Anyone use one? They look great and the concept that the soapstone retains heat sounds good. I have been looking at a Hearthstone Mansfield. Says it heats over 2000 sq.ft. If you use one how efficient is it. Good burn times? I am currently using a Quadrafire 4300. Good stove. I just like the looks and idea of a soapstone.

Soapstone is a very soft material and is brittle. A friend had one and however careful he was, he cracked the panels loading wood several times. VERY expensive.

What Big Bob says. I run one with a cracked piece on top. You want to burn wood with an even heat. Not something that burns super hot and then poof you are out of fire. In Ukraine and other places they use a masonry woodstove that you start a fire and you can sleep on top of it. Its like really thick masonry so once you get it warm, it stays warm for awhile.

It's going to be hard for a new stove to meet or exceed the performance of your Quadra-Fire. I run two 3100's, one is my primary heat at home and the other is my primary heat at camp. Both of mine are older, pre-Automatic Combustion Control stoves so I can't speak to the quality of the newer models but those two are the best, most efficient stoves I've used and I've been heating with wood most of my life.

The EPA agrees with me on my stoves; they were rated the cleanest burning, most efficient non-catalytic wood stoves in the 90's when they were manufactured.

Thanks guys for the info.

My brother just stacks a few slabs of soap stone on top of his regular woodstove. Simple and cheap!

I use a soapstone stove (Woodstock Ideal Steel) as the sole source of heat for each of two houses here in NE Kansas. No complaints from me. The model I have doesn’t have much soapstone on the outside, but I use soapstone as the firebox liner. Much less cracking and crumbling with it than with standard firebrick.

Another satisfied user of the Woodstock IS here. Soapstone inside along with exterior side panels made of soapstone.