Harman Magnum Stoker Restoration...

I finished the body of the stove today (took a day off of work to take advantage of the sun). So aside for a small area on the bottom of the stove... I am finished with painting. Time to put it back together!!!







The original color is honey brown so what you see prior to painting is not rust. The lighting wasn't ideal for photos so what appears like streaks/uneven paint is actually the shade from the tree. It looked a lot better in the garage. I'm happy with the paint job but I hope it looks better after the burn in.

Very nice! It'll be a shame to fire it the first time. BTW, I'd do it outside.

Your stove came out great! I bought mine brand new last July and it worked great last winter! The blowers are a little noisy , which is a little inconvenient watching tv, but the stove puts out a lot of heat. If you light it up inside the house for the first time, I'd suggest doing it while you can keep the windows open to air out the burnt paint smell. Good Luck!

Stopped by my local Harman dealer last week and ordered the following so I could finish the stove:

1. Stoker gasket
2. Grate Holder Gasket
3. Main Door Gasket
4. Ash Door Gasket
5. Glass Gasket
6. Glass
7. Cleanout Handle (had to take a bolt cutter to the original )
8. Ash Pan (so I have 2...easier to just swap the full one with an empty one)

The total for the 8 parts came to $123.36. Not bad... I got a quote on the grates and they were $33,74 for the pair so I ordered those too. My grates are OK but I figured for $35 I'd just keep an extra set around.

Next I stopped by my local hardware store... a REAL hardware store not a big box retailer... complete with a crotchety old guy who can get you the exact item you need and explain why you don't want it. I got replacements for just about every piece of hardware. Almost all of it grade 8. A couple of dozen bolts, washers, nuts... came to under $10. The sales guy spent 15 minutes with me to get it all together. $15 minutes for a $10 sale. There's an old time shopping experience. Needless to say.. I'm at this place a LOT.

Given how inexpensive the grade 8 hardware is... It makes me wonder why Harman uses the crummy stuff (most of the hardware I pulled off the Harman was grade 5 but a lot of it was just junk).

Soon as my parts come in I assemble and fire her up outside to cure the paint... then move to the stove onto the hearth... which is undergoing a modification (I am now starting the next phase of the project).. I will be installing my convection (and probably combustion) blower in the basement. The return will be ducted to the living room at the opposite side of the house (my stove is in the family room). So the airflow path

register (living room) -> duct (basement) -> blower (basement) -> duct (basement to stove) -> stove (family room)

Idea is to set up a convection through the house and distribute the warm air.

eelhc wrote: a REAL hardware store not a big box retailer... complete with a crotchety old guy who can get you the exact item you need and explain why you don't want it.

They are the BEST. I love it when someone tells me why I don't want what I ask for, and explains why. They are not looking for the big sale, they are looking for return customers.

Excellent job on the stove! Looks great!

The parts I ordered in early August did not come in until this past week (~6 weeks). So the project was on hold for a while... Just as well.. I was away for a couple of weeks on vacation and had to get the kids ready for school. I picked up the parts on Saturday... I'll put the stove together and fire her up by next weekend on the driveway to cure the paint.

It does worry me that it could take 6 weeks to get parts from Harman. What if the stove goes out of commission during the middle of winter?

What a great job on the Mag, looks better than new!!! Best of luck.. I just purchased a brand new Mag 9-1-09, still waiting to bring it home, from what I read neither of us will be dissapointed...

How should I set the grates in the holder?

My old grates are a tight fit (a bit of rust on the edges and a little warping) into the holder and will show a gap in between the two (doesn't matter which one is left or right).



WIth my new grates, if I bias each grate right up against the edge, there will be a gap in between the grates. If I bias them towards the center, there is no gap.




The grates get set in place with furnace cement so I can't imagine the gap is desired... If I want to use the old grates still is it OK to grind a bit off the edges so I have no gap?

It's lookin' good! Thanks for sharing the rebuild.

Some years back I phoned Rustoleum & at no charge they sent me a life time supply of nozzles for the paint cans. Here it is several years later & ys know.... I just might outlive that supply! It sure is handy to have spare nozzles.

The manual says to split the difference with the gaps.

I had mistakenly thought the grates had to get cemented in place... Don;t know where I got the idea. In any case the gaps are for expansion. I will use the older grates buyt since they are a tight fit, I'll grind a bit off each side before using them.

Your unit looks great. Whether you know it or not, your project influenced me to do my own. So I found a Harman Mag in good condition and a good price ($1k), and tore it down as you did. I wired wheeled the interior and painted it bronze. ( All I could find at the time other than black ). Replaced all gaskets & painted the exterior. I don't think my unit was quite as rusty so it wasn't all that much work. Maybe two full days in the driveway. I found it difficult to paint in the humid muggy weather so I lit a cardboard fire in the empty shell to heat & dry out the steel. Than I sprayed painted while it was still warm. The paint especially interior came out great. Looks like rust in this picture but it is bronze.

I just fired it up over this past w/e as our night time temps dropped into the low 40's. It worked great.

Don't mean to hijack your thread. Keep up the nice work.

Cap wrote:I just fired it up over this past w/e as our night time temps dropped into the low 40's. It worked great.
Don't mean to hijack your thread. Keep up the nice work.

Cap, the lower hinge pin on both of your doors, is riding up. If that continues to happen, you can drill them to accept a small cotter pin.

Try using a piece of stainless as your sacrificial anode. You will find the process works better when you have the unlike metals involved.