Noobie need help

It's tough to use a coal stove to burn wood.
I've done it and had some pretty wild fires and had to sit pretty close to the stove as most of the heat went up. Was in a uninsulated shed and was pretty much a campfire in a metal box. My brother used to sit next to it with his CB radio doing skipland stuff at night.

I'd look around for a used airtight wood stove if you're serious about some heat.
But a rope gasket on the door to see if you can get a little more heat out of it might be worth it.