Jotul 118B - Classic Norwegian Stove

I don't know how to even blog about this thing.  It's an old ass wood stove that was Born September of 1979 in Norway.  What the hell am i doing with it? good question.   After last years terrible winter heating bill i decided there has to be something else i could use instead of a crappy electric heater that was giving us a $250 dollar electric or paying almost $4 dollars a gallon for oil.  Putting over a $1000 dollars for oil and i don't know maybe 4 electric bills of $250 i was pissed and broke.  

Now here's how i ended up with this GEM.  When i was a kid i remember my dad and uncle bringing home what looked like a giant stone box called a "wood stove".  something to heat the house in the winter without spending a lot of bills.  It was pretty cool looking and we could light a fire in it without getting in trouble.   It had a glass window that you could see fire and well it was a giant heater.   This thing would get our basement to at least 90 degrees.  During the winter the basement wasn't the place to be.  Nothing like walking in from the freezing winter playing outside to sweating your ass off in minutes.    Now i also remember my dad cooking on it and in it.  He would throw onions and garlic wrapped in aluminum foil in it and sometimes i remember cooking an egg on the top of it.   After remembering all that i was destined to get one.  I needed it, had to have it.  

I'm a research junkie.  you can find ANYTHING on Google.  "best small wood stove" or "box stove"  boom..... the Jotul comes up.  Small compact stove that pump some serious heat.  After months of craigslist searching i finally found one for sale in Glastonbury and it had a price tag of $450 dollars.   Well there goes that theory.  Just kidding, talked the guy down to $200 bucks cash hahaha what a sucker... MC and I went and picked it up and it sat in the garage up until now.  Still my research went on... well i knew the wood stove needed a liner, ughtt there goes another $300 dollars...oh i needed some replacement parts for the stove  ughhh there goes another $100 bucks.   I'm sure you all get the picture, this shit is adding up fast and i haven't even used it yet.  Wheres the pay off?

Yesterday, 10/13/2014 after god knows how much money i spent, lets say $800 it was installed.   I was covered in ashes, blood everywhere and my right arm has still zero feeling.  I broke about 20 drill bits because i swear to god the stainless steel was just not having it.  I dropped my F'n drill ALL the way down the chimney for the oil burner and luckily, thank god, it was in the clean out in my basement.  I was scared shit-less on that one.  As i'm on the roof, standing there, shaking my head, i'm like, I'm not going to burn my house down with this wood stove i'm putting in.... i'm going to burn my house down because i got my damn drill stuck in the chimney where the boiler is.  

So when i first bought it, got it home, measured it, i quickly realized this thing isn't going to fit in our chimney.  like off by 2 inches.  So great, now i need to find smaller legs or cut these ones.  Well i found smaller legs but now the screws don't fit and there a totally different green. Why is everything i thought was going to work out perfectly all coming to shit on the day i'm installing it?!!!  Anyways, run to home depot, get new screws, continue the installation.   Claire and i somehow got this thing inside, right up to the chimney and BAM... problem #436789 happens.   The damn Tee connection was to big and it was going to put the stove in the middle of the living room.  At this point, i was like a quit, its 8:15 PM this isn't happening tonight.  Then i remember the guy that sold me the stove gave me a 90 degree elbow.  So i ran into the garage, fit that on and put the stove in place.  it was done! all hooked up, ready to light a fire!  Claire ran and got some logs, and paper.  I got the light and started.  The draft was so big that it kept the fire from lighting.  How depressing!  all god damn day, at the finish line and i have no idea what im doing! i can't even light a fire !  Well that's just how the stove works.  I ended up pushing the wood further back and got it to light.   Finally ! a fire in the Jotul.  

started the fire at 9PM, took a shower that resulted in just black ash water, sat down and watched boardwalk empire.  within that time, i put 3 logs on, got the stove semi hot and bam.... time for bed.  The house was around 61 degrees when i started and ended up at 66 within an hour.   it was impressive, a slow burning wood stove that pumped out alot of heat.  i was impressed with myself again, and happy to make Claire happy with being able to have a house warmer than 66 degrees.  This winter she will be one happy camper that's for sure!  

