You've been busy Alden! Nice work. Thanks for clarifying the vinegar bath, I used it on a couple of rusty axe heads and tools. Wanted to wonder why it works so well, with some too well! Stove stuff looking good. You plan on powder coating it? What's your next step?
Update: Washington parlor stove re-assembled. Well, it took me the better part of the day today, but I finally got her put back together. It was touch and go for a while, with a lot of muttering and cussing, but in the end, me and my tools prevailed. The problem was that the pieces simply were not fitting together. It would seem that this is one easy stove to dismantle and then put back together, but let me tell you- nothing is ever as it seems when restoring anything. The trick that I happened upon (or, more correctly, the mistake that I was making) concerned the tightening of the bolt nuts. One cannot simply tighten each one as the pieces are assembled. The stove needs to be nearly completely assembled with the bolts loose, and then all of the bolts are tightened at the same time, using a heavy rubber mallet to encourage the mating of the pieces. Until I realized this, I was quite frustrated. I must admit that I got pretty nervous for a moment there, wondering if three weeks of work might go down the drain. And the workmanship of the Taiwanese who cast the sections could have been just a tad better. They had the original American molds for this stove, but they were not good about grinding any flash, etc. So I had to employ the angle grinder and even the Dremel grinder here and there. But in the end, it worked out fine. You may notice that, contrary to my previously expressed plan, I did not do the stove paste finish. I went with paint. I decided against the stove paste when my research on it indicated that it needs to be reapplied every month or so, that it stains anything that comes into contact with it, and a few other characteristics that did not please me. At the moment the stove is painted with Rustoleum flat black 1200 f. But I will be topcoating it with Rustoleum Satin Black High Heat 2000 f. That will give it a little sheen, which I am looking for. Finally, the accent pieces have to go out for plating. While I felt that they came out of the vinegar bath looking great, further viewing established that they were, in fact, not perfect. And when I went to clean them with steel wool, a lot of the plating flaked off, revealing rust damage underneath. So I figure since the stove came out so nicely, and I am rather happy with it, I will be a sport and spend some money on re-plating the accent pieces. If I cannot find a plater within reasonable driving distance, I will refinish the accent pieces with Lab Metal High Temp bondo. Now I have to put the window in, finish the handles, find an adapter for the oval shaped exit port, buy stove pipe, and chimney parts, and get this baby into place in the house.
That's an improvement to say the least and you likely know your stove a lot better now in case it needs repairs or you're aware of a weak spot. Really good job!
Your hard work is really paying off. I'm curious about the mica window panel. The stove at the scrap yard had screening on the back of the mica. Does yours have screen?
Jon, my stove, as it came to me, did not have the smoke plate or the screen that you mention. The screen, I suppose, is used when one prefers to have the front door open. Perhaps to warm a room faster when first lighting the stove. Or, perhaps, to gain a better view of the fire. The screen does not, as far as I understand, remain in place on the stove all of the time. It is something of an accessory that is slipped into place with the door open. The door does not close if the screen is in place. I do not feel any particular need to go searching for the screen. I think it would be almost impossible to find. But if anyone happens upon either a screen or smoke plate, I would certainly be willing to take them at a reasonable price. I have also heard that some of the these stoves have a screen backing on the mica sheet window. I have never seen this myself, but I suppose such a screen would be useful to protect the mica sheet from harm, e.g., logs hitting it. The mica sheet is very delicate in that it is quite brittle even when new, and will tear very easily. When I tried to clean up the old mica screen that came with my stove, it cleaned up easily -and then, due to the slightest lack of care on my part, broke in half! So I had to order a new one. Mica is an interesting item to order. The price goes up as the size goes up. Apparently, mica being a mineral, it is more difficult to produce large pieces. So I ordered two pieces and the cost was half as much as it would be for one piece. Since the window of the stove is made up of 'panels,' it is no problem to mount two small mica sheets instead of one larger one.
FatBoy85, Yes. Indeed, I now know this stove like the back of my hand. A black, nasty, hand from all of the rust that I had to take off of it! I still haven't got my hands/nails perfectly clean yet. Hopefully, it should not ever need any repair, though if I ever find myself bored I could grind her a bit here and there to make the sections fit together better. For example, the cook plates sit just a tad proud of their frames. Close exam establishes that there was a need to grind the casting a bit when it came out of the mold. That is, there are bits of iron that should be ground off. I did some grinding of the parts, but I could not take the time to go over the entire stove. It would be just too tedious and I have to get on with things to install the stove. I want to shore up the floor joists where she will sit, and I have to acquire stove pipe and chimney parts to get her ready to work for the winter.
Thanks, Stinny. But the accent pieces are turning out to be a little headache. Re-plating is not an option. I am just too far away from businesses like that and I am not set up to do it myself. I think I will have to try a Hail Mary play- Lab Metal and paint. If that does not turn out decent, then I will just have to ship the parts for plating.
Yes those screens are just an option, they have one available for my stove, but everyone I have heard of that bought them never used them, they are for leaving the door open getting a better view of the fire and listening to the wood crackling, they are not good for getting Max heat out of your stove cuz you have to build small fires in there and there is so much air flowing into the stove the wood burns up real fast
Sure, the screens don't add much. I had one that sat under the stove for months. I used it once as the plastic handle gave off a bad chemical odor when it heated up. Marketing sounded good when they tell you how you can have the crackle of a fire like a fireplace on a cold winter day.
