Trip to Visit Emery at the Stove Hospital With Hub Heater

My wife and I finally were able to make the trip to Little Compton RI yesterday to visit the Pineos and see their collection. My mission was to have them evaluate my Smith & Anthony Hub Heater 115 I bought in March. We spent a very informative two hours viewing their incredible collection of stoves, stove parts, cars, trucks, signage and steam engines (I may have missed a category). Their knowledge of antique stoves is based upon decades of practical experience, hard work and good plain common sense. My wife was converted from a skeptic to a true believer. They have it all in abundance, including ranges, oaks, base heaters, base burners, double cased, double heaters, early historic parlor stoves, gas units, etc. It's really kind of overwhelming, but invigorating!

They both gave my Hub Heater a good going over, identifying problems and discussing potential solutions. One powerful lesson I learned was that even they get fooled, and have bought stoves which appeared sound, but disintegrated when they went to work on them. This is especially true of ornate cast iron parts which can be damaged by rust jacking - a real problem. One bit of good news is that they can replicate steel cylinders, including the ribs which were rolled in at the factory. They are going to have to replace mine in the Hub Heater, even though it looked OK to me. They also will probably replace the sheet steel revertible flue back pipe. They are NOT fans of cast iron flue back pipes, as it appears they can get riddled with invisible cracks - a real pain to fix. Emery identified my Hub Heater as a good stove, with some nice features (double cased base), but not the ultimate stove, by any means. They spotted that the finial is not correct, but looks good on the stove.

Besides base heaters, one of the stoves they both mentioned again was the City Glenwood, which was made in 12, 14 & 16 inch sizes. Based on their earlier advice, I have picked up a restored 12 and a restorable 16. Emery again said what powerful heaters these often overlooked stoves are - plus they are simple in design and parts are relatively easy to find. They are not fond of ornate base burners, and said to avoid them - too many problems

At some point I intend to have them restore a beautiful 1904 Sears Acme Carbon double cased parlor stove I recently picked-up in Durham Ct. While the body of the stove appears sound, unfortunately it needs all three doors replaced as the ash door is missing a piece, the loading door is cracked and the draw grate side door is missing. I plan to advertise for the parts or another parts stove, based on their advice. They like the stove and said patience will pay off as it should be a beauty, when completed. It may take a year to find the parts - who knows. I can wait.

So, thanks again to team Pineo for their hospitality, good advice and council. Emery has taken on the Smith & Anthony 115 - he hopes to have it ready in September. We can't wait!

Chris

Good luck with finding the parts for your circulator. Emery has a No 13 Glenwood Base Heater that I brought him a year ago. It is still waiting for parts. People think that it is easy to find parts for these stoves, but; most often it is very difficult if not impossible to find them.
I'm glad you got to go visit Emery and Brandon. They will educate you for sure. If anyone has any doubts about the superiority of Turn Of The Century stoves to the ones made now. They will erase all doubts. I'm interested in your wife's original opinion and how it was changed.

Thanks Bill - They mentioned you had been to visit. Brandon said the ash door was used on a number of stoves - that may help.

The loading door can be repaired. Then there's the side door - that will be tough.

He said Acmes were a little more common further south - we'll see.

If I can't find an original, I will attempt to carve a couple of wooden patterns (ash door and side door). I've done carving over the years. Emery showed me Tomahawk castings he received, which were impressive. Hopefully, they could cast it for me, from my patterns.

I'll figure something out.

My wife thought these stoves were too ornate, and tired. Seeing them restored to new condition and getting a two hour history lesson from Emery and Brandon has sharpened her opinion of these relics. Now, she's happy with our little collection.

Chris

Wish I had known you were going. They aren't far from me and I've been looking for an excuse to get over there.

And judging from your screen name, we could have talked about your stove and my Riviera.

That looks nearly identical to my #215 stove! That's the only other one I've seen like mine.

It's been a great stove, again not top of the line, but certainly not the bottom either. Puts out the heat. And since it was a little cheaper than the big name stoves, has paid for itself even quicker.

I'm in search of a Bit burner, like a Hot Bast or Germer stove, but am in no hurry since the Hub heater works so well.