Here's my last shitty kicker to end the blog.  Last night we are laying in bed, she goes.... well it was still only 66 degrees that's not warm enough i'm still cold.  I go well we only had it light for an hour and barely got it to heat up.  When you have it on for lets say a couple hours there would be a big difference.   I said ill show you tomorrow when i get home ill light a fire and will get it going all night.    Wake up this morning....Weather for the week is all in the mid 70's.   Mid 60's at night.   NO NEED FOR A DAMN STOVE NOW !!!! WTF !

She need's a cleaning but it's really a GEM.  What's really cool about this stove is that it has this Norwegian pray on it that says " I build me a flame late one night. When day is done, God will my flame never die out"  I love this thing.  Its 35 years old and still has parts available for it still today.  Now that's a keeper.  also...for insurance purposes.... It IS UL approved.  #Winnnnnnninggg

Thanks for checking out my terrible grammar in this weird ass blog of my life

Dave 

Oh yeah....i had to cut out a massive section of the metal fireplace dampner to get the rest of the liner into the house.....that was fun too NOT !

Seriously, How to find a center of a circle ?

So everyone know's how to find the center of a square, it's extremely easy.  Draw a line from each corner diagonally and where they cross is your center.  No Big Deal..... But how the hell do you actually find the center of a circle?  sure i would just eye it and say "screw it close enough" but with the power of Google one thinks during his lunch break (me) "Seriously, how do you find the center of a circle?" 

This diagram tells you all....

Draw a (black) line across the circle and measure the half way mark and make a 90 degree perpendicular line.   

Now draw another (orange) line and repeat.  Find the half way mark, and make a 90 degree perpendicular line.  

this enough to actually find the center but if you want to make sure you've got it right, draw another (purple) line and repeat.  

BOOM ! center found..... Just blew your mind ! 

So why the hell would i want to know the center of a circle?  well.... wait for my next blog post

Teaser pic

First Blog - Melanzane Sotto'lio - Why ?

Pickled Eggplant ?

Melanzane Sotto'lio

so... first blog post ! Here it goes.... I probably wont spell anything wrong because there's a spell checker but maybe my grammar might be off but whatever it's a blog.  Claire probably will make me fix things or check it over but ill probably get better at it as time goes on.  FYI I do a lot of "....." it's my thing.

Claire and I have this awesome garden that's busting out a ton of veggies that i'm just having a hard time using before they go bad so i'm starting to get a little creative.   Way back in the day i remember my dad making some sort of pickled eggplant that tasted like well...... shit.  It was gross.  I was a kid what did i expect? i hated red sauce and pretty much lived off chicken nuggets, hot dogs and beans and ramen noodles.   I decided that since it was stuck in my brain till now something about it had to be good so i googled up a recipe.  Link's above.   Honestly it's not bad.  It's like something you stick out on the side for appetizers. something you see at like whole foods in the antipasti bar that no one will eat because it looks like worms.   I think in about a week when the olive oil soaks in more and the herbs it will be pretty damn good.  One day later it's still a little vinegary and bland.


i didn't take any photos of me making it during but all i did different was add thyme, rosemary, red pepper flakes and a shit load of garlic.

Also in my picture is these amazing heirloom tomatoes that honestly could win an award.  I'm collecting a bunch and this weekend im thinking about making a fresh pasta sauce with them.   Claire and I are obsessed with Arrabbiata so it'll be along those lines.  I'll blog about that too.

My Rant:

Why am i doing this blog stuff?  I don't know.  Facebook's boring, instagram is just pictures and i like telling everyone what i'm doing.  I have ton's of ideas and i just want to share them.   If i try to make something and screw it up i will tell you straight up it was a bad idea.  If its a piece of furniture i'm making and screw it up, it 'll be in the fire pit and i'll start over again.   This is an everything blog but i see it mostly becoming a projects site for stuff i'm doing around the house or cooking.

thing's coming up:

Arrabbiata from the garden

Lil D dog bed from reclaimed lumber -  Currently drafting a building diagram in google sketchup.  awaiting my new toy the Kreg Pocket hole Jig R3 kit!

Kreg Pocket Hole Jig R3
If you ever want to make furniture this is one of the first tools you'll need.  Hides all your screws and helps you join wood together for a seamless look.












here's a teaser picture of my building diagram for his dog bed.   Still a lot more to do!

wood stove installation -  Jotul 118b fantastic antique UL approved stove.  Mc and I got this baby in glastonbury for a hell of a price.

Till the next......

Stender