my 3 year plan or "why my wife says you guys are a bad influence"

Razo mine is a big moe. I think I made mine longer but can check when I get home. I do know mine was a tight fit hence getting my hand stuck. I does not have to go from side to side.

 

jetjr WeldrDave


Oh ok I was under the impression that 3/8 would warp due to its constant contact with heavy flame. Maybe I will just use 3/8 then. But I already made a template for 1" and it would fit the whole "battleship" vibe of this old stove.

Either way my suspiscions were concerned, anything thicker than cardboard will hit the thimble and stick out further. This piece of 3/4" plywood is 7.5" wide. I'm thinking I will make the finished plate 7" and call it good.

I would expect your plate would be slightly different in dimensions from mine since you have the big mo and I have the mid mo. Bet ol' Big Mo was fun getting onto the hearth!

 

Razo glad it was there already. Moved a fisher for my father in law it was heavy.

 

Razo sorry I just remembered to measure my baffle. It's about 16.5" long. I loaded it up around 7 this evening curious to see how it is when I get home in the morning.

 

Still have plenty of coals to relight if need be and still 73 in the house it's 46 outside and this was not a full load either. Now for some before the boys get up for school. I loaded it to one side before I left to try to get a all night burn.

 

jetjr WeldrDave

Just wanted to share the finished product with you guys, thanks again.

 

Now that's a serious hunk of metal. I agree with weldrdave I think you will be fine for draft. Let us know how it does.

 

Burned some shoulder fires all weekend during the cold snap and it performed great. No negative effects on draft, burn times seemed impressive. I'm incredibly pleased with it!

 

Another positive Razo... once you get that chunka steel up to temp, I think it'll stay warm until May...

 

I don't think Razo will have to worry about that warping. The stove would melt first.

 

Here's one thing I'm seeing so far with the baffle. I only load twice a day. I know it's still early season but it was always a 3 load a day pig. I loaded before 5 this morning and still had enough coals at 730 for a relight without kindling.

 

WeldrDave, Razo did a little retrofitting to the baffle. I noticed since the plate rested against the thimble and not the back of stove I was getting some flame sneaking past so figured I was losing some heat that way too. Do you guys thinks I will have to worry about any kind of buildup on top of the baffle or around the 2 bricks?

 

jetjr I noticed the exact same thing! Since my plate is on the thimble I was getting flames licking up along the sides right where you put your bricks. I was wondering what a solution would be and I guess I could cut relief in my 1" plate so that it slides down past the thimble to close that area but then I would lose a few inches overall on the baffle. I like you're idea of putting the bricks there, Maybe I'll just put some 1" plate coupons in there as a stop gap.

Did you start a fire yet to see if those bricks stop the flames from shooting up along the sides yet?

 

As near as I can tell no flames going up the sides. Is the baffle working good for you?

 

Yea its been working great. This is my first year ever burning a woodstove and I never burned it without the baffle installed so I have nothing to compare it to. But I feel I get pretty decent burn times and would NOT want to burn it without the baffle in place. If I load it up around 7:30PM I have a few coals left in the morning around 8AM when I get up. Not many, but some and the stove is still too hot to hold you hand on. I notice that once all the wood gets caught, and I adjust my air, I can cruise pretty steady for a very long time which I attribute to the nice secondary burn achieved with the baffle.

The only shortcoming I noticed was the access holes where the flames could get up behind the baffle. I figured it was still better than no baffle at all but you have inspired me to try and block mine off as well.

 

So hears what I'm figuring out has of late. The first year I burned standing dead that was CSS in late summer. That's when we bought the house. Last year I burned all kinds of wood that was CSS the winter and summer leading into that year. This year I've been burning standing dead I cut this time last year.

First year was so so lots of struggling to light and keeping it nice and warm.

Last year was a constant battle. It was very cold out last year and burned 8 full cords.

This year has been more betterer. No real problems lighting or reloading. Wife text me every so often to say I got the house to 76 which is to hot she says. I've also used a lot less wood.

Currently have about 6 cords split for 2 winters from now. Getting ready to start on some standing dead for next year here shortly. It's been a bad year to get my truck into the places I have to cut.

 

How much have ya burned so far this year ?

 

Right around 4.5 cords. Temps have been goofy this year though.