Anyone Here Own a Round Oak (D-18)?

I have one in the garage and another thread got me to thinking that maybe this stove should have a row of firebrick on the inside of it? It didn't come with any brick, and I've had some hellish hot fires both wood and coal in it with no issue, but....

Anyways, here's a pic of a round oak like the one I have (although mines not resstored and needs chroming):

http://www.goodtimestove.com/goodtime_special_sec ... talogs.htm

btw, great reads about this company's history:
**Broken Link(s) Removed**

We had one of these in our vacation home in the sixties. It would eat a cord of wood in about an hour (slight exaggeration), but it would also heat up the house very quickly!! It would get red hot, heat the hell out of the house, then be out in four hours. We placed this in our camp while finishing it and had a large piece of asbestos underneath it. One night my parents woke us up and ran us out of the house into the snow because the floor underneath the asbestos was on fire. We had a hearth built the next week and used that stove for many years. I was sorry to see it go for a VC because the VC didn't have the style that that Round Oak did.

Thanks for posting this. A very interesting read.

The old stoves were almost always round and vertical. I think there were good reasons for this. The vertical form was just easier to light and had better draft and took full advantage of the tendency of heat to rise up making wood burning very easy. A design that could burn wood or coal very well. They also used a minimum of space for a given size.

Please use nickle and not chrome on the trim pieces of your stove. I suspect you are going to love it.

I don't think you should use brick inside, but keep the temp. to below 600 degrees.

Richard

Thanks Richard and Kooch.

I didn't think the stove needed the brick but it's always good to check I guess. The articles I have been finding about these stoves and the company history are really great. There's an article by beckwith himself talking about the stoves and I have to believe its all true. This stove is over 100 years old, with no cracks or problems. I like this quote from his text:

The material used in the Round Oak is the best money can buy. The iron used in the body is Wood's cold-rolled boiler iron - the best to be had at any price. The daily test bars of Round Oak cast iron made in our foundry show a breaking strain of over 700 pounds in excess of the average cast iron used by other stove makers and 150 pounds greater than the iron used in the average railway car wheel. We have been told by people "who know" that it was foolish and unnecessary to make it so good, but we have "stuck to our text," and when we hear from users - as we frequently do, and to whom we can refer you - of the genuine Round Oak being as sound as a nut after 25 years of service, we are justly proud of our record

I am in contact with some of the restoration companies first to try and get the coal "cone" grate system and also to talk about the nickle plating. You know us younging all call it chrome Richard! LOL. For now I've just been using the stove black over the plating because there's some rust and pitting and I have not tried too hard to clean it up, but I don't want it to continue to rust either. Still looks good but I'd love to get it back to original.

This thing does produce the heat, that's for sure.

I would love to see a photo once you get it back to its original glory. Brings back very fond memories.

What kind of grate system does it have. I new a guy who had a stove like that but slightly different and he had a handle you could put on an exterior axle end that went inside to turn the grates. I belive the grates revolved 360deg. so you would turn the crank handle around and around or just back and forth. I was burning a Coal in a Coal Chubby at the time that had a flat grate that would just jerk side to side and didn't do a good job at shakeing down. So when I saw the wonderful grate system in his stove I was so impressed. That is why I bought the Harman with a rocker type so it will shake down easier then my old Cubby which burnt coal fine. Just shakeing down was more work for sure.

Mike:

I've got a Round Oak D-16... same era, similar trim as yours... also unrestored.

I burn wood in mine, and have modified it internally for improved efficiency and safety. I can mostly control the heat output now, and no longer have runaway burns.

I tried to burn coal in it last year, but didn't have much luck... mostly due to my inexperience and lack of patience.

I'd be *very* interested in knowing something more about the coal grate you mentioned. One of my problems was that the grate I used (not original) would jam easily on coal 'chips', making a proper shake almost impossible.

If you find out more about a better grate available, I'd sure like to hear of it. I'd have to redesign my own before I'll try coal again, but I remain intrigued.

By the way, I've lined the lower firebox with firebrick. You'll need to grind a taper on the lower edges of the brick to get them to fit snug, but it worked for me. Reduces firebox volume a good deal, of course, but if you were to burn coal, the added brick might be a good idea.

Thanks.

Peter B.

-----

Great feedback about this stove, thanks.

Peter thanks for the note about the single row of bricks. There is that little ledge on the inside that just seems like it would hold some skinny or tapered bricks which is why I wondered if it was supposed to have them.

The grate I currently have is a round disk and is flat, with the front half being slotted and the back half is not slotted at all. Beckwith talks about this as a feature to keep a bed of coals on the back half. There is a nib on the grate for a handle to shake this grate when you open the ash pan. The grate just rocks back and forth and I admittedly do this pretty half-ashed.

