Thank you, I will pass this along to him.

+To Rauscher you folks are good people

+David Chadwick hello David. I'm getting to the point in life that I have to really watch it, I try to but some things I just don't have much choice.

+Loyal Starr hell no...it is all that you said it would be, I can't thank you enough.

+Chris Cox good to be back, the future is weird.

+Lance Sheppard he is really coming into it.

Thank you. We very much enjoy the coal.

+Freedom ToThink thanks, made my back hurt too!

+Paul Tanner he will

+Eduardo Martin Salaverri the great Eduardo, keeping to the shadows...

+Silver surfer you got that right...of course after hours with the Mrs. can be fun.

TheTradesmanChannel 2017 Keep it clean Jimmy boy!..boy that was a long drive to pick up your stove..can't wait for the next vlog on the barn. Best regards buddy.

+Silver surfer have a good one

Thank you sir

+Adirondack Harold good morning

+MandJ c thank you. We had fun, my back was sore that night...I was moving like the tin man by the end.

+Charlie Small thanks

+Debtfreehomesteaders good morning Will. Been slow on uploads but it'll pick up again when spring hits.

+Karl Brohammer he was a good helper for sure. It was some heavy work, my back did not like it by the end of the night.

+Thomas Kuenzel-Big T hello, thank you.

+Thomas Ballew loving it so far, just plain steady heat.

You will love it, no heat is like it.

+ToolsConsumables the boy is a night owl himself. The boss lady doesn't mind as long as he's not a zombie.

Dear Jim, Thank you very much for your reply; I am sure the little one must be relieved that honourable mother approves of him helping out honourable father in his noble quest to reinstate fireplace. Its little moments like these that will be remembered in years to come when he grows up. I am sure his life will be filled with happy memories of adventures had with his father. Maybe when he is a bit older might we see him being your assistant in the new grandiose workshop you're currently building? Anyway it's good to parents trying to get their children involved in what they do. Kind regards( & to honourable Matron too).

+ToolsConsumables thanks Dilible

Dear Jim, Thank you very much for your courteous reply,. It's always a pleasure to see your face & doing something of great interest & worth. This my good man is one of your many contributions to mankind (even if most of them cannot see it). I hope the weather improves where you are so that you can make some headway. What was the name of that wondeful piece of music by the way??? Kind regards. Dilip

+ToolsConsumables Death on the Rails...very odd name.

Jim sets a good standard of workmanship! Because of him, I will be trying to repair my shop roof with some timber bracing this year. Wish me luck. 50 years ago my father, older brother and I built a timber-frame barn out of the fir trees we cut on the property and a boatload of recycled lumber. Really did not know for sure what we were doing, but it stood for 30 years, and only came down, because he sold the lot where it stood, and he wanted the timbers for firewood.

Dear Jeffory, Thank you very much for your comment. Indeed I do concur with your good self about Jim setting a high standard. Which is good news for folks such you &/ I who might wish to emulate his passion. I sincerely hope his clips will make you a better carpenter & in the process learn to truly appreciate the pains he ( as well as your own father & sibling) is going through to get it done properly. I dare say you too will have a glint in your eye when you'll complete your task to Jim's standard. I wish you well in your endeavours & hope we might take a peek at your undertaking? Kind regards.

Good morning. It is a Vigilant, 2nd generation made for coal.

+cheap homesteading thanks, got them in trade for boiler parts. Just cost me diesel to go get them.

Trading for stuff is the way to go. Have a good one Man

+Tim Parr` you didn't see where my nuts hit the floor?

Hey James. The wife loves it, it's been in for a year now. I usually do some small layers from the front and then dump into the top once it's going well. Best heat we've ever had.

+Chris Peters I despise drywall. I did get this thing burning on the first attempt.

I love this stove. Coal heat is great.

Thank you. Getting easier to get coal here.

Haven't seen you in awhile, good morning. I've always wondered about burning peat. That's just the first stage of coal.

They're great stoves if you treat them right.

That's a good idea. I bet you get on Coalpail.com, there are some good discussions on these stoves.

+Mac McEnary good morning. I do love my timber framing!

+Dave W that is from the fan, the curtains moving.

