I came across this rather unusual and quite attractive retro/Traditional Stove at a property in Ashdon last week and thought I would share it with everyone. It is unusual as it has a very narrow, but very long fire-box combined with an old fashioned traditional design which is reminiscent of some of the old Morso wood-burning stoves. Like the Morso Squirrel (Squirrel on the sides) and the inside of some Dovre Combination Stoves (Climbing goats on the inside), it has an embossed picture design on the outside of the casting.

It is an attractive image of a draught horse pulling what appears to be a sled loaded with logs with countryside and mountains in the background. Quite an appealing scene of rural life, but unusual to have such a thing on the side of a stove? Still, most attractive and unusual all the same! As I say I don’t know the make of this stove, but if anyone out there would like to enlighten me, I would be interested to learn who it is. Here’s hoping!

Jackdaw nests, the Ashworth of every chimney sweeps working life! Dirty and time consuming to remove; I have taken a couple out of chimneys in the area during the past week. It still amazes me just how much nest material Jackdaw’s can post down a chimney in a single season. The material they use is in the main sticks of various sizes, but can also include soil, moss, feathers, dead Jackdaws, droppings, paper, animal fur and anything else they can get their beaks on! This one in the photo is at an address in Radwinter.

Why do Jackdaws build nests in chimneys? The simple answer is that chimneys offer ideal place to set up home owing to the warmth and shelter that they provide.

There is a famous poem about the Jackdaw by William Cowper, written in the 1700. Cowper was a local Hertfordshire man.

The Jackdaw

There is a bird who, by his coat
And by the hoarseness of his note,
Might be supposed a crow;
A great frequenter of the church,
Where, bishop-like, he finds a perch,
And dormitory too.

Above the steeple shines a plate,
That turns and turns, to indicate
From what point blows the weather.
Look up — your brains begin to swim,
‘Tis in the clouds — that pleases him,
He chooses it the rather.

Fond of the speculative height,
Thither he wings his airy flight,
And thence securely sees
The bustle and the rareeshow,
That occupy mankind below,
Secure and at his ease.

You think, no doubt, he sits and muses
On future broken bones and bruises,
If he should chance to fall.
No; not a single thought like that
Employs his philosophic pate,
Or troubles it at all.

He sees that this great roundabout,
The world, with all its motley rout,
Church, army, physic, law,
Its customs and its businesses,
Is no concern at all of his,
And says — what says he? — Caw.

Thrice happy bird! I too have seen
Much of the vanities of men;
And, sick of having seen ’em,
Would cheerfully these limbs resign
For such a pair of wings as thine
And such a head between ’em.

No Parking! – Well I have seen some strange sights, but this really does take the proverbial biscuit and did make me laugh when I saw it! Is this revenge on the parking system, or is it just an example of effective recycling? Or did the stove fitter run out of steel plate or is it as I suspect a bit of amateurish DIY???? Just when you think you have seen it all something else crops up – That’s life and chimney sweeping I suppose! Having said all this, the plate was doing everything that it needed to do, it was structurally sound and was sealing the chimney from the room – The appliance was lined by the way! I hope everyone out there found this as amusing as I did!

I came across this solid fuel stove/Range cooker at a thatched address in Clavering. I had not seen one of these or was familiar with the make, having not come across it before. It is a very compact little stove, with a tiny but long fire-box. Even so I should think that you would not get a great deal of fuel into it at any one time, even using coal. Looking at the stove I can not be certain whether it is really old and has been restored, or a retro style reproduction? I have has a look on the internet and the only reference I can find to Stratford stoves is that Villager in the West Country used to make a Stratford stove?

Yes, I swept this contemporary and attractive Westfire WF27 Wood-Burning Stove Swept in Balsham this week, but wanted to include it in my blog not because it is an attractive stove that I don’t often see, but because as you can see from the photograph, the flue goes out through the glass roof of the conservatory. Most unusual; I have never seen this anywhere before. This is such a specialized installation; special materials had to be used that come in an installation kit. The customer told me that the installation is so rare, that the reputable HETAS installer had never done one before and had to research how to do it and source the required materials.

Westfire Stoves are a Danish company who pride themselves on developing cutting edge stove technology and are based in the town of Varde. Westfire produce a large range of stoves and fireplace solutions, including freestanding and cassette stoves as well as the WF2 series of contemporary stoves.

Tomrervej 3, 6800 Varde, Danemark.

T:045 74225352

E: info@westfire.dk

Yes, it’s a bit of a mystery this one! Something of a museum piece, but still working efficiently according to the customer. It is some age as well, the customer told me that it was already in the address when his parents and him moved into the address in the late 1940’s! The customer said that he only burns smokeless fuel on the stove and that to his mind he can hardly remember it ever going wrong. The boiler heats all the hot water in the property and a number of radiators and is on 24 seven 365 days a year! But what make and model is it, as you can see in the photo, the name plate is missing from the stove. The customer said that he seemed to remember that it was a Rayburn?

I swept this fantastic Hwam 4640 Wood-Burning Stove in the Haverhill area only yesterday, but thought it so worthy of comment I have included it in this week’s blog. I have not come across this make of stove previously, so it was quite exciting and interesting to see. One of the key features of this stove is the soapstone top, which is not only an attractive feature of the stove but acts as a massive radiator when the stove is in operation. As can also be seen, the stove has a huge firebox, so must push out a terrific amount of heat when lit and has a large stove glass so the fire will be visible, a most attractive feature.

Hwam are a Danish company who have been making high quality stoves for over 40 years. They have a huge range of contemporary and cassette stoves, which can be viewed on their web site. They produce stoves under two brand names Hwam and Wiking. They were formally known as ABC stoves, but have undergone a rebranding in recent times.

