Cookin' With Coal

Just got back from Lehman's, and unfortunately the Bakers Choice cook stoves grates are made for wood or bituminous coal only. They were mistaken when I had contacted them earlier and they told me it would burn anthracite. The grates are actually just two rocking flat plates covered with firebrick, and there is only over the fire air that I could see.

PS: Lehman's is only a measured 26.7 miles from my house by road.

windyhill4.2 wrote:Photog200 thanks for the craigslist links,gives us more options. Sunnyboy thank you for wonderful heating experience with your stove,lots of good info,gives us something to compare with our situation and plans. So glad we found this thread,rekindling childhood memories of warm cook stove spot in kitchen. Maybe we will grow younger (wishful thinking) at least we should'nt have to work quite as hard,bucket of coal versus wheelbarrow loads of wood X 6 for the wood monster.Again thanks for the info.

I sent you a couple of Private Messages with a couple of more links to stoves
Randy

lsayre wrote:Just got back from Lehman's, and unfortunately the Bakers Choice cook stoves grates are made for wood or bituminous coal only. They were mistaken when I had contacted them earlier and they told me it would burn anthracite. The grates are actually just two rocking flat plates covered with firebrick, and there is only over the fire air that I could see.

PS: Lehman's is only a measured 26.7 miles from my house by road.

Too bad about the Bakers Choice, you sounded interested in that one. At least it was only 26 miles away!

Photog200 & Isayre , I had clicked on the Charlotte craigs list link,which led me to the Lehmans Bakers choice site,watched the video on the stove,saw the funky looking grates,draft knobs at top of firebox only & questioned coal usage.Not being a coal expert (i did attend several months of the coal forum college,which should count ?) I wasn't sure but had my doubts,thanks to Isayre for the confirmation.

Photog200 wrote:Too bad about the Bakers Choice, you sounded interested in that one. At least it was only 26 miles away!

Had the wife with me and she liked it, and I believe we would have bought one if it was capable of burning anthracite.

If you are willing to settle on wood only, the Pioneer Princess model by the same manufacturer has it all over the Bakers Choice though, as it is porcelain coated, it is much larger, it has a huge oven by comparison, and it is built much better overall. Hinges and doors and latches all work much better, are far more robust, and have better fit and finish on the Pioneer Princess. That extra $1,000 shows in the details. Unfortunately, the Pioneer Princess is not even suitable for bituminous use per Lehman's. Where the Bakers Choice has 2 rocking grates (albeit flat panels with firebrick coating), the Princess model (with a much larger firebox) has only a single rocking grate which looks just like (and may very well be) only one side of the Bakers Choice model.

Photog200 ,we Really like the Glenwood on CL,but unless someone near there is coming to Pa.for coal or .... & could haul it here for reasonable price,it is probably not feasible.BUT we like these choices you are giving us,it's like an on going education,we do want to go with coal.Thanks again.

If you are looking for a porcelain range check for a Home Comfort model DA. I have 3 of them and the most expensive one was $300. Lots of them out there. My grandma had one and I guess that is the reason I have one too. I have the water front for it so domestic hot water is for free. Just look under Home Comfort on ebay or craigslist and you will soon find one. If any of you want a black warming oven for the castiron type stoves, I have on with the roll-up doors that I would sell as the stove was real rough. It has the thru pipe style and is in good shape.

coalturkey wrote:If you are looking for a porcelain range check for a Home Comfort model DA. I have 3 of them and the most expensive one was $300. Lots of them out there. My grandma had one and I guess that is the reason I have one too. I have the water front for it so domestic hot water is for free. Just look under Home Comfort on ebay or craigslist and you will soon find one. If any of you want a black warming oven for the cast iron type stoves, I have on with the roll-up doors that I would sell as the stove was real rough. It has the thru pipe style and is in good shape.

Do the Home Comfort units work well with anthracite, or are they made for only wood and/or bituminous?

Yesterdays, "jam session" , . . and I don't mean in the musical sense.

