Out with the cast iron, in with the soapstone

Big doin's here yesterday: it was the day the cast iron Vermont Castings wood stove moved out of our house and the Hearthstone soapstone wood stove moved in.

We've had the Defiant since we moved here in January 1999, and it's been a pretty good stove. We bought it for the catalytic converter, whatever that is, and that feature proved to be a disappointment.

A few years ago, while visiting our neighbors across the road, they mentioned how much they liked their soapstone wood stove. I particulary remember their saying how a soapstone stove can hold the heat for hours. That sounded really good to me.

Ken stopped at a wood stove sales shop in Portland one day last week and came home raving about the soapstone stove he'd checked out. I was in favor of it immediately. We went back to Portland the next morning so I could see the stove; we decided then and there to purchase it.

That was the easy part. Getting the new stove into the house, and the old stove out, took most of yesterday morning plus some clever figuring and some brute strength.

The soapstone stove weighs over 600 lbs., and the Defiant isn't exactly a lightweight, either.

Our good friend Jim, the guy who always shows up to help when there's serious work to be done, was here at 8:00 a.m., and the work began.

Soapstone is heavy but can be fragile. Every precaution to handle with care had to be taken.

By late morning the old stove was out and the new stove was in.

The new stove had to be "seasoned" correctly before a serious fire could be started. The seasoning involved building one small fire, letting the stove heat slightly, then returning the stove to room temperature before starting a second, identical fire.

This morning Ken built the first official fire, and the stove is working like magic. The soapstones heat up and can radiate heat for up to 12 hours after the fire goes out. That feature alone is music to my ears.

The new stove will create more heat with less wood; it burns the wood more completely. Additionally, the wood will burn more cleanly with less smoke, so the environment benefits from it, too.

Quite frankly, we think the soapstone is a beautiful stone. It resembles marble and, according to the brochure, it takes on more beauty as it ages.

We're looking forward to keeping comfy during our Maine winters with the new stove. It's not our only source of heat, since we also have an oil-burning furnace, but it's certainly our primary source of heat.