Care and feeding of the solid fuel stove

[redbopeep]

Instead of just adding on to my post about the shipmate here (http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90336), I thought I'd start a new thread for this.

I read somewhere here on the forum to treat my stove exterior as its cooling down with kerosene to get a nice black finish and prevent rust. Went to the Ace Hardware and studied the shelves for the "clean stuff" and bought a gallon of 1-K Kerosene so I can treat my stove right ;) They actually had "liquid paraffin" lamp oil that was supposed to be even cleaner burning, but I figured that since it gels up at 45F, it wasn't what I needed.

Now, we're using wood, not coal. I've been putting an oven thermometer at various places on the stove's surface to check temperatures (as well as in the oven) and note that a hot fire gives me 225F on the stove top above the firebox. I've avoided "roaring hot" fires--had one for about 5 minutes yesterday but put a damper on that! as I don't want to damage the stove...Ah, and here's the question for you'all...I know you wondered when I'd get to the question, right?

What's "too hot" of a fire for the stove? I've kept the firebricks in place which protect the sides, but the top of the stove is of course open to the fire (unless I make another firebrick for that location).

Right now, the oven's hottest temperature (on the rack in the vertical middle of the oven) is a solid 350F. Only place that I can see over 400 is the very top 2" of oven in the back left corner (makes sense as this is where the flame can whip over the oven and the flue is right behind that spot). If I took the firebrick out on the oven side, we'd see hotter oven temps but I don't feel like doing that as it seems I'd just be damaging the wall of the oven by direct heat with the firebox. Opinions?

OK, and final question about "care of"...after putting 3 screws thru the ss stovepipe at each junction of pipe section, elbow, etc, we wondered what folks do to secure the stove pipe to the stove itself? Nothing? Just leave it sitting over the oval lip on the stove made for attaching the pipe to? Or, use a metal-to-metal high temp adhesive/rtv? Right now, there's not "attaching" to that lip.

Regarding the "feeding" of the stove. Any good tips on keeping the fire going w/wood...longer burn times? I get 2.5 hours max before the fire is gone (and the coals are just barely enough to start another fire) when I damper down and have the vents on the ash bin closed to a teeny sliver. So, I get up every couple hours to add a bit of wood and keep the stove going for heat. Do I need to just jam the firebox full of wood with a tiny bit of coals there and damper every thing down? Or....???

Thanks for your info, all.

[Jay Greer]

The kerosine is a new one on me. I have always used vegetable or peanut oil on the top surface and stove blacking polish on the sides. The oven may take some time to get used to. My grandma's hot biscuit recipie is one of our favorites to make on Sunday mornings. It helped the learning curve. I use a mini dough cutter made from a tomato paste can and a miniature baking sheet from a childs baking set.
I do package my wood or pressed wood into paper sacks and it has always worked well for me. I even package charcoal bricketts in that manner. Since my stove is well vented, there is no fear of CO poisoning. The best advice for using the stove is to use it! It will tell you what it wants.
Jay

[paladin]

Jay brought up the biscuits and that was the reference that I would have used.....Gramma's biscuits were always done in 12-14 minutes at 400 degrees, and I can't think of anything else requiring that much heat....other things require 350-375 degrees. In the back recesses of my mind I remember something about kerosene, but I'm fairly certain that Granddad always used something else with a "blacking" material in it. I'm not much help because my first 2-3 cookers were alcohol and then I went to the Dickenson. We used coal at home when I was growing up.

[SeaB]

Hope you have a good fire extinguisher and a respirator on hand if you use kerosene!! Use some kind of oil please, and don't have the stove too hot when you apply it. Or get a can of proper stove black if you can find one. Think of the process in terms of seasoning cast iron cookware.

All the wood you use should be well seasoned, softwood for for quick fires that die down fast. The denser the wood, the hotter the fire and or burn time. See a table of wood densities for heating value/cu.ft.

" Compleat Cruiser" LFH p.12&20 for coal burning hints. Given the small dimensions of most boat stoves, coal would likely be the fuel to use for an overnight fire. Best wishes Phil

[Jay Greer]

I have a mini cupcake pan from the same child's baking set I mentioned. I fill the cavities with sawdust and then pour in melted wax from our old candles we use in the house. They make great fire strarters.
Jay

[ssor]

Google "stove Blacking" . Mother always polished her kitchen stove with a rag and a commercial product called stove blacking. I just googled it and got too many hits to post.

