Home Stove Works

smithy wrote:Thanks guys.you too kind actuality the stove was in great condition when purchased and I am a bit ocd and when working in the shop I can't help but fuss a little.
The fire pot needs a root canal. My friend says castiron's not to hard to drill and tap. If I put studs in place where the teeth were I could rebuild with refractory.

As Rob mentioned, Barkeepers Friend (I got some in Hannifords in the cleaning supplies) is great stuff for cleaning anything really. I used it to scrub the enamel on the Glenwood range and also the nickel trim. I actually cleaned up the trivets so well that I am not going to need to replate those. It's in a can like cleanser (powdered) the old Babo or what have you, but it scubs without scratching which is why it's so good. It's actually an old formula made from Rubarb of all things!

I cab understand the OCD bit Smithy. I'm a bit like that too. When I was doing the herald and converting the glenwood this summer, I said I was finished about 10 different times before going back and finding something else to do on them.

In regaurds to your firepot, if you must make a copy (I know, you must ) I would do the very same thing. Lucky for you, the firepot didn't seem to get much use because I think they get harder with heat cycles. Anyway, I'd drill some small holes where those two teeth attach, insert some stiff wire or maybe bits of coathanger and use those as your studs to mold some feux teeth. When I redid the shaker fork for Harry, I just used a jigsaw and some 1/4" plywood. They copied that as the original fork was 1/4" also. That said you could just make some wooden teeth for that matter (like George Washington) and glue those to the pot?
Rememeber that there is some shrinkage. They say it's only 1/8" per foot but my experiance showed more then that. I had add material to the circumferance of my round grate to get one that wasn't smallish. The reality was that my original could have stood to be a hair bigger, so that was probably the deal there.

Actually i was going to make the teeth out OF refractory and see what happens worst case is it doesn't work and have to go to the proven method as you describe

smithy wrote:Actually i was going to make the teeth out OF refractory and see what happens worst case is it doesn't work and have to go to the proven method as you describe

Smithy, Actually, whatever is the easiest for you to recreate what you want will work. As I mentioned, my shaker fork was nothing but 1/4" plywood veneer that I traced and cut with a jigsaw. It worked perfectly for the sand casting they use to copy and mold. As long as it stays put while they sand cast it you're all set.

Sorry for the confustion let me say it this way. I want to use the refractory teeth in full operation not just for a pattern.

Also Something I noticed putting it back together . Some of the parts don't seem to fit as this picture shows The tooth which holds the glass in place rubs against the retaining frame I don't know if you can see it there's a bit of shiny surface Where I rubbed the 2 parts 2 gether to scratch a mark

smithy wrote:Sorry for the confustion let me say it this way. I want to use the refractory teeth in full operation not just for a pattern.

Also Something I noticed putting it back together . Some of the parts don't seem to fit as this picture shows The tooth which holds the glass in place rubs against the retaining frame I don't know if you can see it there's a bit of shiny surface Where I rubbed the 2 parts 2 gether to scratch a mark

Hmmmm, gosh I don't thing the refractory would stay bonded to the pot? I'm sure it would work for a while and I'm also sure your pot will work as is without those two teeth, but can't hurt to try.

Do you think it would work with out the teeth of the whole is about 3 inches wide by 2 inches tall I was thinking that nut coal might fall out but then again I don't have any experience yet burning coal in this type of appliance

I see what you mean. Umm, well if you line the firepot with the refractory you could extend it down a bit say one "tooth" or stelagtite down in the middle of the gap. If you use the clay type I used I think it would be easier to make an extention, but yep that would cut down the size of the gap so that coal wouldn't fall through. That said, once you've got a good bed in there it holds itself fairly well. I have a small "clinker" door that opens up just at the grate level. it's almost 5" when open. Used to light it initially, freshen up the fire before shakedown and pull out clinkers.

smithy wrote:Sorry for the confustion let me say it this way. I want to use the refractory teeth in full operation not just for a pattern.

Also Something I noticed putting it back together . Some of the parts don't seem to fit as this picture shows The tooth which holds the glass in place rubs against the retaining frame I don't know if you can see it there's a bit of shiny surface Where I rubbed the 2 parts 2 gether to scratch a mark

Sorry smithy but I dont see what you mean: ""The tooth which holds the glass...""?? do you mean the back support holding the micas to the door's frame? Don't forget the micas go between some ""teeth"". On the photo you can see the small teeth (6 per mica) and the micaa are placed there. Hope it helps.
For the first year, what I would do to try that New stove and also because the burning season is coming soon, I would have a square bar, about 1/2" welded horizontally to the teeth each side at about mid the height. It will make a sort of barrier to keep the anthracite in and be very solid. The rotation of the outer grate can be very hard on the external teeth if a hard piece of coal jam there. Next year you will have all your time to make a mold and have a recast firepot.

Ok let me give you the big picture the whole frame is rocking on the nub or clip that holds the mica as a side note how thick is your mica? Mine is .016

smithy wrote:Ok let me give you the big picture the whole frame is rocking on the nub or clip that holds the mica as a side note how thick is your mica? Mine is .016

I had micas with the stove and about 3 thickness so I tried a few methods to seal and hold them in place. The best results were with Ultra Black, a sort of H.T. black silicone and I let it get almost dry then I put the micas on and then the back support. I like the soft and smooth result making a good sealing. On flat surfaces like most other stoves, it's easier than the very curved doors/supports like on your stove. I wrote a few times about it. The black silicone makes a clean result and not white residue like stove cement.

Well I guess it's not a sealing issue it's more of a consensus on how tight the tolerances were in the assembly of these cast iron stoves and how much of that variable is taken up by stove cement.
And how tight is tight.

The tolerances on these stoves are very high. If they wanted something to be perfectly tight. It will fit tight. The little bumps might be for the purpose of allowing a small amount of secondary air to flow in front of the windows at that point. It is probably deliberate that the frame fits on there the way it does. However, if you want to you can get some small fiberglass stove gasket to fit on the holding frame that goes behind the mica windows. You just tighten the bolts until the gasket is snug against the mica. I've done it a thousand times and it will work well to take up any undesirable gaps that might occur from warping, ect.
It looks like you are making good progress. Keep it up and soon hopefully we can see a fire in your stove.

That's quite true. Emery just mentioned that the huge baseburner he picked up in NY State has no secondary air and instead compensates by having "small holes" in the mica windows of the fueling door. Sort of a built in airwash system way back in 1900! I'll be danged.

So far so good all the major components are asembled and the micas I used on the top front windows are three .04" thick clear stacked on top of each other for a total thicknesses of .012 which is close to the micas that came with the unit and are still mounted on the doors.
The consensus of the forum seems to be live and let burn and see what happens there are 60 windows and really don't feel like replacing them right now

The top of the firepot sits about 5" below the mouth of the magazine and I feel when this is loaded up it will have a big pot of coals

So far I have yet to make an ash-pan ala'Pierre. Install class A chimney add 7 more feet of tile to floor and sand blast the rest of the doors

Looking good Smithy,

I would not worry about the thickness of the mica's as much as how well they are sealed. The more air tight your stove is, the better control you'll have over the burn. "Live and let Burn" I like it!