Cookin' With Coal
- Photog200
- Member
- Posts: 2063
- Joined: Tue. Feb. 05, 2013 7:11 pm
- Location: Fulton, NY
- Baseburners & Antiques: Colonial Clarion cook stove, Kineo #15 base burner & 2 Geneva Oak Andes #517's
- Coal Size/Type: Blaschak Chestnut
- Other Heating: Electric Baseboard
Firing up the cook stove with coal this morning. I wanted a good hot fire today for all the cooking so I went out the the bin and brought in all the big pieces of coal. Today is my family get together for Christmas so I have lots of cooking to do. I am making beef tenderloin, ham, shrimp, broccoli and if I have time some bread. My sister and Mom are cooking the other stuff.
Randy
Randy
Attachments
- windyhill4.2
- Member
- Posts: 6072
- Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
- Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
- Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both
Randy it's good to see you back - back on this thread & back on coal ! nice view port,shame they don't have glass lids ,we had turkey for Christmas day,my favorite .We still are trying to decide what we will do when we can buy a stove,would love a coal range ,but we might go with a big baseburner or box stove to get max BTU so we could totally heat our house with the handfed in the house which would lighten the load on the OWB, meaning less wood to buy (such a hassle) & less wood to handle,which becomes real critical in the super cold weather as the current heat demand is all on the OWB. I did see that Keystoker makes a new coal cook stove that holds 54# nut -$1200...is rated at 70,000 BTU which might be big enough,still would like an old timer,but we will see what happens.Got 3" surprise snow day after Christmas which will probably all disappear today,temp's in upper 40's.
- Photog200
- Member
- Posts: 2063
- Joined: Tue. Feb. 05, 2013 7:11 pm
- Location: Fulton, NY
- Baseburners & Antiques: Colonial Clarion cook stove, Kineo #15 base burner & 2 Geneva Oak Andes #517's
- Coal Size/Type: Blaschak Chestnut
- Other Heating: Electric Baseboard
Good to be back on coal...a lot less hassle than constantly feeding it with wood. The larger pieces of coal are working better and got a much hotter fire. I already got the shrimp cooked and in the fridge. Looks like I need to go make some bread, the other stuff will only take 1.5 hrs to cook so I will have time.
Randy
Randy
- Photog200
- Member
- Posts: 2063
- Joined: Tue. Feb. 05, 2013 7:11 pm
- Location: Fulton, NY
- Baseburners & Antiques: Colonial Clarion cook stove, Kineo #15 base burner & 2 Geneva Oak Andes #517's
- Coal Size/Type: Blaschak Chestnut
- Other Heating: Electric Baseboard
I am not familiar with the Keystoker cook stove, will have to look that one up! We have been lucky with the snow up here, the lake effect has been just North of us. We have only got about 4" here. I wish you all the best with your quest with a coal stove for the house. When it happens, you will love not having to deal with the wood as much.windyhill4.2 wrote:Randy it's good to see you back - back on this thread & back on coal ! nice view port,shame they don't have glass lids ,we had turkey for Christmas day,my favorite .We still are trying to decide what we will do when we can buy a stove,would love a coal range ,but we might go with a big baseburner or box stove to get max BTU so we could totally heat our house with the handfed in the house which would lighten the load on the OWB, meaning less wood to buy (such a hassle) & less wood to handle,which becomes real critical in the super cold weather as the current heat demand is all on the OWB. I did see that Keystoker makes a new coal cook stove that holds 54# nut -$1200...is rated at 70,000 BTU which might be big enough,still would like an old timer,but we will see what happens.Got 3" surprise snow day after Christmas which will probably all disappear today,temp's in upper 40's.
Randy
- Photog200
- Member
- Posts: 2063
- Joined: Tue. Feb. 05, 2013 7:11 pm
- Location: Fulton, NY
- Baseburners & Antiques: Colonial Clarion cook stove, Kineo #15 base burner & 2 Geneva Oak Andes #517's
- Coal Size/Type: Blaschak Chestnut
- Other Heating: Electric Baseboard
The Keystoker cook stove looks interesting. If you have limited space, this looks like it would fit the bill. I am not crazy about the utilitarian looks but I am sure it would do a good job. The only two drawbacks I can see with this stove over an old stove is: This stove looks like the coal is under the entire top so you would not get the varying cooking temperatures. One of the things I like about the old stove is, if it gets to hot over the firebox, just slide the pot over to the right. This stove does not have an oven either so if you wanted to bake that would not be an option unless you put one of those portable ovens on top of it.
