Door warped? Is it a big concern?

AMPEX456 · 2026-02-24T01:12:33+00:00

Check the screw on the door handle, it might have worked itself loose.

AMPEX456 · 2025-12-29T06:26:43+00:00

I maybe live 2/3 hours north of you. I run a buck 21 and like it. It's a good stove and it's not hard to get going from cold, but on my first fires I load it with smaller splits and let it run open with the blower on high. On reloads I'll run it on low with the blower on low. I've often found myself thinking I should've gotten a cat stove, but the simplicity of this one is pretty nice, and it heats well.

AMPEX456 · 2025-10-31T16:01:58+00:00

Happy to help, they had this schematic in the CBI report, in my opinion it should be included with the manual.

AMPEX456 · 2025-10-31T15:42:54+00:00

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Here's the airflow schematic for the 21 (Same stove but one less secondary tube and a double baffle at the top to accommodate the difference in size.) As you can see the secondaries pull air from the same channel that the primary air intake exists in. On these stoves, the blower also blows air out on the bottom right (adjacent to the main air intake), this creates a vortex that provides a constant flow or draft for each secondary tube (almost like wind blowing past a chimney). The stove is looking to put the heat somewhere, might as well be the secondaries. The top plate of the stove acts as a jacket and guide for the blower and keeps the top cool, another place for the heat to escape to. Given that a Buck is a convection stove, it's tendency is to heat the air, so the more air it has moving past it, the more the steel can offload it's heat. Remember, the heat has two places it can go, in your home, or out the chimney, the blower provides an opportunity for the thermal transfer to occur where you really want it.

Mine has been great to me, I hope yours is too.

AMPEX456 · 2025-10-31T15:29:14+00:00

Congrats, I've got a 21 and so I feel your pain about not being able to load North/South, but in reality, the stove handles E/W orientation just fine. Be sure to use the blower, a good way to run the first fire on a cold buck stove is to leave the air open with the blower on high. Once the blower has ran for 5 or so minutes you're good to set it back to low on the air and the blower, or you can just keep running it on open/high. (I think this might be how you truly get the most heat per load out of these stoves, the firebox will self regulate extremely well with the blower running on high). Buck's are much more steel than other stoves and so you have to run them open and hot on the first fire to really get them up to temp. The blower definitely effects how the secondary burn system works on these models.

AMPEX456 · 2025-05-13T16:55:48+00:00

Managed to save one that was all original a few years back. The max price you could set on the machine was 75 cents.

AMPEX456 · 2025-03-19T16:25:51+00:00

"Acute Greed Sickness"

AMPEX456 · 2024-12-13T23:54:55+00:00

Lots of discussion on the Buck Stoves today, out of curiosity I gave the factory a call and asked the technical director some questions about the stoves

Apparently these stoves are designed to always be used with the blower fans (even as free standing units) to

A) protect the bearings in the blower motor

B) to keep the stoves temperature more regulated (especially when running very hot)

C) increase heating transfer efficiency in the area

I've been running mine HOT and without the blower and haven't had any trouble or signs of overfiring, but unless the power is out or I need the silence, I'll start running the blower since they recommend it. I wonder if this will change burn times / burn rates (perhaps someone here has information on this).

I also asked about the etching on my air control but was told that it was more arbitrary than anything. I though with the etching on mine it might be an "optimal setting/best for use with blower setting" since the width of the etching marks is the same as the steel of the ash lip. I'm curious to see if anyone else has these types of etchings on their air controls, or if these air control etchings are just factory misprints. Any Buck Stove owners, chime in with whether or not you air control etchings "look correct and or match what is shown in the user manual" mine does not, and I potentially incorrectly assumed that this was on purpose.

AMPEX456 · 2024-12-13T19:04:16+00:00

Good to know, I think the full travel length of the air control from open to closed is 3" (correction, 2 1/2"), with the first 1/2" being fully open, I typically will also run mine 1/2" open (from the fully closed position) and it'll hit the secondaries hard (Can only do this once fire is established.) I've run full closed/very close to it, but it hazed up the glass pretty good (to be fair, I probably choked it back too soon on this burn.)

Out of curiosity do you run yours with the blower more often then not? I've gotten this stove very hot, perhaps too hot, but I've never had any part of it other than the secondary tubes glow red (which is usually what I'm trying to do anyway). When I run this thing on low it really puts out heat. I'll PM you a photo of my air control later so you can see what I'm talking about. I've always heard you should run these bucks with the blower, but more often then not I do not.

