I need experienced cast iron welder in maine please

ok, whew

how did it brake? that door takes no heat on, did you spill water on it? slam it? anyways... it does look fairly delicate, have it brazed and a simply hand grinder to clean it up as best you can (you dont need to have it surface honed or anything like that). You can paint it after and it will look fine and your just going to have to be careful not to slam it or exert to much pressure on it. No welder will be able to warranty the work so just go local and have it brazed as inexpensive as you can. If you have a 5inch disk grinder with a Norton 80 grit then just do the clean up yourself (you can buy this grinder and paper for like $29.00 at Harbor Fright and its good to have one anyways).

This is what I suggest you do.
This is an excellent stove design and you don't want someone touching it that doesn't know EXACTLY what to do with it. I'm serious.
Put the stove in the truck and take it to Emery at Antique Stove Hospital. He will restore it to perfect condition.
You will be very glad after you do.

Wsherrick beat me to it - was just reading their website:

Welding Cast iron stoves

The welding rod that we use for cast iron is 99% nickel and runs around $77.00 per pound. I am hearing from some folks that you can use regular 6011 rod to weld cast iron. It cost a dollar or two per pound. I agree that you can do this and the welds look good. However, The cheap rod expands differently than cast iron and once the stove is used a few times a new crack will develop next to the weld and follow the path of the old crack. We have several here for repair because of this. We will continue to use the expensive rod as we have had no problems with it and have been called on to repair many welds made by the cheaper rod. When looking for a restorer this is one of the invisible things that can make a huge difference down the road.

The stove whisperer is in Rhode Island...i am in Maine...i sent pictures to Bryant stoves in Thorndike Maine who said it looks to be in really good shape. They do restorations. They have a humongus showroom...they said they will repair it. I cant get the broken part of the door off the hinge. I cant get my explorer hatch to open. I do not want to have the stove laying down, which is how i suspect it got broken in the first place, since it was broken when i bought it. It had also been "repaired" which apparently didnt work because it broke again, i dont know how. It was like that when i got it. I am hoping that since Bryant's have been in business since jimmy carter was president, I will have to trust that they know what to do. All of the welders i wanted close by chickened out of doing it, i think because of Liability Insurance, and their agent said not to do it .....since i dont know anything about coal stoves, just knew it was cute and looked like mr. herrick's, it fell in my lap so I bought it. One day after the door and grate have been repaired, i will ask you all how to vent it. which will be another topic for discussion on cold winter's nights. Wish there was more written info (owner's manual) on it, but i cant find anything on the web. let's all kick back and have a hot cup of cocoa, Mr. herrick, you are in charge of the fire, I will decide what we can sing! Thanks for all your help......

As long as they use the nickel rod ....

thanks i will ask about that....

nikonmom wrote:The stove whisperer is in Rhode Island...i am in Maine...i sent pictures to Bryant stoves in Thorndike Maine who said it looks to be in really good shape. They do restorations. They have a humongus showroom...they said they will repair it. I cant get the broken part of the door off the hinge. I cant get my explorer hatch to open. I do not want to have the stove laying down, which is how i suspect it got broken in the first place, since it was broken when i bought it. It had also been "repaired" which apparently didnt work because it broke again, i dont know how. It was like that when i got it. I am hoping that since Bryant's have been in business since jimmy carter was president, I will have to trust that they know what to do. All of the welders i wanted close by chickened out of doing it, i think because of Liability Insurance, and their agent said not to do it .....since i dont know anything about coal stoves, just knew it was cute and looked like mr. herrick's, it fell in my lap so I bought it. One day after the door and grate have been repaired, i will ask you all how to vent it. which will be another topic for discussion on cold winter's nights. Wish there was more written info (owner's manual) on it, but i cant find anything on the web. let's all kick back and have a hot cup of cocoa, Mr. herrick, you are in charge of the fire, I will decide what we can sing! Thanks for all your help......

When I tell you something, you need to trust me. Your Hub Oak is a very good, well made stove. It is worth any effort to have it properly restored. Once restored it will last for the rest your life. It is an efficient design with the double heating option. The double heating option is a very big plus.
If you can get to Bryants, then by all means take it there.

You say you can't get the broken part off the hinge. I think that may give a clue to how it got broken in the first place. Perhaps it sat all summer (or 20 summers) and got rusty. The hinge tightened and when the door was asked to open, the hinge would not allow it. It could have easily broken when forced to open. (or jammed open and broke trying to close) Remember that.... in the future if the hinge starts to get tight, be very careful. At that moment it's time for oil, or remove & clean the rust from the hinges before it gets so tight it breaks again. That goes for the other doors too. They should swing easily from start to finish.

