Rayburn Royal

We have ordered a Rayburn Royal slow combustion wood stove for the farm. I priced them locally and compared the retail price in the UK – huge difference. Thanks Gerry Harvey for pointing out how much cheaper it is to purchase from overseas.  I ordered one in British racing green straight from the UK.  I was talking to the supplier last night and it is due in Australia in 33 days. Allowing a couple of weeks to clear customs, we should have it installed before the dead of winter. This will also heat our hot water system so I am expecting a large reduction in the electricity bill.

The Rayburn Royal

I doubt anyone who has not lived year in –year out with only a wood stove in the kitchen can appreciate the difference between a well designed, well insulated slow combustion stove and the basic cast iron wood stoves that are still available today.

Our first experience with a wood stove was at Varna where we had a shining green enamel Crown Number 1 stove. This lightweight cast iron wood stove stood on four legs with a one and a half gallon hot water hopper on the side. It had little ability to control oven temperatures, a small firebox with a voracious appetite for wood and no insulation or firebricks at all.

On a 40°+  summer day the Crown Number 1 was guaranteed to turn any kitchen into a furnace from hell. The best that could be said for the early Crown stove was that it was marginally better than cooking on an open fire. Little did I realize when I threw it on the dump, within 25 years it would morph into a valuable antique.

We were lucky enough to replace it with a Wellstood slow combustion stove that was being removed from a house about 150 kilometres away.  The Wellstood was one of the best slow combustion wood stoves ever made. A classic example of 1950s Scottish craftsmanship, half a ton of fine-grained cast iron finished in glossy cream vitreous enamel. Well insulated, undoubtedly chock full of asbestos, a firebox fully lined with firebricks and clay mortar, simple to use controls and as a bonus, it fed a hot water system.

Good insulation and thermal mass are essential to a slow combustion stove, as much heat as possible is kept inside the stove, and half a ton of cast iron and firebricks helps maintain a consistent temperature in the oven.

We fed it on box and mulga; the box would happily burn away all night and the mulga provided lots of heat and little ash. It stayed alight for the best part of four years without ever going out.

There is something almost primeval about sitting in front of a slow combustion stove on a cold winters night, fire door open, basking in the warmth while watching the flames consume the timber. 

An ad for a Wellstood stove 1950s?