Dave, what type of coal should we be burning today,

+Robert Canning anthracite

All coals will burn, but the higher the bitumastic content the more you will get Creosote and tars distilling out in your chimney! This, when not cleaned out regularly is why you get chimney fires! Anthracite (or Hard Coal) is considered to burn the hottest .... but will often "spit" small hot pieces out when burning, so a bit of care is in order! Also you need to make sure your coal is dry as you will waste heat in driving the water out into steam which would otherwise go into heating your home. The key to a good burn, regardless of fuel used id the airflow! You need to allow the air to pass through the coals and then after the burn to exit up through the chimney .... this causes a "draw" on the fire as the hot gas in the chimney rises forcing fresh air in through your air vents and through the coal. You need to make sure the coal is not too small otherwise it will restrict this flow. Giving your fire a good riddle every few hours will also allow the cinders at the bottom to drop into the pan and leave room for fresh coal to be added ..... it can appear to be a steep learning curve, but you will pick it up quickly ;O)

thanks so much Dave, I'll keep trying. I was told once you place the coal on either charcoal or hot wood embers not to disturb it and I'm not sure if this correct. bob

If you have trouble finding one let me know, I can send you one.

+Lorne Lepage thanks Lorne

I like this one a lot. I also have the Vigilante 1 that was converted to coal.

+john mason thank you. Those old stoves are works of art. I burned this at 40*F ambient Sunday and this stove drafted really well. I have a short chimney that is straight up and out.

just be aware that the only time you should smell that "sweet" coal smell is when tending or loading the stove. If you are smelling that during the burn it indicates a leak.

+john mason thank you. I'll be honest, even when loading the stove from the top there has been no odor at all. In my forge I sometimes get a burning tire smell. When I smell that I get away from it and let it burn off the volatiles.

He's a good kid, huge help around here. Shattered my ankle last year and was laid up for five months. He took care of our small farm the whole time with no complaints.

+Paul Tanner hey Paul!

+Thomas Russell hey there. Been hard to get videos out lately but we'll get back to it regular soon. I've always used veg oil on my stoves but this one was bad enough I had to get some fresh color on it.

TheTradesmanChannel 2017 oh, okay. It didn't read that bad on video. I always put a wire wheel on a drill, scrubbed it down with dawn, then got her warm and oiled her when I got a rusty stove replacement. If you prefer that jet black, seasoning alone takes a lot longer to deepen the color. Looks great.

+Thomas Russell thanks. From here out it'll be veg oil.

+David Turney house is warm now...that's all that matters...plus the wife is happy.

+Douglas Mungham you notice the hat?

+Red Dickenson thanks Red, I'll look for it. 16 hours before I had to touch the stove. Every two hours with our wood stove in cold weather.

Just looked it up, sells under the name Hotspot as well.

+Red Dickenson good to know.

+Robert Weiland the boy and I got it cleaned up. The doors I guess are made that way, kind of threw me off. They door close tight. Yes, the parts are still available.

Well that's very cool then. Stay warm my friend.

+techron mattic hey there.

+James Shanks thanks. Not sure on the coil. I know Hitzer makes them for their stoves.

James, what part of the country are you from?, I'm a Shanks too. I live in Kentucky, but my line of Shanks's come from the Ozark region of southern Missouri.

Jake S. I live in Derry, New Hampshire now but was born in Chelsea Naval Hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts. I moved to New Hampshire in 1982 and have been here ever since. My Dad is from the southwest corner of West Virginia.

Thank you, the worst part is I should know that.

You got it.

No pellets here...ever. I'm actually a few inches out from the ratings, cameras always make distance a bit deceiving.

Good to hear it. I have a Glenwood G111, and when at temp., the unprotected wall which is about 3 1/2' away, has registered about 120°!

The back and sides don't get too hot on this one, the front and top are always cookin though.

+Rod Peterson I think they are a ceramic. I didn't think they would clean up that well.

+Thomas Russell the gasket is there, just ratty. I does seal though. I'm impressed with how easy it is to control the burn on this thing. Stayed right at 500 all day yesterday with no adjustments.

I think a lot of us over the world feel the same. Glad you like the coal, it is an excellent heat source.

You sound like my kind of people, good afternoon.

+Ronald Pietrowski yes, quite a bit more.

That is excellent. We hard a brutal winter here last year and it was nice to wake up to a warm house when it was -20*F outside.

I'll try that, I've been using matchlight bbq charcoal, works great too.

+Dillons Woodworks i figured about 500 a year if I go to PA to get it, probably 800 a year if I buy coal locally. Firewood up here is getting as costly as propane.

Wow, thats cheap. Are you going to run both stoves? About how much do you think you will burn per day to warm the house? Just curious. I am always looking for more efficient ways to do things. I get my wood for free, but I have to go pick it up in log form and bring it home and cut and split it. Then we typically get maybe 8 hours tops burn time with a fully packed wood stove.

+Dillons Woodworks I'm told about a ton per month in really cold weather and about a half ton per month in mild weather...time will tell on the usage. When I add on to the house the other one will go in the addition.