I have a couple of feelers out to guys that restore these stoves. One is in Oregon and the other actually works in the old Round Oak factory in Doe-Wah-Jack, Mich. How cool is that? I have only read about the coal shaker for this stove, but I think it's a cone shaped one that probably shakes more effectively.

I have always burned wood in it but last year bought a couple of bags of coal that I would add in. Of course I was (more) clueless to the coal burning process at the time and only used about 10# at a time to keep the fire going overnight before reloading with wood. I got to like having the anthracite coals in the cold stove so when I would start a new fire, the coal got right back up to temp and if I was doing stuff in the house or had to leave, the fire would still have a nice bed of coals in it. It got me hooked on the potential which is why I bought my cookstove.

Mike:

Now that you mention it... I'd forgotten I replaced the original grate (similar to your description) when I made other modifications to the stove. If I recall correctly, the original sits on the ledge you mentioned... and the firebrick would have to sit on the grate... impeding movement almost entirely... not the best for either wood or coal. Mine now consists of an immovable outer ring, with a centered, shakable grate... but as mentioned, it tends to jam with small coal chips and debris. Works fine with wood.

I would really like to find/figure a grate that might work for both fuels... but I haven't hit on it yet.

I've still got most of a bag of Blaschak nut left from last year, and am going to try to burn a little at a time - even though I know that's frowned on here - to get rid of it. Just not looking forward to dealing with the jammed grate.

When you were adding coal to a wood fire, did it burn to ash?

Thanks Again.

Peter B.

-----

Peter, I'll let you know when I get more info on the coal grate.

The ledge I am talking about isn't the one for the grate, but one near the base of the barrel walls. I might buy a couple of half bricks and see how easy it is to get them to fit in it and then decide whether to use them. I could probably fit a full 40# bag of coal in this stove.

The coal would stay solid for a while, so I would just use a shovel to move the wood ash around until it fell through the greate. The very open design of this stove makes it really easy to open both front loading doors and get to the ashes.

basically after a few fires the coal will burn down to become very crumbly before it gets small enough to fall through the grates. I didn't try to force them through, I would just use the shovel to move them to a spot and then clean most of the ashes out. Then the coal is put over the grates and the fire built over them.

If you would like to line an antique stove with refractory I would suggest a castable refractory cement https://www.northlineexpress.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=5RU-600 I did this on an old potbelly stove and it worked very well. If you have a ceramic supply house nearby they should also carry it.

You will need a sheet of thin galvanized sheet metal for a form. Cut a round piece with a hole in the center to cover the grate and space it up with some flat washers so the grate will have freedom to shake. Next form a cone from the sheet metal that will be about an inch smaller than the firebox and fasten it to shape with sheet metal screws from the inside out. Grind or cut off the protruding ends. Place it on the flat round piece sitting on the grate. Now pour the cement, being sure to pour evenly so the form stays centered, let it set for a day and remove the form. The bottom piece will have to be snipped to get it out or cut it in two pieces first before pouring.

You can make a pattern for the cone from heavy paper. Form it and cut the bottom square and that's your pattern for cutting the sheet metal.

Also very handy to make your own brick to fit odd shapes.

Richard

Sounds like a great inexpensive way to make what's needed. I'd suggest the bottom of the form be a donut ring made of plywood. After the casting sets just remove the metal cone and leave the plywood in place. It will burn up in the next fire. Maybe the same idea would work for the cone too. Just find the right kind of cardboard like material. How about rosin paper, the stuff they put under hardwood floors?

For what it's worth, though the formed refractory is a far more elegant solution, I've found working with firebrick 'splits' pretty straightforward... and you can replace them individually if they break. The splits of course are the half bricks Mike referred to. At one time, I had them stacked two high, surrounding not only the cast firebox, but the first eight inches (or so) of the rolled steel body.

For a wood burner, the second tier of brick took up too much volume, and I removed them. But they'd help make a nice deep firebox for a coal stove, I think.

Mike, I'm also a fan of Round Oaks in general. I've had my own stove for over thirty years now... and burned in it off and on for about twenty five of those thirty years. Nothing has ever broken, cracked or burned out during my use... but then I've always heated small areas with it... and treated it with care.

Peter B.

-----

Yanche wrote:Sounds like a great inexpensive way to make what's needed. I'd suggest the bottom of the form be a donut ring made of plywood. After the casting sets just remove the metal cone and leave the plywood in place. It will burn up in the next fire. Maybe the same idea would work for the cone too. Just find the right kind of cardboard like material. How about rosin paper, the stuff they put under hardwood floors?

Very clever-----=-- good idea

Richard

Heres a photo of my D-18 that is in the shop. I sand blasted and repainted it this summer no new nickle though. Mine has no firebrick and burns fine, I alternate between wood and coal depending on how long I work in the shop. I load coal to the top of the fluted cast iron section and set the draft so the top of the coal bed is less than bright orange. Mostly dark with a few bright jewels. It will get red hot fast if the draft is open a little to far