Hwam A/S

Nydamsvej 53

DK-8362 Horning

Denmark

0045-86921833

info@hwam.com

http://www.hwam.com

I haven’t blogged about a thatched animal now for quite some time, so I thought it was about time I put another one in – This time its one I spotted on the internet, and which is quite unusual and different than the usual British animals that appear on thatched rooves. It’s a Kangaroo, that antipodean marsupial that is a national icon for Australia. This particular thatched kangaroo was made by Dodson Thatcher’s in Cambridgeshire, although it doesn’t state what village it is located in.

The kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning “large foot”). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. The Australian government estimates that 34.3 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2011, up from 25.1 million one year earlier.

As with the terms “wallaroo” and “wallaby“, “kangaroo” refers to a paraphyletic grouping of species. All three refer to members of the same taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished according to size. The largest species in the family are called “kangaroos” and the smallest are generally called “wallabies”. The term “wallaroos” refers to species of an intermediate size. There are also the tree-kangaroos, another type of macropod, which inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, far northeastern Queensland and some of the islands in the region.

Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, and a small head. Like most marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development.

The large kangaroos have adapted much better than the smaller macropods to land clearing for pastoral agriculture and habitat changes brought to the Australian landscape by humans. Many of the smaller species are rare and endangered, while kangaroos are relatively plentiful.

The kangaroo is a symbol of Australia, appears on the Australian coat of arms and on some of its currency, and is used as a logo for some of Australia’s most well-known organisations, such as Qantas, and as the roundel of the Royal Australian Air Force. The kangaroo is important to both Australian culture and the national image, and consequently there are numerous popular culture references.

Wild kangaroos are shot for meat, leather hides, and to protect grazing land. Although controversial, kangaroo meat has perceived health benefits for human consumption compared with traditional meats due to the low level of fat on kangaroos.

I recently swept the flue to this original Jotul F118 Wood-Burning Stove at an address in Saffron Walden. The customer told me that they had owned the stove for over 30 years and that it originally came from another property where it had been in service for a number of years. As you can see from the photo, it’s a rather unusual, quirky, but strangely attractive stove. I should imagine that it looks rather beautiful when it is a light and burning! It is also a deceptive stove, having as it does a long and rather capacious fire-box. The customer reports that it certainly throws out the heat in the winter!

Jotul are a Norweigan company and have been making stoves and fireplaces for over 160 years. Jotul are proud of their global status, selling their products in 43 different countries spread over six continents – Truly a global brand!

Jøtul was founded by Oluf Onsum as Kværner Jernstøberi (Kværner Foundry) in the outskirts of Christiania (now Oslo) in 1853. While stoves initially were the main products, the company had diversified by the beginning of the 20th century, when it produced turbines and lumber equipment.

As the heating appliance manufacture decreased in importance, the production was spun off in 1916 and sold to Herman Anker, one of Kværner’s managers. He founded Jøtul AS in 1920 as a sales organization for its products. The sales stagnated during the depression in the 1920s, and 36-year-old Herman Anker died in 1927, leaving it to his successor, 34-year-old Johannes Gahr to modernize and eventually salvage the company. By 1935, the turnaround had succeeded, and the firm acquired its modern name.

By the 1960s, stoves using liquid fuels, especially kerosene had supplanted wood-burning appliances, a trend that was only reversed in the 1970s, partly due to the 1973 oil crisis. Jøtul used this opportunity to gain a strong international foothold and drastically increased its exports to continental Europe and North America.

The Gahr family sold the business to Norcem in 1977, and a period of international expansion began, as Jøtul acquired a number of foundries and importers abroad. This period lasted for approximately ten years, but came to an end during the recession in the late 1980s, when Jøtul once again focussed on the domestic market. However, it has resumed its international diversification in the 21st century, and today its products are sold worldwide.

In March 2018, Jøtul was acquired by the global private equity firm OpenGate Capital. Along with management, OpenGate has crafted a plan to boost performance and eliminate inefficiencies in Jøtul’s operations. In addition, OpenGate Capital is actively searching for add-on targets to further drive Jøtul’s growth. In November 2018, OpenGate and Jøtul completed the add-on acquisition of AICO, an Italian and French based pellet-burning stove leader.

https://www.jotul.co.uk/

I recently swept this Morso Squirrel Multi-Fuel Stove at an address in Wimbish and can be seen in the photo’s the stove itself, although sound enough could do with a little TLC. There were as can be seen, signs of slight corrosion on the top of the stove and all of the firebricks were cracked, although serviceable. It can also be observed in the photos that I removed a significant amount of cinder tar from the flue when I swept it. I believed that this build up was due to the stove being shutdown too much a fact I confirmed when speaking with the customer. I was then able to offer some suitable advice around optimum burning practices to assist in trying to prevent such a build-up in the future.

Morso have been making the Morso Squirrel Multi-Fuel Stove since the 1950’s, I should imagine it must be one of the longest running models of stove that is still in production today. Some of the Morso Squirrels were actually designed to be fitted into narrow boats on the canals as they worked so efficiently even with a very short run of flue. The Morso company’s history stretched back even further to 1853 when they began operating as a foundry making grave crosses, stable windows and pots and pans. It was only around the turn of the nineteenth century that Morso began making stoves for large premises such as schools, churches, railway stations, government ministries and the Danish royal household. In 1915 Morso received the coveted title of purveyor of stoves to the Royal Court. Morso are now a global brand and make a wide variety of stoves as well as diversifying in 2015 into kitchen equipment.

Morso

Furvej 6, 7900 Nykobing Mors, Denmark

Forbindelsesvej 3, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

Unit 14B, Davy Court, Castle Mount Way, Rugby, Warwickshire CV23 0UZ

01788 554410

https://morsoe.com/en/about-morso