This is such a great thread. I have never had wood stoves before. Grew up with a fireplace, but never really used it as an EFFICIENT heat source. It was mostly to set a mood or stare into for hours while in an altered state of consciousness.
We have an old EFEL stove which is amazingly efficient. It will heat the whole house (and this is over 3200 square feet, where we are). The damper system is just way way cool. We also have another one in the living room which has been running constantly the past few days. It has no dampers (other than adjusting the doors) but still puts out a surprising amount of heat.
I am always astounded at the huge variety of topics about which I know zero, zip, zilch, nada.
I sometimes get discouraged at all the stuff there is to know and think. "if the grid went down, I might as well just off myself, as I am going to die a slow, excruciating IGNORANT death anyway".... Would not really do that, but the amount of respect grows daily that I have for people who actually know how to do stuff, rather than depend on a network of people to supply services.
It is really exciting to see my wife and daughter learning how to tend a fire and keep the house toasty.