Installation almost complete. The stove is just about operational. I have to pick up some more bricks. And the accent pieces are not ready yet. But she is ready to be fired up so that I can take temperature readings of the surrounding area. The stove pipe goes straight up, through the second-floor bedroom, and then up into the attic and out the roof to the chimney. As simple as that seems, it took me days to get it done. For one thing, the joists and rafters of this very old house did not give me a clear path between the roof and the ground floor. I had to put a slight angle to move the pipe just two inches to avoid one joist. The chimney was also a challenge for me because the roof is a 45 deg. angle and the chimney was midway to the top. And installing the thimbles was a very messy job, what with the old plaster layers in the ceilings. If I had a second set of hands, it would have gone much faster and easier. But, in the end, I managed it. The hearth, as may be seen, is dry-stacked. It will remain this way until next summer when I will be installing copper tubing throughout the hearth in the bricks' perforations. The ends of the copper tubing will go down to the cellar beneath the stove where they will be spliced into the water line that comes from the well and goes to the water heater.
It sounds like a fun idea but I think that trying to preheat your water from the underside of your stove won't be very efficient or cost effective. Copper is pretty damm expensive to start with. The thermal mass of your hearth is going to go heat your house anyway, so you aren't recovering any 'lost' energy. Heat rises, so extracting from under your stove isn't the most efficient place. You'll also need to couple the copper with the brick to effectively transfer your heat, if the copper sits in an air pocket in those perforations it will effectively be insulated. Pipe slam/movement might also cause some wear and eventually leaks in the long run if they sit against the brick. I suggest you experiment a little this winter with a 'test tube' to see if it is really going to be worth it. Keeping a big pot of water on the stove might do you better for a lot less. You can use it for wash water if you need it, if you don't use it the heat stored in the water will radiate back into your house, no loss there. And it will humidify when you do get it hot.
Hi, Paul. Thank you for your advice. Yes, 'experimental' is certainly the word here! The copper tubing should not cost me too much since I already have most of what I would use and I have a scrap yard not too far from me for any additional needs. I would not be coupling the pipe to the bricks; the copper tubing goes in easy. I know that this is not efficient from an engineering and design point of view. But the length would be pretty long. I am also trying to avoid a 'steampunk' appearance that would result from the more efficient options. The water coming out of the well is, I estimate, around 50 degrees. My water heater has 3 settings, 'A-B-C' and I currently have her set on 'B'. My initial goal is to be able to put the water heater on 'C' and ultimately (hopefully) have it use no power at all. The stove will be fired twice a day- in the morning and in the evening. I do a pretty hot firing. The house is small and very well insulated. I live alone. Basically, I need a hot, ten minute shower in the evening and some hot water during the day for washing dishes. So I will take it from there. There is still a space between the bottom of the stove and the bricks if I decide to have the pipes closer to the heat source. And, of course, there are other options for the piping, e.g., wrapping the flue pipe. I just have to experiment and play with things a bit. I can also add thermal mass to the hearth, e.g., adding another layer of bricks and thereby extending the length of the copper tubing, but we have to keep in mind that the hearth and stove are situated on a joisted floor. I lack the engineering knowledge to know how many pounds I can load onto such a floor in a house built around 1880. I have already installed five stanchions in the cellar, directly under the hearth. The stanchions are three 2x4's sistered, on concrete pads that are 18" x 18" x 3.5" with 0.75" rebar. It is not an easy task to do these and I hope to not need to do too many more. The cellar ceiling height is about 5' 5" and I am 5'10". Don't ask how many times I have banged my head working down there!
Well, this is a photo of the stove with the accent pieces mounted. Regrettably, they did not turn out as well as I would have wanted, but I knew from the beginning that only re-plating them would bring a gratifying result. Re-plating is simply beyond my budget right now. I can, however, improve them a little more. But for now, I have to wrap up this project because I am getting behind schedule on other, more pressing tasks. Winter is fast approaching here in northern Maine. I am way behind on my firewood supply. And I have a 'to-do' list that just does not end. So these accent pieces will just have to wait until the spring time, or maybe sooner if I find myself with any free time this winter. As may be seen, in the end, I just cleaned them up. The stove sort of needs them, visually, even if they are not perfect or even close to perfect. Viewed alone, they are not pretty. Mounted on this 1840's stove, they can, maybe, get by. Perhaps 'shabby chic?' If we can just ignore the fact that the stove is a replica, the accents give it an almost genuine standing. And if I grind off the "Taiwan" on the back of the stove, I just might be able to get away with something here! After all, the stove was manufactured from its original American molds. Who would know? /// Initially, I had planned on painting the pieces. That turned out to be a disaster. After de-rusting and after applying special (expensive!) high-temperature metal putty, and then more sanding, and more sanding, I applied several coats of high temp black semi-gloss paint. They actually looked fine and I was very happy with the result. However, the glossy paint was only rated for 500 deg.F. When I fired up the stove to cure the paint, the surface was hitting 700 deg. and the paint job blistered up. My thinking/hope/gamble that the accents would not get above 500 was sorely misplaced. So I then had to tediously sand off the entire finish. I considered repainting with the Rustoleum 1200 but I then decided that the pieces would probably look better au natural. More genuine, so to speak. The piece on the top is, actually, not bad. The foot rest is terrible what with the extensive, deep pitting. And I ran out of the special solvent for the metal putty by the time I got to the foot rest, so there is still more putty to remove from the pitted spots. So it is what it is. I will order another can of the solvent ($15) and give them some more scrubbing with steel wool, but they will pretty much be as they are. My goal of getting away from the expense of fuel oil has been reached. That fact serves as some consolation. Beyond that, really very few people are ever going to see the stove. So, all in all, I am satisfied.