[bob winter]

I would certainly think twice before I used kerosene on the stove. As noted above, the smell will be something and, if the stove is too hot, there may be some flame. My grandmother used to use waxed paper to rub the stove down with. Worked for her.

[Jay Greer]

Here is my grandmothers biscuit recipie.
It calls for a preheated oven of 450 but I just get the stove stoked to what I feel is right as I never have used a thermometer on our Shipmate. If the stack turns red, you are deffinatly burning it too hot!
Sift together,
2cps flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2teasoon Baking Soda(dissolved in 3/4 Cup of buttermilk
1/3 Cup of shortening (Crisco is what we use)
Cut shortening into sifted mix with a dull knife.
Stir in 1 table spoon of melted bacon fat.
Stir in Buttermilk/Soda mix
Work dough on a floured cutting board, taking care not to work it a lot.
Pat out or roll till you have a flat sheet of dough about 3/8 to 1/2" thick and cut biscuits out with small round cutter. Place on baking sheet and bake until biscuits are a light shade of gold.
Not very heart smart but, very tasty and light!
My grandpa used to smoke out wild honey and it had a slight smoke taste. He also mixed it with a bit of ribbon cane syrup to stretch the mix. It had a wonderful taste!
Here is my recipie for the modern version:
Mix a cup of honey with a quarter cup of English Treacle Syrup. That is the stuff that comes in a green can.
Add a few drops of Wright's Liquid Smoke and you have a very tasty honey mix to go on your biscuits. Don't forget the butter inside the halves.
Jay

[ssor]

That is the same receipe that I use. I fold the dough once or twice so that the finished biscuits separate in layers. Don't use much flour when you knead the dough or pat it out. Lacking crisco you can use poultry fat. If it is melted, mix it with a half cup of the flour first then add it the the rest of the flour mix.

[Jay Greer]

http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/NR/rdonlyres/ebezmseuyioqbopanecj5bz6tigzparet5nckhnbxs3wsq3abc fc6v5bgayl5y5xscf6dpfeishcdaasibtxh2ik6rd/LylesGoldenSyrup1.jpg

Essential shipboard supplies. Also good for steamed suet puddings ("duffs").
Thanks Andrew, that's it!
Jay

[johngsandusky]

Seems to me there was an article long ago in WB about maintaining and using such a stove. Check the index?

[Don Kurylko]

I’ll second waxed paper. That’s what my granny used too. Wax is, after all, paraffin of a sort and certainly less risky to apply than the liquid.

[AJZimm]

As the primary reason to use stove blacking is the prevention of rust (in addition to appearance) you might consider the use of high temperature stove paint instead, which will accomplish the same objective without as frequent re-application

[redbopeep]

Wow, thanks for the responses--and recipes! Especially useful, ACB, your info about what "not" to burn in the stove. Don't know that I've heard of the "smokeless coal here, though...

I am especially concerned NOT to burn too hot of a fire in the stove, damaging it! in order to get a hot temperature in the oven.

I'll try the biscuit recipe and look for the stuff in the green can! We recently had a bee keeper come by the boatyard and smoke a hive out of an old fuel tank near another boat. We tasted some of the honey and it was as you say "smoky" :) Cooking biscuits will help me know if I can get that high temperature consistently for long enough. As mentioned, the higher temps only exist in the upper couple inches of the oven. The oven is quite large--10" tall, 17" wide and 15" or so deep. The oven rack is smack in the middle 5" below the top. So, to cook those biscuits, I think I'll have to put a rack on spacers to get the biscuits up into the "hot zone"...Will let you know more about that, umm...tomorrow after making some biscuits!

The kerosene use idea came from two posts from Bob Cleek. The first where he's telling someone else about stove restoration:

"You then rub the surfaces with "coal oil" on a rag until they will not absorb anymore "coal oil." Don't leave any wet oil on the surface. "Coal oil" is what my grandmother, with her nineteenth century vocabulary, called kerosene. Repeat this process every time after the stove is used and begins to cool down, but while it is still rather warm. The kerosene will soak into the surface and after a while build up a nice finish coating that will not rust. I believe what happens is that pores of the heated cast iron open up and absorb the oil and sort of "suck it in" when the iron cools, but that's just my "science fair" analysis. Smoothly machined surfaces such as the top and plates will eventually turn a nice glossy black. After the stove is completely cured using this process, it will only take an occasional "once over" with a kerosene soaked rag."

