Is there such a thing as having too many stoves?!!

Surely the number of stoves we all have is one less than we want

 

Maybe time to set some ground rules?

1. If your collection becomes a burden, rather than something you enjoy, time to prune it down.

2. If your collection is negatively impacting other areas of your life, time to prune it down. Buying stoves instead of paying the light bill or contributing to your retirement fund? Spending time with your stoves instead of your kids? Prune it down.

3. If it's negatively impacting the rest of your family. When little Timmy has to move stoves off his bed to go to sleep, probably an issue there.

4. Etc etc etc

 

Rule #5- If you refer to one of your stoves as "my precious" then it's become an issue....one stove to rule them all lol

 

I am only now looking for a few stoves to complete my "Wanted List". However, for me, the thrill of the chase and the repair of the stove are what does it for me. I often give away the common ones once I've repaired them, that's what makes collecting so appealing to me. I must have between 200-300 stoves kicking about, only 50 lanterns though. I do like to use a different stove every day for a week, then change over. Not to many for my life, I'd say ATM, just enough.

Si

 

If you have enough lamps also, then you don’t have to worry about the light bill

 

@IvanN My girlfriend would not agree!

 

I have wanted an Enders 2 burner. But the price usually keeps me away. No sadness. My truck and car payments keep my buying in check.

 

As many have no doubt found, like Mark, after the initial Pox fever has gone and the buying frenzy has waned the infection will not have actually gone. Others in your close circle of friends and family will contract a milder form and also forage on your behalf.

It really is a malignant disease. Trying 'not' to collect may be the worst thing you can do.

I wasn't really looking for one of these.

Compact Lantern Silver/Black

But with 6 mantles and the canister adapter thrown in... well..

 

Aye - I'm going to reduce my collection over the coming year or so. It's rare for me to buy a stove now. I want to let most of my domestic models & cast iron accessories go. I still very much enjoy being in my stove room chilling out but future focus will be enjoying what I have & more fettling & cooking on stoves in my collection. My stoves in tins will remain as the core of my collection along with advertising & literature.

 

I've stopped deliberately searching for stoves (at least until a little voice tells me that I need a certain model), and I long ago limited my collection to "just stoves", so I do not collect lanterns or blowlamps (though I have a few lanterns). I tried to limit the stove collection to the "one example per category" standard mentioned above, but then discovered that as one learns more about stoves, there are almost as many categories as there are models of stoves.

....Arch

 

When I was in the early stages of stove pox I was fascinated about how stoves worked and how they were made. I used to buy cheap, non- working stoves and get them working, then resell them and buy others.

I scoured this site for information as I moved on through domestics, lipsticks, regulated burners etc., still in denial as I didn’t actually ‘collect’. Then one day the inevitable happened - I fettled a stove that I really liked and decided to keep it! Then I started to favour certain models/makes and began to collect. After reading Bryan Miller’s posts on 96s, I was hooked on collecting different versions of my favourites and trying to establish timelines relating to design changes.

I have never been a big fan of gasoline stoves, so I would resell these as soon as I got them working, but then the next thing I know is I am collecting canister gas stoves as well as kerosene stoves.

Favourites kerosene stoves are small Monitors and eleventy ones.

In my case, yes I do have too many. The criterion for deciding came when I discovered I have stoves that I cannot remember buying or using. I have about 80 stoves at the moment, and my New Years resolutions are...

1. Sell some 2 pint domestics.
2. Limit my collection to about 50 stoves
3. Use one a week for coffee duty, and thereby keep them fettled and working
4. Catalogue them with likely value (I am not getting any younger).

 

This discussion brings up a related topic. Many of us are older and must face the reality of the future of our stoves. Perhaps those with large collections numbering in the hundreds could support a well publicized auction. That is not an option for those of us with small collections. Probably like most small collectors, no one in my family would want all these stoves and lanterns. With a value of only a couple or few thousand, I am not sure my heirs would be willing to invest the large amount of time that would be required to advertise individual stoves, sell them, box, and ship them. It would be quite a bit of work for not so much money. More likely is that they would be sold at a general household auction along with the rest of our possessions, which no one wants. They would likely sell for only a few dollars apiece. I suggest we all just enjoy them while we can and give as many away as you can find willing takers. Or sell them piecemeal while you are able, but what fun would that be?

 

Hoping to live long enough to give my possessions away to friends who can and will enjoy them, rather than have random strangers paw through piles of stoves at the local Good Will after I've kicked the bucket.

 

Further to Brad's comments, I figure I spent about $2,500 for all my stoves (a guesstimate) and that if they were to be carefully catalogued, advertised on Ebay, sold and shipped, they'd bring in only a bit more than that, at most twice what I paid mostly 15 years ago. I have no interest in doing that at all, and I doubt that anybody in my family would, either.

But with a progeny of 22, which includes all of our children, grandchildren, and their spouses, given that many are outdoors people themselves, I expect that most would get distributed as sentimental reminders of Old Koskoosh, if not as users. Though there'd be many good users amongst them, too. So I'm not much concerned about their ultimate distribution.

 

I know I have more than 200, and I think a lot of my stoves could be released from bondage, but I have a few I want.
The above mentioned Enders, and a Campus.

 

I was thinking I might have too many while I was buying a (another) 502 from a thrift store on my lunch break today. For $3.50 how can I say no? Where the heck am I going to put it? These questions vex me.

 

For $3.50 I'd have snatched it up too, if only to pass it on to someone else who wanted one.

 

I am more of a generalist collector. Fifteen or 16 bikes, maybe a dozen boats, vintage pukkos seem to come in waves, dozens of rusty but intact pocket knives, and old compasses. If you can collect something by inheritance only, than I have a vacuum cleaner collection too. (Did you know people collect old vacuum cleaners? YES OF COURSE YOU KNEW THAT!!!) Probobly only a dozen stoves in my possession now.

So maybe this will be easier for me than for you, so I will set the example and go first. Purely for the good of the forum, you understand.

As a service to the community and as an example that thinning the herd is possible, I have an old Kamp Kook two burner suit case stove to trade away. Not looking for money or profit, but could be tempted by an interesting trade. Local pick up in central New England. I posted a thread about it maybe nine years ago where I discussed its (FIREBALL) shortcomings.

Sorry to the mods for not posting this in the for sale section, but this really is more of therapy for Doc Mark, and group self-help than it is trying to sell a stove, if you see what I mean.

Russell

 

I'm not sure if I feel relieved or not after that.....

 

The thing about collecting stoves is that, while it may create a bit of clutter, it is not an expensive hobby. Sure there is the rare hot one or two out there that one might be willing to pay good money for, but probably most of what we get can be picked up for much less than a lot of folks spend each week on their daily cup(s) of Starbucks and a few drinks with friends after work. You could say either one just pisses some money away -- but it is less literal when you have a stove in your hand.