.

Just today I had a new stove delivered. A coal burner. Soon as I set the new coal burner down in front of my old Riteway heat output began to increase like she was brand new. It is 12 degrees out there and 78 inside. Makes me wonder if old woodstoves have souls and she wants another chance. You can get attached to a woodstove. All those years the Riteway kept me alive up here in these mountains. The cords I cut of oak, birch, apple, hickory, cherry, sasafras, poplar and ash to keep her fed. Even burned some walnut and cedar over a few Christmas nights. Letting go of an old stove is like sayng goodbye to a family member. I plan to oil her up and keep her in the tool shed. Selling the old girl as scrap would be wrong.

 

[wolfkiller]

Dont trust her. I had a girlfriend like that once. As soon as I agreed to keep her she went right back to her old ways.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

barbsat, you could always keep the old stove and use for boiling sap in the spring! Or you could also use it just for burning papers and cardboard.

 

[mtarbert]

Yep....like taking a pet to the vet for the Little Pink shot....they get real perky on the trip to the Vet

 

[Highbeam]

Dont trust her. I had a girlfriend like that once. As soon as I agreed to keep her she went right back to her old ways.

Freaking hilarious wolf. Best thing is to scrap the first one before bringing home the new, younger, perky, model with a hotter grate and shaker.

Please post some photos of the new coal stove and even the old girl if you still have it. Congratulations on moving back to the country.

 

[Beanscoot]

I was extremely happy to scrap my old worn out woodstove last fall. It was also falling apart, and clearly junk. I have a lot of stuff (aka junk) in my life, I am happy when something is used up completely, then I can rationalize scrapping it. Especially when it will get put back into the steel cycle, to come back as something shiny and new... and younger and slimmer...

 

[Hogwildz]

You made a good decision. Sounds like she has more than paid for herself and is now dangerous.
You could do as Brother Bart did and make a nice smoker out of her.

 

[ansehnlich1]

Nice to see a fellow Adams Countian on here.

Don't know who ya are, but I was born and raised right outside Gettysburg!

Listen, 'bout time ya got outta Balmr and came back to Gods country

 

[pen]

barbsat, you could always keep the old stove and use for boiling sap in the spring! Or you could also use it just for burning papers and cardboard.

Now that is a great and fitting idea! The sap part that is.

pen

 

[uptrapper]

Dont trust her. I had a girlfriend like that once. As soon as I agreed to keep her she went right back to her old ways.

Freaking hilarious wolf. Best thing is to scrap the first one before bringing home the new, younger, perky, model with a hotter grate and shaker.

Please post some photos of the new coal stove and even the old girl if you still have it. Congratulations on moving back to the country.

You both got me laughing so hard I woke up my son.

Mike

 

[jadm]

Barbsat - Thanks for your story. Indeed after so many years I can see how a stove becomes a family member and the attachment that that brings. Ours is where the warmth is. It is where we gather and spend our long winter nights together.

I haven't gotten tired of feeding 'her' yet and she doesn't complain the way my kids do. Always does her best to accommodate whatever she gets. She just keeps on heating us all despite the fact that she is more or less taken for granted.

You have reminded me to talk to her once in awhile and let her know how much I appreciate her.

;-)

Glad to hear you are letting her hang around and still help you out if necessary.

 

[BJ64]

I know how it is. I have an old chainsaw that needs tossed but I can not make myself do it.

 

[barbsat]

Nice to see a fellow Adams Countian on here.

Don't know who ya are, but I was born and raised right outside Gettysburg!

Listen, 'bout time ya got outta Balmr and came back to Gods country

Live up on Plantation RD. Moved here on 1980 when it was a dirt road. I do miss how it was up here back then. This was the country.

 

[Todd]

Hows the new coal stove working out?

 

[kenny chaos]

I can surely sympathize. I let my old Riteway go for a new Lopi Liberty. Some days I'm still not sure I made the right decision. My pragmatic wife constantly reassures me that we did. I did sell it for $300 and still have another Riteway in the front of the house which isn't needed anymore except for me to go look at once in awhile.

 

[BrotherBart]

They can have a second life smoking a mean rack of ribs and half a dozen chickens at the same time. But I still miss setting the night burn in that big old sucker.

 

[bsimon]

They can have a second life smoking a mean rack of ribs and half a dozen chickens at the same time. But I still miss setting the night burn in that big old sucker.

Is that a filing cabinet?

 

[fossil]

...Is that a filing cabinet?

Perhaps it once was, but I believe the proper term now is “3-Drawer Smoker Cabinet”. It has the advantage of being able to lock it during brief periods of non-attendance, so’s yer neighbors don’t abscond with no ribs nor chickens. Rick

 

[burntime]

Taxs, taxs, where did I file those taxs? :lol: