I think you are seeing the affect of tariffs on steel prices JR.

Cool stove ! Are those valves for controlling combustion air ?? Pretty tricky !!

Starting to look like winter here. 8" of snow and 12 below this morning!

Wow what a work of art and warmth ! Lovely stove, ! Really like the art in the legs and door , and by the pipe entrance.

Just as Sir Ken asked, I too saw those valves and wondered the same thing.

I have always dreamed of a stove with its own removable tray for ash . In such a way to make that job as clean as possible.

To me, better to have the ability to be "overhorsed" in heat power than too little.

Well done, JR !

Thanks Ken and Sharon. The ball valves are two 1" that y into one 2" nipple for outside air intake. The valves were simple for airtight and had them on hand. For those without much experience with wood stoves, stoves with outside air intakes will burn almost half the wood of a stove with traditional air intakes. Traditional air intakes put negative pressure on the building sucking air through windows, doors and continually looking for leaks. Outside air does not do this. It is really amazing difference on performance of the stoves. I've built quite a few stoves over the year and always suggested outside air for my customers. Some they go for it and some not. It's strange that I never build the same stove though, you'd think if ya find something that works, run with it. Here's a few of them.

Nice work JR !!

True story about outside vs inside air !

An artist does not do the same work twice, exactly as the last. Conditions and inspiration flex with the job. And that is what makes each one unique.

All beautiful works of art, JR.

The wuff footprints are perfect. Jack will love seeing those !

Not a few codes state for certain homes that wood stoves be rigged with outside air intake. All fine with me.

Really love the flat warming/cooking surfaces you install, and the animals, of course !

I can see one with a leaping wolverine ....tail waving in air as it leaps , in my mind's eye. I am starting the layout for a leaping wolverine soon, a very dark copper red , chocolate and black coloured one.

How fun to make your own animal silhouettes too. I have done many of those for plasma welders for coated iron art for hunting lodges, etc.

If I could , it sure would be fun to design a stove and have you build it.

I have the very same copper pot and a couple bowls too- from Korea , if memory serves correct. Good for many uses .

Always appreciate you sharing your art, JR. I know the years of work in practice that goes into the summit of each piece done to the finish . Very well done.

Nice looking and functional wood stoves! Can't beat that!

Chris

Awesome piece of work there JR! Hope the weather gets cold and things freeze up for you.

Happy Thanksgiving my friend it's stopped snowing like it was earlier this morning I've seen a couple of deer but haven't taken a shot yet it's a balmy 0 at the moment.
Darn nice stoves that you made you have a gift that's for sure I hope you get out hunting soon !

Allan

Greetings trappers, hoping all is well and you are putting up some fur. Laying low around here waiting for a little cooler weather. Working on machines and gear lately. Ran down to Minto Flats and harvested a moose for the freezer.


Ran around with Jim Masek for a few days in his country. Truly amazing to ride around with him on his line of 40+ years. He knows every tree, track, lodge and trail. Fun to ride some different country now and then.


We saw a few unique things along our journey. 1st we saw where 6 lynx walked across the creek and across the flats. Six, maybe two kittens and the rest adults. Told Jim they were leaving the country because is was real thin on food for them. The second thing we saw was a bunch of grass in the middle of the river in the ice. You'd see a few tuffs here and there as we went down and then it steadily got thicker. I was a bit confused and thought we'd turned off the river and were traveling up a slough. Finally we stopped and I asked Jim where the heck are we? He laughed and said The Chatanika. I asked about all the grass in the ice. I wish I would have taken a picture to better explain this phenomenon. Jim said the river froze really high on the banks and when the water receded, the shelf ice broke off, shearing of the grass and falling down into the river floating downstream until it jammed up and froze. Been there hundreds of times and the water is 10 to 15' deep so it was really confusing to me to see all the grass that appeared to be growing. The third really neat thing we saw was a beaver lodge along a creek where the beaver had clear cut about 3 acres of birch. Really clearcut every tree, it looked like where the pilgrims landed and built their civilization. Three really unique situations to me and didn't pull out the camera or phone a take a picture. Something may be wrong with me.


Ran up and plowed out my parking spot at the start of my trapline the other day. Tried out my new trail groomer and checked the river crossing. The river must have just froze up in the past couple days. There was a halfaz ice bridge that I walked across with the Eswing testing thickness. Saw a bit of coyote and lynx track.




Traded my Tundra in on a 2019 Skandic Expedition sport with a 900 ACE. Still have some mods to do to it and mount all my typical accessories. Changing the gearing in it this weekend to the same as the Tundra for a little better slow pulling power.
Be safe out there and have a great holiday season.

Man that river causes instant pucker factor. Looks baaaaaaaaaaaaad !!

Be careful !

Good deal on the moose JR! Thanks for sharing your adventures! I agree with white17, that looks sketch! Be safe out there brother and I hope the conditions get better!!

You’ll like that 900 Expo, guys here do the same thing with swapping in the 21T top gear from the 600 ace.
Makes it a better trapping machine, hardly a difference on fuel use.
Looking forward to seeing fur in your sets.

Good Evening JR thanks for the pictures and ride along I'll bet Jim is a great wealth of information it was great listening to what he had to say when he was one of the instructors at a wolf trapping class in Miles City after the Western NTA Convention .
Yes It was fun learning from both Pete's also .

Like Ken mentioned I don't think I'd of went out on the ice either darn nice sled too by the way.
I like many others are looking forward to seeing how things go out on your line !
Allan

Good luck JR!

Hope you can get out there soon, but don't risk it too bad!

Happy New year trappers. Finally made it out to the cabin. Lots of snow and temps were colder than my face could handle. 30 below all week and dropping. With now feeling in my left check, I frostbite and don't realize it till it's too late. Pulled the groomer part way out behind a sled full of gear while breaking trail but had to drop it along the trail. The snow was just too much to pull through.
The creek froze really high so the hollow ice and fallouts were something to behold. Had a few mishaps going up the canyon but eventually made it to the cabin.

Dropped my sled about half way up the canyon after this pitstop and headed for the cabin bobtailed. Got a fire going and went back and hooked back up to the sled. Little shovel and axe work got the trail back in order. This is the first trip I can ever remember going up the creek with no overflow. I think I prefer the overflow to the fallouts, at least you can see the overflow your going into.
Got lots of pics of critters on the trail cam




Ran back down a couple days later and picked up the groomer I'd left along the trail and touched up the flats trail. Picked up a couple moose sheds and the find of the year.
I've been running this trail since 1997 and driven by these 2 traps hanging in this tree Hundreds of times. I just happen to drop the groomer right next to them. Newhouse 114 and 14. No fur on the stretchers but super stoked with the finds. Anyway since there wasn't any overflow on the creek, I decided to drag my new 12' groomer up to the cabin for use on the upper end. I tuned up the runway below the cabin for all my pilot buddies.
Had a little issue coming out on the creek to turn around. This one had me nervous about dropping in sideways into the main channel. I ejected way clear when she tipped. Had to climb down and unhook the groomer before uprighting the WT. Definitely gonna be a interesting year on the creeks.
Saw some good sign of all the furbearers. Didn't get much gear out due to the cold but heading back out to do just that. Left the cabin Monday morn at 38 below and hit the Tanana crossing 4 hours later at -48. She was cold and angry.



Walked out to check how deep and cold that overflow was and then hit it WFO.

That would have been a awesome find! Makes you wonder what the story is behind those traps You be careful out there Wildman! The ice is sketchy this year, glad you didn't get hurt or break a machine! Thanks for posting I love watching your adventures

The hollow ice must suck but the Tanana scares the heck out of me. Be safe out there.
Those traps are a cool find. I wish they could tell their life story.

One thing's for sure your trips out to the cabin are an adventure without any doubt, that hallow ice looks like it really will keep you on your "A" game .
Then finding those traps is icing on the cake isn't it interesting how things sometimes happen.

Darn nice pictures as always have you seen that white wolf show up on any of your cameras again ?
Thank you for sharing with us and Stay Safe out there !
Allan

Been waiting for this update! Congrats on your find and continued success.