Absolute Steel Hybrid

When you get a good roaring top down fire, does anybody throw the cat in early?
I usually do, but it's hard to tell how effective it is.

 

A little OFFTOPIC for this thread but: I find the really strong secondaries on the Ideal Steel cause the stove to behave very differently than anything else I have ever seen. And as these secondaries point downwards, they really whip up a fantastic fire at the top of the stove. When the I.S. is ran a bit hard, or even around medium, I find the fire that starts at the top of the fuel to be far greater than the burn at the bottom of the fuel load, even with a bottom- up fire. All of that to say that a top- down fire in a different stove will burn very differently than in an Ideal Steel I think. How about the Absolute Steel- does it also have very strong, downward pointing secondaries?

Brian

 

Yes, from the side door. Pretty easy/quick. Not as long a reach as with the PH, and easier to get the glass around the andirons.

Removing the glass is easy, too, but you run the risk of damaging the gasket - much easier to just reach in.

 

Yes, I would say it is quite similar to the IS. In addition, the cat air on this stove generates a lot of turbulence where the flames/smoke exit the firebox. This pic is a bit fuzzy, but the cat air holes that face forward can generate a strong forward and downward swirl when burning secondaries hot and hard. We have excellent (too excellent?) draft, which I'm sure contributes to this.

 

You guys might be using a different meaning than what I do for top down fire. I have started most all of my fires this winter with the top down method, some at the beginning of the year the traditional way. But once it is up and running and loaded up the method of starting it really shouldn't have much effect I wouldn't think, the load is fully engaged it's going to burn the way the stove wants to burn regardless of whether your paper was above the kindling or below it.

 

Copied from Woodstock's Facebook page - very high wife approval rating.

 

I wish I knew if the other designs had this and what they looked like. This is the problem with Woodstock as of late, they are apparently too busy to update there website with proper photos, and often when they do it's not easy to find on the product page it is on their blog or facebook page. I didn't even know they had a facebook page. I'm still waiting on seeing pictures of the few toolset/holders for the ISH that have been available and no photos yet. Speaking of which their 'steal of the month' is still on January, and we are a few days from March...

 

I think that is because the AS Introduction Sale that started in late January is better than the regular steel of the month sales.

I agree with the rest of your points. I am working with my wife to lock down our design choices and it was way too hard to search all over for photos of the designs and colors. As a non-Facebook user, it is ultra annoying to have to go there and look at a few photos before it covers the window and asks you to log in or create an account. No company is so good that I will make a Facebook account so I can do business with them.

 

You must also recognize that you are in the minority on this. Facebook is a wonderful tool for small businesses.

 

I realize as someone who has closed their Facebook account or never had one, I am in the minority. That does not mean Facebook really is a good tool for small businesses. Does it really make sense to post things on FB and let THEM control which of your clients and how many see your message? Is FB really a good way to organize the photos of your product in a way that makes it easy for a potential customer to find what they want to see and what you want to show off?

Compared to the main competition, I had to work harder to shop for a Woodstock stove. For a factory direct business, I would hope to find a well laid out and informative web site. Instead, I had to look at the website, blog, Facebook, and forums like this one. In contrast, Blaze King had most of the data I wanted on their web page (not nearly as many options to show pictures of) and I could go see one in person and talk to a dealer for everything else. Unfortunately for BK that just allowed me to figure out their stove would not work for me, but the point stands. And, it is not like I am saying this as a BK fanboy and WS basher. I am in the process of buying a stove from them, with a deposit paid and most options selected.

As part of the process, there have been a few emails up and back to answer questions I could have gotten from the web. What is the price of the rear heat shield option or the OAK? You can find that in their online store for some models but not the IS. What designs are currently available for the tools? How much are they? What tools do you get? Some pics show a shovel some a rake. I was surprised not to be able to find any of this on their website. If it is mentioned on their blog or on Facebook, I did not find it there either. Again, I am not bashing them, just agreeing with T-Stew that the web page could be a lot better at showing customers what options are available for the steel stoves.

 

Don't even get me started on facebook. Count me in on the minority (I highly doubt non-facebook users are a minority), though I do have an account.

Thanks Backwoods Savage but those are ones I have managed to find. Ones that still remain a mystery are: dog tool set, holly leaf tool set, and wolf tool set. Was hoping to see some that would better fit my theme, maybe a maple leaf one for spring syrup season but they have seemed to stop. Anyhow, I think we're cluttering up the ASH thread.

 

I'm not a lemming .....never had a facebook account either. Seems ridiculous and cult like. There have been a few websites I've tried to view but couldn't because I was supposed to log on to FB to access it. I don't know why anyone would limit traffic to their site that way....their loss....end of rant.

 

Here's a couple things I don't see when burning dry wood. Clumps adhered to the bottom of the ash pan, and creosote buildup on the ash pan door. Switching back to dry wood this weekend. Haven't swept the chimney yet, but will to see how much the wet wood affected the flue.

 

Playing. Firebox black, STT 450, flue probe at 300.

 

I guess my views on facebook are showing my age. Facebook is no more a cult than this forum. Facebook pages are easier to manage than a website, are free, and when updated, automatically pop up on people's feed. I love being updated on Woodstock's news. And I love seeing others post pictures of their stoves on their site. These "behind the scenes" updates create far more brand loyalty than a generic website.

 

The updates don't automatically pop up on everyone's feeds, the number depends on how much you pay them among other variables that are difficult to control. From the business perspective, you are handing over the management of your customer relationships and brand loyalty to a third party that makes no promises on if or how they will let you access those customers in the future, and how much they will charge. It really is not a very good tool for a small business.

From the customer side, I don't care how easy it is for them to manage their photos on FB if it is extremely difficult and time consuming for me to find what I am looking for, if I can find it at all. My wife wanted to see pictures of stoves in different colors and with some of their different designs. Good luck searching for those on FB without resorting to simply scrolling through all the photos they have posted in the last 3 years. That builds customer frustration, not loyalty.

 

I actually see it from a totally different perspective. Here you have a company that goes out of their way to keep customers informed as to their design process before they even sell a product. They display all of the tech and numbers, designs, ask for feedback, show off customer stoves, etc.. They are very transparent about a lot of stuff they don't have to be.
I guarantee that putting all of that on Facebook is growing their business. It's also an easy way for me to see what they are up to and be kept in the loop.

 

Sunny day, a good time to take a few inches off the PH wood so it fits into the Absolute. I'd never resized splits before, but copied ideas from here and it worked slick. I cut about a week's worth at 18" and will see how we like that before cutting more. The 4 cord over by the air tank might not even get touched if this "winter" continues like this.

 

I look to company websites for details, and expect FB to provide me "news" and eye candy (pretty installations, new paint combos, etc). I would put their blog somewhere in between - it doesn't have the FB issues of searching and organizing, but it isn't really designed to display the product catalog.

Some small companies struggle to get a page with their current hours, phone, and address. I find Woodstock's site to have a lot of useful information, and given their degree of customization I don't expect to see all the combinations. I kind of like that they are more focused on innovation than on marketing glitz (but of course I can do the 45 minute drive to see new things if I wish to, and most of you are relying on what you can see online).