| If you are among those facing $5 - $6 per gallon | | | | is its heat conductivity. Soapstone is highly heat |
| heating oil costs due to corporate and speculators' | | | | resistant, yet is an excellent heat conductor; for |
| greed and government mismanagement, you | | | | this reason, it has been used to make cookware |
| may be considering alternatives, such as installing | | | | and cooking surfaces almost since humans learned |
| a wood stove. If this is the case, you should | | | | how to cook food. Native American peoples have |
| definitely consider a soapstone wood stove. | | | | made excellent use of soapstone pottery for |
| Simple, traditional heating tools and appliances | | | | many centuries; the same qualities and |
| made from the unique substance known as | | | | characteristics that make for a good soapstone |
| soapstone, or steatite have been around since the | | | | cooking pot are what makes a soapstone stove |
| Stone Age. Despite this venerable status, a | | | | so practical and durable. |
| soapstone wood stove will fit nicely into the most | | | | And make no mistake - your soapstone stove |
| contemporary kinds of décor as well as | | | | will, with proper care, last for generations. There |
| traditional Early American, Victorian or Art Deco. | | | | are many pieces of household heating equipment |
| If you remember anything about science from | | | | that have been in daily use since the nineteenth |
| your school days, you may recall that | | | | century. Soapstone is completely inert - meaning |
| metamorphic rock is a type of rock that is literally | | | | that it will not react with any other chemical |
| changed from one form into another by being | | | | substances or become permanently stained. |
| subjected to titanic geologic forces of heat and | | | | Should you spill something on the surface of |
| pressure, deep beneath the planet's surface. Such | | | | soapstone, it is simple to clean. |
| rocks include marble, quartz and soapstone. The | | | | If you are seeking an alternative to overpriced |
| substance that goes into the design and | | | | heating oil this winter, consider the beauty and |
| manufacture of a soapstone stove contains | | | | durability of a soapstone stove. Such a piece |
| magnesium, talc and dolomite, and shares many | | | | represents a relatively large initial investment; |
| molecular characteristics of marble - including its | | | | however it is one that can easily pay for itself |
| beautiful grained appearance. | | | | many times over. After you have experienced |
| Soapstone is substantially softer than marble; it is | | | | the advantages of a soapstone stove, you'll want |
| easily carved and milled into various shapes, and | | | | to explore other soapstone surfaces as well, |
| there are even varieties of soapstone that can be | | | | including cook stoves, water basins and |
| chipped away with one's fingernail. Of course, a | | | | countertops - all of which offer the same |
| soapstone stove is made of much sterner stuff, | | | | durability and beauty of a soapstone stove. |
| but what makes a soapstone stove really useful | | | | |