Page 276 - The Lost Ways

That allows you to put the maximum amount of wood in the stove, allowing it to burn
longer and reducing your labor.

The wood-burning stove will basically only heat the room that it is in. While you will get
some residual heat in adjoining rooms, they won’t be as warm as the room with the stove.
This is a large part of the reason why in pioneering days, few people had multi-room
homes. One large room, with the kids sleeping in the loft, was more energy efficient.

You can heat beds in the rest of your home by using a bed warmer. This copper pan is

attached to a long handle and has a lid on it. Coals from the fire are scooped into the bed
warmer, which is then placed between the sheets, moving it around every few minutes.
It will make any bed toasty warm in a short while.

Soapstone was also used to heat homes as well as to provide some heat when riding in a
carriage or wagon. The soapstone was heated in the fire and then placed in a wool carrier,
which was placed on the floor of the carriage. Placing a lap blanket over your legs, with
the soapstone underneath them, provided a considerable amount of heat.

People riding in the back of the buckboard could take advantage of this heat as well by
sitting in the bed of the wagon with their backs to the wagon seat. A blanket over their
legs would help hold in their body heat, while the soapstone warmed them from behind.

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