The second place I got this from is where he's telling me to not use diesel for preserving my stove while it sits outside for a bit:

"I'd hesitate to give the nod to diesel oil! Could be pretty stinky when she heats up. What you want to use is "pearl kerosene." Diesel #2 is pretty close to kerosene, but not close enough. Now, I haven't played with the new "low-sulfur" diesel #2 that's coming out of the pumps these days. It may be closer to the more highly refined "pearl kerosene" or "coal oil" that we were talking about and not stinky.

You want to oil the cast iron when it is hot. Putting oil on it when it is just sitting there isn't going to be as effective. Cast iron is porus and it expands when hot. The old time drill was to oil the stove after it had been used and was good and warm (not red hot, of course), then let it cool off. This draws the oil into the iron. If there's rust on the surface, rub the oil into the surface with a piece of steel wool. You will have to repeat the treatment for a while before you get a nice smooth black effect. It's a lot like "curing" a cast iron skillet. In fact, it's exactly the same, except that you don't have to use cooking oil and can use kerosene. You can get "lamp kerosene," which is the same as "pearl" in most any hardware store. It is highly refined so it won't smoke as much in lamps. That's s the stuff to use.

The method we are talking about here isn't like just putting on a coating or paint and realizing instant gratification. It's something you do regularly and over time a patina will develop."

We started up the stove first time in the boat (we'd planned on doing it outside but the best laid plans...) We had put diesel on it a couple times and then "sealed" the outside of it with an Amsoil product that displaces water (good for storing tools, etc) which is a spray-on paraffin based product. The boat did not smell of diesel but once we put a hot fire in the stove we had some very mild smoke and the boat smelled like paraffin (not unpleasant, but not great either). We've used the 1-K kerosene twice. It doesn't smell enough for there to be any notice at all. The smell of the wood burning is stronger than any kerosene smell.

I'd think wax paper would work but I would probably just use the Amsoil product if I wanted to use paraffin wax.

I have seen some stove blacking products and might pick one up if it seems this just doesn't work out. I'd think any kind of low smoke cooking type oil would work as a couple folks here have alluded to.

Both my husband and I are totally thrilled to have this stove, so much like our schooner's original stove, in place and working. We would use coal if we had a source for it but don't know where we'd find it here in California. Our rebuild project has been very major, as you all are probably aware...Presently our huge pile of sapele, oak, purpleheart etc off-cuts and parts that couldn't be used elsewhere in the boat (because of bark, cracking, or sapwood) make it so that wood burning is fine. Think we have about a month or two worth of all this off-cut wood that we've been keeping for a solid fuel stove. Then I'll probably be looking hard for some of that "smokeless coal" :)

Best to all! Brenda

[kc8pql]

I wouldn't worry about getting the stove hot enough to damage it burning wood. When I heated my house with cast iron woodstoves, normal surface temps were around 450- 500 deg. I've been running the stove in my shop about that hot for 30 years without problems.

By the way, smokeless coal is anthricite, ie. hard coal. Once it's burning it has almost no smoke. It also burns very hot. Too hot for a wood stove.

[PeterSibley]

A blacking recipe ....shellac + graphite powder .

As to getting a stove too hot on wood , it's quite easy with Australian hardwood as a recently replaced Rayburn inner on my stove attests .

[redbopeep]

Well, hard to keep it above 400F. Biscuits a little hard-shelled and not quite fluffy :(

But, another day, another batch.

Last night figured out how to pack enough wood into the firebox to have a slow burning fire heating for 6 hours before I had to add more wood. I figure I shoulda only let it go 5 hours for there to be enough hot coals for the new wood to take off more quickly.

This morning figured out that there's one BIG problem with having such a nice, cosy-warm boat--when its little bit chilly 54F outside and a very nice T-shirt and shorts "warm" inside--its easy to stay inside, pull out the laptop and surf the web rather than work on the boat! :rolleyes:

Hubby says this a definite "issue" and he's outside in the boatshed pulling together a project that can be done inside.

[ssor]

Peep, Biscuits will bake quite nicely between 350 and 400 degrees F. Just be sure to get the baking powder/ liquid ratios close to right. 3/4 cup milk, 2 cups flour, one tablespoon baking powder or the equiv, soda and sour milk. Don't knead them too much and they should be light and tender. A shortage of fat will make them tough.