Which handfired coal to get with my inheritance?

Nort, thanx for the tip. I knew that Jotul bought the rights to the stove sometime in the 90s. Wonder if Nestor now owns them?

joeq wrote:Nort, thanx for the tip. I knew that Jotul bought the rights to the stove sometime in the 90s. Wonder if Nestor now owns them?

The guy having the Nestor M. told me that he has it since 1980, so 32 Yrs. Next time I go see him I will take photos from the stove and will check the interior of it.

lsayre wrote:Thanks Fred! That leaves me with the Kodiak or the DS line.

Larry-I couldn't be happier with the Alaska Kodiak! You've been following my posts, and you've seen and read what I had to say. It has to be one of the easiest and simplest to use.

My Kodiak w/hopper and brass trim (window ring was not available) was $1300 at end of season in 04/2008. No blower, no thermostat. Less to go wrong, I like the sliding shutter better anyway.

At your and others suggestion I bought 4 bags of Blaschak nut, I've been mixing it in w/the pea. I can see that those pieces last longer. I'll probably get a mixture of pea and nut next year.

BTW I see you asked if it worked on pea-That's what I've used exclusively and trouble-free for 4 years now in the Kodiak. Didn't know any better... Only issue is on initial fill to light it a couple of inches fall through the grate initially until a bed is established to pur the charcoal on. I simply pour it back into the hod. Pretty much a non-issue of course.

Excellent to hear that it can run on pea alone. I sure think the Kodiak's are fine looking stoves.

roundbadge, dh was interested to hear about the pea coal in the kodiak, can you describe again what you do to light the fire using pea in yours?

all, I finally got a picture posted of my surdiac, recently lit in the picture after a poke down and coal bed laid in, before I filled the hopper. It has three cathedral windows (one piece of glass with three cast iron outlined windows.

Ellen, is the picture you're referring to in your avatar? Or is there another one posted on this site?

elleninpa wrote:roundbadge, dh was interested to hear about the pea coal in the kodiak, can you describe again what you do to light the fire using pea in yours?

all, I finally got a picture posted of my surdiac, recently lit in the picture after a poke down and coal bed laid in, before I filled the hopper. It has three cathedral windows (one piece of glass with three cast iron outlined windows.

I pour pea into the hopper until it stops dropping through the grate (that establishes a fire bed) but only about 2 inches deep, just enough to seal the bed to air leaks.
I put a few fire starter cubes on top of that, then simple charcoal briquets soaked in charcoal lighter fluid. I use about 1/2 gallon of these in a mound over the fire starters. I light this w/a bernz o matic torch to quickly light the pileso I can close the door quickly. Now-most important-DO NOT DISTURB it for about an hour. When it looks lke you could cook a steak on it, sprinkle some coal on top, DO NOT choke it off, and again do not disturb for almost an hour. After the coal burns off, and it looks like it's established THEN fill the hopper. No need to shake it for 12 hours, otherwise it will choke off and die out.

The fire starters burn a long time and seem to consume the soot produced by the charcoal. This is key for me, as the glass used to blacken w/soot in the first 15 minutes.

Good luck.
John

63roundbadge wrote:The fire starters burn a long time and seem to consume the soot produced by the charcoal. This is key for me, as the glass used to blacken w/soot in the first 15 minutes.

Interesting. I "burned-in" my new stove with charcoal ignited by cedar shingles (to keep the paint smell out-of-doors). Either the charcoal or the shingles (or the paint?) coated the glass and even the ash pan with black gunk, which eventually burned off after I started using the stove for heating. The fire-starters sound neater and more fun. Perhaps I'll get some to go with next-year's match, if I can remember it between now and then.

I found some "non-toxic, non-flammable" Weber fire-starters on Amazon. Really, non-flammable, it says.
What kind do you use? What are they made of? Do they have any odor?

rberq wrote:I found some "non-toxic, non-flammable" Weber fire-starters on Amazon. Really, non-flammable, it says.
What kind do you use? What are they made of? Do they have any odor?

Non-flammable, huh??? Approved by Congress probably.

I hafta go out to the shed and see if the wrapper is still there? It was a generic half-brick sized cellophane-wrapped block of brown (wax and saw dust?), I got it at the local Ace Hardware for around $4.00. I actually bought it for use with our new chiminea, I thought it might help the stove lighting and it did.

Each piece is the size of a stick of butter, I used a hacksaw to score and break into pieces. Weber also makes them, but you pay for the logo.

I've heard you can also use a road flare and cut some small pieces off the stick. They will light off coal too although I have to say I've never used them. The old cowboy charcoal works great for me.

SteveZee wrote:I've heard you can also use a road flare and cut some small pieces off the stick. They will light off coal too although I have to say I've never used them.

I have thought about that, too. But I don't know whether they would burn so hot as to damage grates or something else. 3,000 to 6,000 degrees F depending on which Wikipedia article you read....

Yep Bob, I think they have magnesium in them. I don't think they'd bother the grates though especially because when one is lighting up (or relighting) a stove from scratch, the ash pan is empty and the air flow is as good as it ever gonna be under there. That makes all the differance. Anyone who's warped or melted their grates has usually done so because the ash pan is over full and blocking cooling airflow.