I have a circa 1918 "New Fairmont" wood/gas cookstove, by Leonard Baker stove co. of Taunton Mass. I love it, but if I was going to buy another wood cookstove I wouldn't get the gas combo; they are a lot more expensive and it turns out to be more practical to get a seperate gas stove - which we ended up doing.

Monarch is supposed to be great, and they are still made in new brunswick as you probably know. Monarch has a website for their Sackville, NB factory.

A "wood cookstove" has been the love of my life. You are only 28 and just starting out on your Homestead, why don't you buy a new wood cookstove. They must still be made. Don't settle for one in too bad shape, you would hate to burn your house down. I kick myself I didn't buy a new one when I was young and had the chance. I've fooled around with old ones and wharped ovens (bake l round cake pan and a cupcake pan because the second round cake pan didn't sit flat). The bread is out of this world. When my folks on the farm had the wood cookstove, they had hot water heater coils in the firebox. Their hot water tank was rigged up so when the wood stove was on, it heated the water in the tank and when the temperature dropped then the electricity kicked in. Maybe someone on the net here knows where you can find a new or newer one.

Hi Again; I went into "Yahoo" and put in "lehmans". They have wood cookstoves. Also, they have new fireboxes, etc. I live in Canada so I'm not familier with what stores may have access to the stoves in the States.

It's common, at least in the northeast, to find old cookstoves that were hardly ever used. I think what happened is a lot of folks bought wood or wood/gas combos but didn't use them long before they bought an all gas stove. So the old stove probbly sat hardly used for years, and then went out to the garage for more decades, until ending up at junk shops or with stove collectors.

Also, the wood ones were often converted to oil or kerosens in the firebox, which causes a lot less wear. Converting back to wood is simple.

Lehmans carries the Manarchs.

There's a 1976 book published by Rodale Press, author John Vivian - 'Wood Heat' ISBN 0-87857-149-3 which gives useful information on how to check out an old wood range, along with useful information about the types of wood to use for various heating tasks.

Rodale Press does a lot of 'homesteading' publications and there's probably something far more modern.

We just replaces our Monarch wood/electric combinination that came with our house that we bought in 1978. It now sits in our garage - just in case there is an energy crisis. I could not stand the tiny oven and only 2 of the burners worked.
This summer when taking a detour on HWY 2 (in WA) we passed through the town of Skykomish. There is a Wood Stove store there. You might want to check it out just for information.

In the "Suggestion Forum" I posted an idea for a "Woodstove and Firewood" forum. You might add your opinion there so we can get one started. Cooking with wood would be part of that. Heck, I cook inside my woodstove all the time and it's NOT a wood cookstove, but a regular heater.

Years ago I rented an old farmhouse and there was a wonderful big wood white enamel cookstove in the kitchen. There was also a Monarch(?) wood/electric stove stored in that house. I must confess I never really used either one of them.

We have an old (85 yrs old) Capital Stewart wood cookstove made in Troy NY...It is great, we do all our cooking on it in the winter and it also does a great job of heating our house, with an additional woodstove in the Living Room for when it is REALLY cold. The firebox is is not big enough to hold enough wood to keep the fire going overnight, so if I were to do it over again, I would get a cookstove with a bigger firebox. Other than that I love it and wouldn't do without it. Good Luck with your search.

Unfortunately, I can't afford the prices on the NEW wood cook stoves. They are a bit steep. My husband welds and works with metal, so it will just be better in the end to buy a used one and fix it up.

It seems like most of the stoves around here people think are precious antiques and want the earth for even if they are real junk. I once saw a completely unusable rust bucket that someone wanted a couple of hundred for. This was so rusty there was no chrome or enammel left on it, and it was full of holes. Maybe they thought it was yard art? I didn't ask.

I found one I'm thinking about... but I havn't looked in a bit, so it might be gone. I'm going to check tomorrow I think... and maybe if it is still there I can talk them down some on the price.

I have a wood stove for heat. It is difficult to cook on because it is insulated. It has to be pretty cold outside for me to be able to heat up the stove hot enough to heat anything. My cats like to sleep on it when it is not full heat. When I have tried to cook on it, well it is kind of like a slow cooker rather than a stove.

I don't think I will be able to use it in the house... but I want to install it on my front porch. Someday it will be an enclosed porch and I could still use it for heat sometimes. I could cook on it in summer when baking inside is so hot, and could use it when the power goes out.

A couple things, make sure it doesn't burn sawdust unless you have readily available dry sawdust. My grandma used to tell my how good they were, just that you can't get dry sawdust here these days.
Also INSURANCE!!! I bought a very old little pioneer-like home 1.5 years ago, and it took a full year to get home insurance. Woodstoves/fireplaces of any kind need an inspection for insurance companies to give an ok.
I needed to get a brand new woodstove at $1400, $800 for me to build a hearth/new stovepipes, shields etc. A new chimney would have been another $1000, luckily mine met the standard.
Just keep this in mind and research this before you go for an old stove. Insurance companies will have a booklet and a form to fill out which will give you an idea what is needed.

Our old wood burning cookstove was a Mother's Day present for me (!!!) and came from an old ranch house along with a Montgomery Ward 3-door upright icebox. The stove didn't have legs (hubby built some from scrap iron) and I haven't learned how to use the oven but it burns great and little or no smoke comes out the triple wall chimney; bet it would pass emmissions test! The resevoir on the side still works and the warming oven on top is great for the yeast bread to rise. We have never had to buy wood as we have had trees cut over the years and hubby splits the wood with a gas log splitter he made from plans in Mother Earth News magazine. Though it does make dusting more frequent in winter when in use, the constant warmth and aroma of that stove is wonderful and the teakettle is always there for hot tea and I love to fry potatoes in the cast iron fry pan on the stove top!

My problem is finding the proper paint to re-do the stove as it is the original and seen better days.

Go for an old one, madspinner, they don't make them like that any more I bet!

Good luck.

- Vieja