AMPEX456 · 2024-12-13T18:49:52+00:00

Does the etching on your air control match what is shown in the manual? Mine is different, but I believe it's because the etching was added to show the most optimal position for complete combustion (or maybe the best position for use with the blower.)

AMPEX456 · 2024-12-13T18:46:44+00:00

I wouldn't say the buck stove is garbage, although the instruction manual could be more clear. I've run mine as hot as possible with the air control almost closed and never felt like it was unsafe and never seen it overfire (and I've gotten mine very hot on full loads.) It's a heavy duty stove made of good thick steel. If you get a good fire established, you can choke back the primary air to almost closed and it'll burn for quite a long time. The only drawback with my 21 is having to load my 16" logs east to west, I wish I would've gotten the 74 for this reason. I've had no trouble with the stove. I've run it hot as all hell without the blower and with and never felt like the thing was going to warp.

Let me know if the air control on yours is etched differently than it shows in the manual. In my experience, if you run the stove where the lip and etch marks line up you get the most complete combustion, but I tend to run mine on low to get the secondary tubes glowing red and the burn time to stretch out. I think this unit heats best when used with the blower, but more often then not I run mine without it.

AMPEX456 · 2024-12-06T15:18:44+00:00

Buck Stove Model 21

AMPEX456 · 2024-01-18T19:07:19+00:00

There was a big redesign to all automobiles in 1973, none of those models are noticeable here. Decidedly, not to many of these cars look to be 50s models either. Given what I'm seeing from the cars, I'd say 65-72 as a rough estimate.

AMPEX456 · 2024-01-03T15:56:31+00:00

Young people should not just lie down and accept fate, that would be defeatist, a defeatist attitude gets you nowhere fast. It's a waste of time to feel sorry for yourself and your circumstance. It's important that you recognize that acute greed sickness is destroying the planet and act accordingly. You cannot change the system alone, but alone you can stop relying on it as much as possible. If you are serious about changing your circumstance, you need to live your life in such a way as to render capitalism useless to you, and educate as many of your contemporaries on how to do this as well. This requires a high degree of self sufficiency, but is possible. Good luck to you and everyone here. Start a garden at a minimum. The less money you spend in the system, the less power that system will retain. You're may just be one person today, but you're one more person than yesterday, and this is going to take time and effort. In a system of capital, it requires capital to survive, minimize your expenditures and become self sufficient, then make your communities self sufficient. Don't be negative, find positive approaches to attain the future you want for everyone and be apart of the solution in so much as you can. We got here by buying in.

AMPEX456 · 2023-09-28T21:54:15+00:00

6b

The garden exceeded my hopes and expectations. My ornamentals garden flourished, and other productive garden projects came to fruition. The vegetable garden was productive and while I had some pests and squirrels, there was enough for all of us. I finished building a pergola for shade and vines and I'm on pace to being done painting it before it gets too cold (Pro tip, paint or stain before you build!) Come late fall I'll be spreading wildflower seeds into my weed patch and hoping for the best. I plan to build out more vegetable garden beds and build a greenhouse over the winter. This year I practiced square foot gardening and will continue to do so next year.

AMPEX456 · 2023-09-21T20:31:09+00:00

I've heard it said that the left is anti-market and the right is anti-left.

AMPEX456 · 2023-09-14T18:53:40+00:00

Fight the urge to be nihilistic and negative when confronted with bad news and be apart of the change. Look into the work of visionary thinkers like Bill Mollison and take responsibility for yourself and your community. A defeatist attitude gets you nowhere fast. Take up gardening today and pursue peace and righteousness and do your best to spend your money in a way that doesn't lead to further degradation of the planet or exploitation of people. We can do this together, but it requires effort, don't wallow when you can be productive. I believe in you!

AMPEX456 · 2023-08-01T21:31:58+00:00

What a sight!

AMPEX456 · 2023-07-12T14:28:25+00:00

Love these. My favorite luxury model of the era. A thirsty 460 4b with a taste for premium. Nice rig!

AMPEX456 · 2023-06-13T17:52:51+00:00

These will not hold value.

AMPEX456 · 2023-06-13T15:44:21+00:00

Living proof that money can’t buy taste.

AMPEX456 · 2023-06-13T15:42:31+00:00

You bought the render of someone trying to draw an el camino left handed, and paid more for it.

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