I can weld cast iron with proficiency, unfortunately I am on lay-off (From Bath Iron Works incidentally), and I do not have a welder at my house that I could do it with.

The trick to welding cast iron is the proper pre-heat, then do the welding, and then properly post heat. That is where most welders go wrong, with cast iron you cannot just gob on some weld and hope it goes well. The better welders know pre-heating does wonders, but even less realize post-heat is required too. It really is just like baking a cake; pre-heat your oven, mix the right ingredients and then let the cake cool at the right temperature...same thing, but just as with a cake, if you do not follow the recipe just as it says, things fall apart on you.

If you need a stove repair shop, there is one in Thorndike called Bryants Stove Works who has parts. I go to church with the owners son, and my Grandfather was a machinist there for years and years. The owner is honest and trustworthy and the last I knew had something like 4000 stoves in various states of repair which is why I know he has your part. Call ahead first though as the owner is in his 90's, but was still open this Spring!

The door seems to open effortlessly, there is no rust whatsoever on the hinge, or the stove, for that matter, there is only one hinge which does not have an open "tube" at the bottom, so I cant stick a small awl up and poke the hinge out, Joe at Bryant's stove said to insert a very thin flat head screwdriver under the head of the hinge pin and wiggle the door open/shut until the hinge comes out. I will work on that today. The 2nd welder who dumped me did mention letting the repaired part cool slowly in sand, but then i never heard from him again. He sounded like he knew how to do it right. The stove shop where i happened to find this beauty only sells new types of wood, coal and pellet stoves. They did someone a favor, they said, and bought it at a low price due to the door, I guess, but told me they could give me the # of the person they bought it from who could maybe shed some light on how it got damaged, how they used it, its quirks or whatever, but i havent done that either, so i will do that today. I guess the original owner needed a stove that worked...but it has been used because there is a hole in the back of the ash pan and soot inside the top of the cook top and pipe. Bryant's said they do not have a part for it and that he would buy it from me, if i wanted. So that tells me it is in good shape. And I dont want to sell it. I believe the time is coming where we wont be able to use our current methods to stay warm or to cook the way we "always" have.
So off I go to the hinterlands to see what can be done tomorrow. will try to take pictures of this unique business showroom and collect as much info as i can. Also, for those who read my "toy stove" post, I found another one, not as fancy for only $180 in another antique store, and an actual pot bellied stove, as well as 3 early butter colored enameled wood stoves in decent shape at an indoor flea market, so people are starting to catch on to what is coming. Take care, more later.

NoSmoke wrote:The trick to welding cast iron is the proper pre-heat, then do the welding, and then properly post heat. That is where most welders go wrong, with cast iron you cannot just gob on some weld and hope it goes well. The better welders know pre-heating does wonders, but even less realize post-heat is required too.

Yup,my uncle was a welder from the 40's to 80's and most things back then were cast.For smaller parts he had a metal drum and stuck the torch and parts in it,heated it and covered it with a thick asbestos blanket(yea,go figure),pulled it out heated the suronding area welded it,heated the area again stuck it back in the drum and heated the drum again covered with blanket and didn't remove till end of day or next morning.He used nickel rods and never had problems with that process.

During my working career there were a lot of "G" jobs. For those of you who don't know, a "G" job is personal work being done on government time. There was a lot of horse trading of skills, an engineers skill set for that of a tradesman skill, etc. When I needed large crack repaired in a very expensive cast iron pump I took it to the welding shop. No problem was the answer, give me a couple of days or maybe longer if the boss is looking around. The machine shop was next door and they had a large electric powered heat treating oven. A fancy one, ramp up and down temperature profiles, duration timers etc. The welder just put my casting in the over pre and post welding. The finished job looked like new, he even pressure tested it and ground the weld smooth.

So with the proper techniques and equipment welding cast iron is reliably done.

Gosh how did that happen? What a bummer. You might be better off trying to source a door from Emory at Stove Hospital. If that fails what I would do is get the rest of the door off the hinge and cast a new door at Tomahawk foundry or Auburn Stove foundry.
Did Bryants say they were going to weld it? I would be leary of that in all honesty. You best bet is to find a door or cast a new one from the old pieces. That is if you want it to work and fit right. Byant's has some nice stoves but restorations (as of late) are not on par with Stove Hospital.

SteveZee wrote:You best bet is to find a door or cast a new one from the old pieces. That is if you want it to work and fit right.