what brand of stove did start with and how long ago

[Hanko]

I started in 1978 with and old Ashley. It looked like old oil heater, brown enamel metal encloser with a tin fire box that had some cast grates. I heated an old 18 sq ft farm house with 6 cord (I think). It really didnt work to bad. it saved me about $40 month in gas. I repalced that with a steel stove called a Hutch Rebel. anyone remember those? I think it used about the same amount of wood

 

[BrotherBart]

First stove was a cast iron Franklin in 1977.

 

[Hanko]

First stove was a cast iron Franklin in 1977.

jeez not even an air tight Bart? those were old leaky bastards wernt they?

 

[BrotherBart]

Yep. Load and glow.

Our first "airtight" came along in 1985.

 

[Jags]

1984 - Homemade plate steel in the shop. Top baffle and all. Looong ways from airtight.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

We had a VC of some sort starting in about 1980 (I was 10). I bought a Hampton insert a couple years ago after a fair number of years with fireplace/heatilatr.

 

[Corey]

My first 'official' wood heat was an old rental house, fresh out of college in 1995. Don't know exactly what make/model it was, but sort of a combination between an old Warm Morning stove and a Franklin fireplace. You'd have to imagine the warm morning box with a set of bi-folding glass doors on the front. Not airtight, but could actually put out usable heat. In fact, I was pinching pennies, so I'd stop at the furniture mill and pick up the free oak and cherry scraps - throw some in the stove for heat and use the rest to grill up a hamburger or hotdog. I never even lit the pilot on the gas furnace.

 

[BurningIsLove]

Started with a Russo in 1980 (when I first allowed to use it, it was older than I am)...that house burned down in 1986 (not due to the stove), replaced w/ a Russo catalytic which is still in use today at the parents house.

 

[madrone]

Little Irish cast iron stove sometime in the early '80's. Good for power outages.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

My Dad custom welded his own out of steel in 1978, it was huge. ....what a heater that was.
Later we moved and bought a VC Resolute (late 80's)

WoodButcher

 

[FireWalker]

I admit to a franklin as well. It was in 1993 and it lasted one winter. Next was the Duchwest XL that worked it's ass off for us for 13 years.

 

[Hanko]

I admit to a franklin as well. It was in 1993 and it lasted one winter. Next was the Duchwest XL that worked it's ass off for us for 13 years.

Ah, nice to see some body else likes douche west stoves

 

[brogsie]

I had a ProFormer-Z that could burn wood or coal. I mostly burned wood, but tried coal for a season. Worked pretty good.

 

[webbie]

1972, probably a King brand - wood stove with top load and oval shape....although I did use a few of those Hardware store sheet meal oval jobs before that.

 

[Dexter]

When I was a kid at family's mountain cabin, a QuickMeal cook stove circ: 1918. They still occasionally use it. Now, we use a Jotul firelight dog.

 

[InTheRockies]

My first wood stove was the smoke dragon that was in this house when I bought it. We only had fireplaces when I was a kid and I had one of those pre-fab fireplaces that builders like to use in my house back east. I had had some limited experience with wood stoves when I was in graduate school. My mother's sister put VC wood stove in her home in 1977. I lived close enough to her at the time that I was drafted in to helping her sons get firewood for her. It was a beautiful stove and certainly heated her home nicely.

 

[Henz]

well, seeing how I was only 4 years old in 1978, my first stove was an Avalon Rainier in 2005 and the same year an Avalon Olympic!

 

[RedRanger]

Cast iron franklin in 1975, in our first house.

 

[Valhalla]

A Vermont Castings Defiant in 1980. Ordered it direct from the factory, built the chimney and installed it myself. Wish that I still owned that old smoke dragon, if not for sentimental reasons and it's great heat output!

 

[Todd]

I grew up in the 70's with a heatalator type masonry fireplace. I remember feeding it constantly but it did heat most of the house.

My 1st stove was a Montgomery Wards modified coal stove in a house I rented. It had this big round cast heat exchanger on top and ate wood just as fast as my old fireplace til I sealed it up some and covered up the ash grate. I learned alot from this 1st wood stove experience like don't burn wet wood and how much work it can be.

 

[fossil]

First woodstove was a little old Sierra side loader existing in a weekend place we bought on the South Fork of the Shenadoah River in 1996. Burned like crazy & heated that place right up. Sometimes had to coax it a bit to get it to draw...2 90's into a long run of chimney in an exterior chase. Get her burnin', though, and she ran fine. Rick

 

[Pine Knot]

My first stove was a Fisher Mama Bear new in the fall of 1978, hooked to a masonry and clay tile chimney, what a mess!! Fought creosote and condensation all winter. It's setting out in a shed and it looks like it could go another 25 winters but i couldn't. My Dutchwest and S/S line flue are a GREAT improvement.

 

[Elfin]

We had an old Schrader, for many years... heated the entire house with it. Then an Earthstove pelletstove for several years (supplemental heat only). Do I miss them? NOT AT ALL!

 

[Hanko]

wood burning has come along way in 30 years

 

[begreen]

Got a brand new Ashley tin can stove in the very early 70's. No cabinet, just a thin layer of metal between you and the hot fire. It was definitely "load and glow". When you could read by light from the side of the stove, it was usually getting pretty warm.