Sounds like switching to coal will be a real game changer.

+Dillons Woodworks I hope so.

+T W I did not see the email. I'll look for it. The stove is a Vigilant 2310, it's made for coal only. The original Vigilant (I brought one of those home too) had a coal kit, The one I brought home has the coal kit.

+T W do you mind sending me a message via KZfaq and I'll send you my private email, I don't want to put the address up here. The message didn't come through.

Yea I saw that on the side of the stove, missed it. I will send you a message.

Sent one Jim, looks like thats not working either. I am on the Forestry Forum, You can message me there: Tim_W

+T W got your message and sent an email.

I burn anthracite

I need a bigger stove then.

Oh it had been over fired a few times. I went through it and resealed pretty much all of it.

+pgfollett it's like that with wood here too but they seem to leave coal alone.

I'm located in Southern Ontario and am now burning Anthracite Coal in my hunt camp stove. You can buy Anthracite coal from Green Valley Heating located in Granton (north of London). Check them out at www.greenvalleyheating.ca or phone 1-866-415-2127.

+Tom Hohenadel the ash will kill your garden off...everything is more concentrated in the coal ash. House was warm this morning, it was nice.

TTC, I grew up in a rev war era house. It was heated with wood then coal, a stove in every room. I use to spade turn the various veggie gardens and often found partially burned anthracite along with buttons and clay tobacco pipes. The old timers didn't know about potential hazards but people lived long lives. I would not practice coal ash disposal on my property. Rodale's OG mag even reccomended cutting wood ash use, a good source of K, back to once ever other (or 3rd?) year over heavy metal content in fire wood.

+Dave Pritchard amazing the contamination that ash can cause even when it's wood.

people used to put coal ash on the garden pathways in the winter for traction

If you have a dual fuel stove you need to remember they burn differently with different fuel! Coal burns best with the air coming from below and passing through the coals ...... Wood burns best with the air coming from above, with the lower air intake fully closed! I have never tried Charcoal though ;O) Wood burns hotter (and quicker) than coal, so if you want to only stoke the thing occasionally Coal is good ... if you want the heat and don't mind being wed to the fore Wood is king! If it is a new unit you may have problems with a mismatched flue size (worth checking it out) and similar draw related problems .... do you have a damper in the chimney / flue? Is it fully open? Are your airways blocked (don't laugh ... I have seen new stoves with incorrectly installed air vents) Are your fire Bricks all installed? Have fun playing round with it!

+Robert Canning check your draft, if it doesn't get enough draft it won't burn very well.

+Dave W hello Dave. This one is coal only, air comes from below...excellent draft in my flue, stove is designed for 6", I have a 6" flue. Wood burns hotter above the fire if that makes sense but per pound is about half the btu output and much of the heat goes up the chimney. This thing is keeping the house warmer than our wood stove ever has...no comparison at all. I'm sold on it.

I realise yours is Coal only ;O) .... back before the 70's everyone had a coal fire (usually 2 ... sometimes one in each bedroom too) but then they decided that the fumes were killing everyone so we went smokeless in all the cities. That killed off Coal! That and Maggie Thatcher! We also had cheap electricity then too (5p a unit for years) and gas was plentiful and cheap too! We all used to have a back boiler in one fire too so unlimited hot water! But on a negative note we had windows that were draftier than yours ;O) Now I'm feeling old!

+Dave W must have been bituminous coal back then?

That is anthracite nut coal. There is a restrictor plate that goes into the air intake to keep the stove from getting too much air.

I will look it up as soon as I get home from work. Good afternoon.

TheTradesmanChannel thank you very much, I’m putting an anthracite stove in next Wednesday, as I said your video was just fantastic. Thank you Kind regards from Scotland.

Regards from the US.

That song is called "Ghosts on the Rails" found in Epidemic Sound.

TheTradesmanChannel thank you very much for finding that song for me. Kind regards. P.S. keep them great videos coming, they’re just fantastic. Johnny

That is great info, thank you. I ended up looking it up and it can actually be closer than what my woodstove was. Seems this model throws heat out the front more do to the internal baffles.

+T wagner yes, the stove is well out of the corner though beyond the specs. It is cast.

TheTradesmanChannel 2017 ok

It's a black stove polish, you can get it at most hardware stores.

Canadian border in NY. Thank you for the good feedback.

@Larry Bulthouse ...IMHO: IT'S AN "UPPER GREAT LAKES" REGIONAL ACCENT. [THANKS FOR REPLY & VIDEO!]

+se7en Imperial Stove Polish