best way to light and use a tortoise stove?

I have an old Portway Tortoise stove No2. I have been renovating it and getting my chimney ready in our old Victorian cottage. I want to know what is the best way to light the stove and use it? We have just fixed the top with fire cement and to harden it decided to light the stove outside the house (chimney pipe and hearth not quite finished!) Lucky for us as smoke poured out of everywhere - not the just the chimney pipe, and when we closed up the bottom the fire burnt so slowly that the stove hardly heated at all! Obviously we won't have the right air flow as the pipe isn't attached to the chimney but I wondered if anyone is using one of these and could give us 'instructions' on how to get the best out of this lovely looking stove! What is the best fuel to use - wood, coke, coal?

Reply to
fran
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Reply to
robson

thanks for the web site which gives a history of the stove, but I really need practical advice on how best to actually use it! We've never had a stove.

Reply to
fran

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