Logs that crackle. That one, smokey smell. When winter settles in outside your window, these sights and smells are shorthand for comfort. Wood burning stoves make frigid spaces warm and cozy. They are both useful and a little bit magical, like something from the past that fits in with the present.

You know how seductive it is to sit by a stove. The way the flames dance and the sap pops in a seasoned log never gets old. The appeal goes beyond just nostalgia. When done appropriately, heating with wood may be quite effective and cost-effective. Some people say that cutting firewood warms you up twice: first when you chop it and again when you burn it. Your calluses are proof.

It’s not always easy to choose a stove. Do you desire cast iron, which has a classic look and is quite heavy? Or do you like steel more since it’s smoother and heats up faster? Then you have to figure out the main problem: size. A stove that is too small does its best, but it can’t keep the cold out. If it’s too big, you’ll cook like a turkey on Thanksgiving. Things like square footage, insulation, and even ceiling height are important. It might make your head spin.

Don’t let emissions trip you up either. Modern models burn a lot cleaner than the old ones that your ancestors would have condemned. A lot of new stoves use sophisticated baffle systems to suck in air while they burn logs to get the most heat out of them. Saves money, fuel, and doesn’t make the neighbors mad.

Let’s talk about wood. Hardwood burns longer and hotter. Those logs are worth their weight in gold, whether they are maple, oak, or hickory. Softwoods aren’t garbage, but they burn up quickly. Make sure that whatever you use is dry. When wood is wet, it sizzles, smokes, and clogs up your chimney. When there’s a fire inside, no one wants to be a chimney sweep.

You can feed a stove in more than one method. There are a lot of different ways to start a fire, like the top-down method, the teepee stack, and the upside-down method. Find a style you like and stay with it. People keep their secrets about building fires like they do their family recipes. I once saw someone start a fire with just one match and a wrapper for a bag of marshmallows. Magic.

No one likes to clean, but a blocked flue is a recipe for disaster. Every now and then, sweep it out. Look for creosote. If you don’t hurry, you can find yourself in the center of an emergency. For safety’s sake, put a carbon monoxide detector in your setup just in case.

There are as many different types of stoves as there are socks in a washing basket. Some are so stylish that they could be on the cover of a high-end design magazine. Some of them look a little worn out, but each scratch has a story to tell. And don’t forget how nice it is to make toast directly on the burner. It’s the small things.

Lastly, there’s something about sitting around a wood stove that makes it easy to talk. The old photo albums, family jokes, and fantastic tales come out. The fire seems to cast a magic that makes all the distractions go away. That is worth its weight in gold at the end of the coldest days.