Grandma is getting a face lift.

I ordered it right through "Dura vent" stove pipe manufactures. There is a website called buildit.com

 

Thanks all for the compliments, it was some work, but worth every dime in my opinion!

 

Here's a side by side before and after... Wow!

 

Wow, what a difference! it's like night and day man!

 

I don't know how you did that HD but Thanks!!!! Pretty coooool!

 

Well, I'm a little partial because they were the first airtight wood stove and there steel "not" cast with the exception of the doors. There easy to operate, "once" you get the stove tuned in to your chimney, they look nice in my opinion, easy to work on but heavy as Hell!!! There's really nothing can go wrong with them except the hinge pins get worn but as you can see they do/will get rusty and that's the reason for the thread. Lastly, these stoves will "CRANK OUT" heat! Just ask anyone who has one on the forum. They are pre-EPA but with a baffle and the above statement, you can get them to burn real clean! The biggest factor is "dry/well seasoned" wood. When I was a wee kid, we first had a big old potbelly parlor stove and it heated well and then my Mother decided she wanted a Franklin stove... "What a piece of $#!T", My Father did nothing but swear at the thing, then when Fisher hit the market they went out and bought one new, It was on from there, I've owned and collected them ever since I got this one.

 

That is beautiful Coaly. I'm going to put the effort into the XL when it's time for that. Grandma happened to fall into a $$$ situation so I wanted to do what I could with what I had. I would love to do all that, but I got to get her ready for the up and coming winter, and she is now in "much" better shape that she was and doesn't look half bad either! .

 

You gotta admit, Those Fishers "are" very pretty all dressed up and there is no stove as pretty as the XL in my opinion! With maybe the Ideal steel hybrid stoves as the exception!

 

The hinge pins on a Fisher pull straight out/up. They may need something like WD-40 or such. I'm assuming the Schrader is similar, I'm also assuming they are either 1/4 or 3/8 inch, you can find them on eBay usually. If you cannot get them there, check Woodmans. They have many varieties. And if you really get stuck, use your standard mild steel bolt. As far as your holes, if they are really bad and elongated try to drill them to the next size bigger, "drill very slow" on cast and use some oil. You best bet is do it in place if you can so you drill the door and the hinge tab at the same time. That would be best to keep your door alignment. Good luck!

 

If your heating the doors and it's cast, "go slow"... If you have a heat gun that will hit 1200* thats a better idea. I would soak them myself and try to work them slow with some vise grips a little at a time.

 

Grandma got her first light off today. The weather stayed a nice 65* and light breeze so I opened all the windows and got every fan I owned out and lit her off! As expected the new paint smoked a bit and I ran her most of the day around 400* and hit about 525* once. The paint is set now and everything performed as expected, I believe she is ready for the for the winter. The draft with the new pipe and the chimney clean as a whistle, I didn't get ounce of smoke or back draft, It sucked like a Hoover .