We lit the stove and it works! It works very well, probably better than we hoped for really.
Ian’s looking at it nervously here as he’s just lit it and waiting to see what happens. It’s quite engineered, the fire on the left makes hot smoke which is channelled across the top of the stove (under the top) and then down the right hand side, looking at it, and then under the oven part on the right and then goes out at the bottom at the back. So Ian had to build the different chambers and didn’t have any way of testing until lighting it!
Something we didn’t know is that the rings at the top can be taken out and pots actually rest into them. So it might not matter so much that the top bit is a bit wobbly.
When it gets hotter the crack at the back opens up, which hasn’t proved to be a problem. Modern versions are actually made in two pieces to allow for the metal expanding, with the join being near enough exactly where ours is split, so obviously it must have been a common issue.
So far we’ve lit it in the evening and it’s warmed the living room which is a few stairs up from the kitchen. We’re going to get some potatoes today and try jacket potatoes either in the actual fire bit or in the oven – first for over two years 🙂