Randy
Randy
- windyhill4.2
- Member
- Posts: 6072
- Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
- Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
- Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both
Yes ,i had noticed the lack of "dazzle" but I do thank you for pointers on the short comings -- hot ---------------- top ,we did not think about that feature missing on the new era stove versus the old,did notice lack of oven. We still would like an old time coal range,but are unsure of what to expect on the BTU output,also would like one with the warming oven on top,but have not gotten an exhaust height off back of stove when equipped with the upper oven. Wife is having second thoughts of the bigness look & space consumption of the coal range versus a BB or box stove --Alaska Kodiak - flip top ,i kettle cooking or Hitzer 50-95 hot top ?? Decisions..............
- Photog200
- Member
- Posts: 2063
- Joined: Tue. Feb. 05, 2013 7:11 pm
- Location: Fulton, NY
- Baseburners & Antiques: Colonial Clarion cook stove, Kineo #15 base burner & 2 Geneva Oak Andes #517's
- Coal Size/Type: Blaschak Chestnut
- Other Heating: Electric Baseboard
There are ways around the hot top issue too. They make cast iron trivets that would lift your kettle/pan up higher off the top and would make cooler cooking temps. I cooked for years on the top of my Fisher wood stove using these methods so it is very doable.windyhill4.2 wrote:Yes ,i had noticed the lack of "dazzle" but I do thank you for pointers on the short comings -- hot ---------------- top ,we did not think about that feature missing on the new era stove versus the old,did notice lack of oven. We still would like an old time coal range,but are unsure of what to expect on the BTU output,also would like one with the warming oven on top,but have not gotten an exhaust height off back of stove when equipped with the upper oven. Wife is having second thoughts of the bigness look & space consumption of the coal range versus a BB or box stove --Alaska Kodiak - flip top ,i kettle cooking or Hitzer 50-95 hot top ?? Decisions..............
- windyhill4.2
- Member
- Posts: 6072
- Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
- Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
- Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both
good points, don't spend too much time on here & be late getting things cooked or your mother may take away your internet privileges good luck on the food .
- lsayre
- Member
- Posts: 21781
- Joined: Wed. Nov. 23, 2005 9:17 pm
- Location: Ohio
- Stoker Coal Boiler: AHS S130 Coal Gun
- Coal Size/Type: Lehigh Anthracite Pea
- Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75
Does anyone currently make a nice cook stove with a decent sized oven that is properly designed to burn anthracite?
- Photog200
- Member
- Posts: 2063
- Joined: Tue. Feb. 05, 2013 7:11 pm
- Location: Fulton, NY
- Baseburners & Antiques: Colonial Clarion cook stove, Kineo #15 base burner & 2 Geneva Oak Andes #517's
- Coal Size/Type: Blaschak Chestnut
- Other Heating: Electric Baseboard
If they do, I am not aware of one. There is an Amish made stove called Bakers Choice and can burn bituminous but not anthracite. This Keystoker is the first new coal cook stove for anthracite I have seen.lsayre wrote:Does anyone currently make a nice cook stove with a decent sized oven that is properly designed to burn anthracite?
- windyhill4.2
- Member
- Posts: 6072
- Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
- Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
- Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both
I've not seen one yet,but could have missed it .Had high hopes on Bakers ,but as Randy said -wood & bit,can't burn that hard stuff
- Sunny Boy
- Member
- Posts: 25547
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
- Location: Central NY
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
- Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
- Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
- Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace
As Randy said, there's ways to control the heat.
There's a wide variety of trivets in different sizes and shapes, some sit higher than others. Some can be stacked to lower the heat even more. And, putting something as simple as an upside down cast iron fry pan on the stove, with it's large air gap, will really lower the temp a cooking pot gets.
And for stability of large pots, there are large diameter "simmering plates" that sometimes show up on eBay and antique shops.
There was one with my range when I bought it. It's a solid, round, cast iron plate, about 9 inches in diameter, that has thin ribs cast into the underside radiating outward from the center. The ribs hold the plate up off the stove while allowing heat to radiate outward. It lowers the cooking temp a bit more than the open design type trivets. It's used for keeping cooked food warm, on a moderately hot surface, or slow cooking a pot of stew on a really hot stove.