Thought I'd post this for 'Smith & Anthony' stove folk. It is the from the front of a Christmas/New Years card they sent to their patrons-1880s-1890s from the look of the design. I had an earlier Hub Heater- was actually a base heater- but traded it away. It had a great feature in that you flipped open the dome/finial like opening a lid....and there was a deep dome shaped oven [the dome/finial making the top third of the oven], with the usual stove lid at the bottom. It could have fit a pot of baked beans! Great idea.

wsherrick wrote:Good luck with finding the parts for your circulator. Emery has a No 13 Glenwood Base Heater that I brought him a year ago. It is still waiting for parts. People think that it is easy to find parts for these stoves, but; most often it is very difficult if not impossible to find them.
I'm glad you got to go visit Emery and Brandon. They will educate you for sure. If anyone has any doubts about the superiority of Turn Of The Century stoves to the ones made now. They will erase all doubts. I'm interested in your wife's original opinion and how it was changed.

So what do you think happened? Why was the design knowledge lost? You would think we would have taken the best of the turn of the century design and tried to improve it.

People think that it is easy to find parts for these stoves, but; most often it is very difficult if not impossible to find them.

Amen William, I think those stove guys earn every penny. If you have the cash buy from them and if you are a poor horse farmer buy a stove that is complete but lacking refinement and polish. Incomplete rare stoves just seem to languish in someones shed and you never hear from them again. Rust jacking is a risky business unless you already have a field of rust and can match things up. Totally up together primo stoves are getting rarer and rarer. IF my lottery ticket comes in........

coalnewbie wrote:

People think that it is easy to find parts for these stoves, but; most often it is very difficult if not impossible to find them.

Amen William, I think those stove guys earn every penny. If you have the cash buy from them and if you are a poor horse farmer buy a stove that is complete but lacking refinement and polish. Incomplete rare stoves just seem to languish in someones shed and you never hear from them again. Rust jacking is a risky business unless you already have a field of rust and can match things up. Totally up together primo stoves are getting rarer and rarer. IF my lottery ticket comes in........

The Our Glenwood that I brought to Emery isn't a rare stove in itself. It's the size of this one that is. This base heater holds a 100 pounds of coal. No matter the point is the same. Before you buy something out of someone's basement or barn, you must be educated enough to know what you are looking at. Never buy sight unseen, ever.
And you are correct about the stove restorers value. The price you pay for a perfect stove after all the hard work is done is well worth the cost.

chrisbuick wrote:
Thanks Bill - They mentioned you had been to visit. Brandon said the ash door was used on a number of stoves - that may help.

The loading door can be repaired. Then there's the side door - that will be tough.

He said Acmes were a little more common further south - we'll see.

If I can't find an original, I will attempt to carve a couple of wooden patterns (ash door and side door). I've done carving over the years. Emery showed me Tomahawk castings he received, which were impressive. Hopefully, they could cast it for me, from my patterns.

I'll figure something out.

Chris

Chris,

How are you making out with your Acme Carbon #12 ? Did you find doors for them yet? If you didn't already carve door patterns PM me.

I bought two of them yesterday . One out in Long Island NY. The other one out near Peekskill NY.

Paulie

Two nice stoves ! Are they restorable? As nice inside as outside ?

And, what is car on the 4-post lift behind the stoves ?? looks like something from the late 40's or early '50's ??

Greg L

LsFarm wrote:Two nice stoves ! Are they restorable? As nice inside as outside ?

And, what is car on the 4-post lift behind the stoves ?? looks like something from the late 40's or early '50's ??

Greg L

Between the two stoves I have enough good pieces to restore only one . The other will become a non functional room decoration or wine cabinet.

It took a week going back and forth gathering detailed pictures and information with the two sellers.

The questionable one was the stove that someone attempted to restore. It is basically a bum with a new suit. I went to see that first..... drove out looked at and told him if the other stove had a good set of grates I would be back .

I drove out to Long Island, and that stove had the correct door handles, and hinge pins, a good base, a cast elbow, and good grates , so I bought it.

Called the first owner, made him an offer, and picked it up on the way home.

I had a very nice conversation with Chris (chrisbuick the OP) yesterday and it looks like a win for his stove also.

The car on the rotisserie iis a 1968 Jaguar XKE

Paulie