Exotic Stove?

Never realized Glenwood used such exotic materials in their stoves............

Text from the ad: Glenwood Oak Coal & Woodstove Circa 1920 Copper, Russian steel, white metal, cast iron 5.5 ft. tall $1500.

$1500?

Currently on the Maine Craigslist.

It is a craigslist ad LOL probably not even the same stove as really for sale. Do you honestly think they would hold out for what is perceived as exotic materials for a coal stove when US Steel was the place to buy quality, white metal = it is going to fail real soon and saying brass is copper is a dis-service to the stove. Copper has the hardness of silly putty after heated and cooled several times. Maybe William can chime in on materials used.

There are a bunch of stories about 'bog iron' castings being a superior choice as well. I talked with a close friend in the foundry biz and he said it was loaded with issues and no redeeming qualities short of 'makes nice ballast'.

Russia iron (as it was referred to) was the preferred material in the early stoves. It was very labor intensive to make as it went through many planishing steps.

Copper may refer to the finial material as some were spun of that metal.

franco b wrote:Russia iron (as it was referred to) was the preferred material in the early stoves. It was very labor intensive to make as it went through many planishing steps.

Copper may refer to the finial material as some were spun of that metal.

Very interesting ! I just read up on Russian iron and this is what wiki says :

Sourced from wiki :

"Russia iron or Russian iron refers to a type of sheet iron produced in Russia during the 19th and early 20th century.[1] This iron sheeting had a smooth, glossy black surface coating, sometimes greenish-tinged, which did not flake upon bending and made the sheets highly resistant to rusting. As well as its corrosion resistance, the finish would also withstand high heat; these two properties accounted for most of its uses. Kodak used it around 1906 for the manufacture of their Photographic Enlargers. These properties led to it being the standard for manufacturing gold pans at the turn of the 20th century.[2][3]"

"This sheet-iron was used in Russia for stove flues and for roofing, among other tasks. Exported in quantity to the United States, it was notably used there for the cladding of steam locomotive boilers, where it found favor because paints of the time could not withstand the heat to which boiler cladding was subjected; its fine decorative finish went well with the brightly painted locomotives of the time.[4] Its heat-resistant finish also brought it use to clad stoves, ovens, heating pipes and other similar tasks,[5] and in the manufacture of baking pans and sheets.[6]"

Apparently successful attempts to produce Russian steel in the states were also performed . The question is was this type of steel used in these stoves at the time?

White metal - I am assuming they are referring to the nickel plated iron?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_iron

So is 'Russia Iron' steel, or is it cast iron (or something inbetween)?

I came across info on the web about the history of Taunton Mass. where Weir (Glenwood) and other stove factories were.

In it was mentioned that iron foundries grew there because of a local source of "bog iron" which formed in the local swamps. It's supposed to be a better quality iron for stove castings.

Paul

lsayre wrote:So is 'Russia Iron' steel, or is it cast iron (or something inbetween)?

It's sheet iron . Steel is a alloy as iron is an element . Before the wide use of steel iron was used for the same things we use steel for today including railroad rails , bridges , sheet metal and so on . Quite different properties . In blacksmithing the term wrought iron meant "worked iron" and it meant pure iron or "commercially pure iron " for the most part . The term is loosely used today for "wrought steel" .

lsayre wrote:So is 'Russia Iron' steel, or is it cast iron (or something inbetween)?

It seems to be a malleable iron. Here is a description of how it is made.

"The ores used for the manufacture of this iron are mostly from the celebrated mines of Maloblagodatj (Ural mountains in Russia), and average about the following chemical composition: Metallic iron 60 per cent, silica 5 per cent, phosphorus from 0.15 to 0.06 per cent. The ore is generally smelted into coal pig-iron and converted into malleable iron by puddling or by a Franche-Comté hearth. Frequently, however, the malleable iron is made directly from the ore in various kinds of bloomaries.