But you can pick up a good, Glenwood C for a fraction of the new stoves. Without the water tank, figure the stove is about 4-1/2 feet wide with a 31-32 inch high cook top. With a warming oven about 6 feet to the top. And, on indirect mode (oven heat on), they put out a lot of heat. There was a thread here where you can get a rough idea how many BTU's the old stoves can put out by measuring the firebox area. Figure about 90-95 square inches for a small-ish range like my 1903 Glenwood Sunny, or about 110-115 square inches for the mid size ranges.
Paul
There's a wide variety of trivets in different sizes and shapes, some sit higher than others. Some can be stacked to lower the heat even more. And, putting something as simple as an upside down cast iron fry pan on the stove, with it's large air gap, will really lower the temp a cooking pot gets.
And for stability of large pots, there are large diameter "simmering plates" that sometimes show up on eBay and antique shops.
There was one with my range when I bought it. It's a solid, round, cast iron plate, about 9 inches in diameter, that has thin ribs cast into the underside radiating outward from the center. The ribs hold the plate up off the stove while allowing heat to radiate outward. It lowers the cooking temp a bit more than the open design type trivets. It's used for keeping cooked food warm, on a moderately hot surface, or slow cooking a pot of stew on a really hot stove.
But you can pick up a good, Glenwood C for a fraction of the new stoves. Without the water tank, figure the stove is about 4-1/2 feet wide with a 31-32 inch high cook top. With a warming oven about 6 feet to the top. And, on indirect mode (oven heat on), they put out a lot of heat. There was a thread here where you can get a rough idea how many BTU's the old stoves can put out by measuring the firebox area. Figure about 90-95 square inches for a small-ish range like my 1903 Glenwood Sunny, or about 110-115 square inches for the mid size ranges.
Paul
- Photog200
- Member
- Posts: 2063
- Joined: Tue. Feb. 05, 2013 7:11 pm
- Location: Fulton, NY
- Baseburners & Antiques: Colonial Clarion cook stove, Kineo #15 base burner & 2 Geneva Oak Andes #517's
- Coal Size/Type: Blaschak Chestnut
- Other Heating: Electric Baseboard
I even took the racks out of an old barbecue grill I was throwing away and cut them down to make small trivets that held the pots just off the top. The main drawback I see to the Keystoker stove is no oven (as already mentioned).Sunny Boy wrote:As Randy said, there's ways to control the heat.
There's a wide variety of trivets in different sizes and shapes, some sit higher than others. Some can be stacked to lower the heat even more. And, putting something as simple as an upside down cast iron fry pan on the stove, with it's large air gap, will really lower the temp a cooking pot gets.
And for stability of large pots, there are large diameter "simmering plates" that sometimes show up on eBay and antique shops.
There was one with my range when I bought it. It's a solid, round, cast iron plate, about 9 inches in diameter, that has thin ribs cast into the underside radiating outward from the center. The ribs hold the plate up off the stove while allowing heat to radiate outward. It lowers the cooking temp a bit more than the open design type trivets. It's used for keeping cooked food warm, on a moderately hot surface, or slow cooking a pot of stew on a really hot stove.
But you can pick up a good, Glenwood C for a fraction of the new stoves. Without the water tank, figure the stove is about 4-1/2 feet wide with a 31-32 inch high cook top. With a warming oven about 6 feet to the top. And, on indirect mode (oven heat on), they put out a lot of heat. There was a thread here where you can get a rough idea how many BTU's the old stoves can put out by measuring the firebox area. Figure about 90-95 square inches for a small-ish range like my 1903 Glenwood Sunny, or about 110-115 square inches for the mid size ranges.
Paul
- windyhill4.2
- Member
- Posts: 6072
- Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
- Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
- Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both
Thanhs for the good info,from both of you,Randy & Paul,with warming oven,where does the flue top 90 come off at what height ? Haven't had the time yet to look up the sq.in. formula but those old ranges only hold about 20# if I recall right,would be about 240,000 BTU to burn in 6 hrs = 40,000 btu/hr.,not sure if these figures are close to right & if they are, 40k is on the low side for 1200 sq.ft . good to have both of you guys back on this thread!!!