Lake affect snows, wind blowing like crazy ,and temperature dropping. Good day to do some canning on the Glenwood. First batch was black raspberry picked from bushes here on my property. Second batch was strawberries, apples, and mangos. Cranked up the stove a bit higher than I have it for just heat mode. Despite the high winds and cold outside, it quickly got up to 75 degrees in the kitchen.

This afternoon we're gonna be making bread.

Homemade jam on homemade bread - yummmm!!!! Doesn't get any better than that !!!!

Pretty cool thinking about how many canning jars and loaves of bread this stove has turned out in it's 110 years.

Paul

I have the manual and they work well with anthracite.

coalturkey wrote:I have the manual and they work well with anthracite.

Excellent, many thanks! Is that what you are using in it?

Sunny Boy wrote:Yesterdays, "jam session" , . . and I don't mean in the musical sense.

Lake affect snows, wind blowing like crazy ,and temperature dropping. Good day to do some canning on the Glenwood. First batch was black raspberry picked from bushes here on my property. Second batch was strawberries, apples, and mangos. Cranked up the stove a bit higher than I have it for just heat mode. Despite the high winds and cold outside, it quickly got up to 75 degrees in the kitchen.

This afternoon we're gonna be making bread.

Homemade jam on homemade bread - yummmm!!!! Doesn't get any better than that !!!!

Pretty cool thinking about how many canning jars and loaves of bread this stove has turned out in it's 110 years.

Paul

Wow, looks like you two were busy yesterday! I love homemade jams, they have such better flavors and no preservatives!

I have to do some more work on my oven...looks like when I did the cleaning before the painting, I knocked loose the stove cement on the seams. Now when I put the stove into oven mode, the fire dies right down. I was only able to get the oven up to 300° yesterday. I am sure it is sucking in air around the seams, so I am letting the fire go out so I can re-cement them. I knew I should have done it before painting but I was in to big a hurry to get it done. I should know by now...NO SHORTCUTS!

Yup, sure tastes better than store-bought.

We also give some to family as Christmas presents, so some of our Christmas shopping is done and no fighting mall crowds. Another plus is, . .it saves on gas after Christmas ! There's never a need to take it back because it didn't fit, or they don't like the color !

Yeah, my oven needs to be re-sealed too. It's on the list when I get to restoring it. On wood , all I can get it up to is about 450 degrees, on coal, about 350. The good news is that I burn less food that way. But, as you found, not only does it affect how well the stove runs and how high the oven temps, it also lets fly ash dust into the oven area everytime I shake the grates. Gotta vacuum out the dust in the oven each time I use it. And make sure to cover everything that's baking, or, . . don't "shake and bake" at the same time

Paul

16 degrees here this morning,wishing we had a coal stove in the house,with these temp's & strong !! winds,OWB will eat lots of wood per hr.,homemade jam on homemade bread eaten near a hot coal stove - doesn't get any better. Wife & I were discussing coal cook stove + heating last nite,unsure if we want to go with cook stove and hope to be able to heat 1200 sq.ft.,poorly insulated with crappy windows,OR go with a handfed stove with a flat top that could do some cooking on top.I've tried to calculate the BTU's on cook stove,seems neither of your stoves are putting out more than 60,000 BTU's per hour which would seem low to marginal at best. We don't mind tending more often if that would work,and not over heat the stove. David

Sunny Boy wrote:Yup, sure tastes better than store-bought.

We also give some to family as Christmas presents, so some of our Christmas shopping is done and no fighting mall crowds. Another plus is, . .it saves on gas after Christmas ! There's never a need to take it back because it didn't fit, or they don't like the color !

Yeah, my oven needs to be re-sealed too. It's on the list when I get to restoring it. On wood , all I can get it up to is about 450 degrees, on coal, about 350. The good news is that I burn less food that way. But, as you found, not only does it affect how well the stove runs and how high the oven temps, it also lets fly ash dust into the oven area everytime I shake the grates. Gotta vacuum out the dust in the oven each time I use it. And make sure to cover everything that's baking, or, . . don't "shake and bake" at the same time

Paul

Paul, to make less dust when you shake down, take the stove out of oven mode and close your air intake dampers. This will make the dust settle just into the ash pan and it will help keep the air chambers cleaner as well. You may already be doing this but thought I would throw that out there for you.