Fall has arrived and with cold weather on its way, I reinstalled my coal stove today. This is a restored 19th century "pansy" stove, which burns anthracite, or hard, coal mined in Pennsylvania. With the price of propane - my other heat source - having gone ballistic in the last year or so, coal really makes sense. A 40 lb bag of anthracite costs $5, and in the coldest weather last year it burned a bag every two days and kept my shop comfortably warm and dry - that's important for paint to cure properly, not to mention keeping me warm enough to work. More than that, burning coal is a hands-on process - and if you've read much of this blog, you have already got a sense of how that fits my style and personality.

The stove came from a restoration shop in Rhode Island, with a website at www.antiquestovehospital.com. Owner Emory Pinero is an old-time swamp Yankee, living on a backroad in Little Compton, where he has a couple of barns and sheds overflowing with what to the untrained eye, looks like rusted junk. To Emory, this junk is all bits and pieces of old stoves - grates, doors, fireboxes and the like - from dozens of mostly New England manufacturers, all long defunct. He cleans and sandblasts the pieces, makes new parts when necessary, and restores stoves to like-new or better-than-new condition. If you have ever wanted an old stove or just like old and unusual stuff, check out the antique stove hospital.