While sweeping around the woodstove, Desiree found what looked like a 3/8” nut on the floor. She immediately showed it to me.
“That’s
not good,” I said. Noting the nut’s dark color, I added, “It looks like it
might be from the woodstove.”
My
first thought was the nut might have come from the door handle, but a quick
glance at that proved the handle was intact. My next thought turned to the air
intake damper, which is located at the bottom of the stove. Having a
compromised damper is what my buddy Rodney would term “ungood.”
An
operating damper is required to control how hot the fire burns. If the damper
failed closed, the fire would struggle to climb. If the damper failed in the
fully open position, the fire might quickly drive the temperature to over
1000°F.
The
damper seemed fully functional, but I still felt fairly concerned. I waded
online and found an exploded view of the damper parts. No nuts there.
Yesterday
morning I stopped at the shop where I purchased the stove and consulted with
the experts. “I don’t think it’s from the stove,” one of them concluded, “but I
would hang onto it just the same.”
One
other possibility existed: the iron fireplace toolset holding the poker and
other tools. When I got home after visiting the shop, I inspected the toolset
and stand.
Bingo.
The
nut came from under the base of the stand.
Naturally,
this provided me with an opportunity to grab a Cold Smoke beer to pose with the
nut for a sense of size. The perfect way to end a mystery.
—Mitchell
Hegman
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