The blooms (or billets) thus obtained are rolled into bars 6 inches wide, 1/4" inch thick, and 30 inches in length. These bars are sorted, the inferior ones "piled" re-rolled whilst the others are carefully heated to redness and cross-rolled into sheets about 30 inches square, requiring from eight to ten passes through the rolls. These sheets are twice again heated to redness and rolled in sets of three each, care being taken that every sheet before being passed through the rolls is brushed off with a wet broom made of fir, and at the same time that powdered charcoal is dexterously sprinkled between the sheets. Ten passes are thus made, and the resulting sheets trimmed to a standard size of 25 by 56 inches. After being assorted and the defective ones thrown out, each sheet is wetted with water, dusted with charcoal powder and dried. They are then made into packets containing from 60 to 100 sheets, and bound up with the waste sheets.

The packets are placed one at a time, with a log of wood at each of the four sides in a nearly air-tight chamber, and carefully annealed for five or six hours. When this has been completed the packet is removed and hammered with a trip hammer weighing about a ton, the area of its striking surface being about 6 by 14 inches. The face of the hammer is made of this somewhat unusual shape in order to secure a wavey appearance on the surface of the packet. After the packet has received ninety blows equally distributed over its surface it is reheated and the hammering repeated in the same manner. Some time after the first hammering the packet is broken and the sheets wetted with a mop to harden the surface. After the second hammering the packet is broken, the sheets examined to ascertain if any are welded together, and completely finished cold sheets are placed alternately between those of the packet, thus making a large packet of from 140 to 200 sheets. It is supposed that the interposition of these cold sheets produces the peculiar greenish color that the finished sheets posses on cooling.

This large packet is then given what is known as the finishing or polishing hammering. For this purpose the trip hammer used has a larger face than the others, having an area about 17 by 21 inches. When the hammering has been properly done, the packet has received 60 blows equally distributed, and the sheets should have a perfectly smooth, mirror-like surface. The packet is now broken before cooling, each sheet cleaned with a wet fir broom to remove the remaining charcoal powder, carefully inspected, an the good sheets stood on their edges in vertical racks to cool. These sheets are trimmed to regulation size (28 by 56 inches) and assorted into Nos. 1, 2, 3, according to their appearance, and again assorted according to weight, which varies from 10 to 12 lbs. per sheet. The quality varies according to color, and freedom from flaws or spots. A first-class sheet must be without the slightest flaw and a peculiar metallic gray color, and on bending a number of times with the fingers, very little or no scale is separated, as in the case of ordinary sheet iron.

The peculiar property of Russian sheet iron is the beautiful polished coating of oxides ("glanz") which it possesses. If there is any secret in the process, it probably lies in the "trick" of giving this polish. As far as I was able to judge, from personal observation and conversation with the Russian iron masters, the excellence of this sheet iron appeared to be due to no secret, but to a variety of conditions peculiar to and nearly always present in the Russian iron works of the Urals. Besides the few particulars already noted in the above description of this process, it should be borne in mind that the iron ores of the Urals are particularly pure, and that the fuel used is exclusively charcoal and wood. Another, and equally as important consideration, lies in the fact that this same process of manufacturing sheet iron has been carried on in the Urals for the last hundred years. As a consequence, the workmen have acquired a peculiar skill, the want of which has made attempts to manufacture equally as good iron outside of Russia generally less successful. It is difficult to understand what effect the use of charcoal powder between the sheets as they are rolled and hammered has upon the quality. It is equally as difficult to understand the effect of the interposition of the cold finished sheets upon the production of the polished coating of oxide. The Russian iron masters seem to attribute the excellence of their product more to this peculiar treatment than to any other cause. One thing is quite certain, there is no secret about the process, and if the Russian sheet iron is so much superior to any other, it is due to the combination causes already indicated. *Paper by F. Lynwood Garrison, Journal of the U.S. Association of Charcoal Iron Workers.

This sheet-iron is in considerable demand in Russia for roofing, and in the United States, where it is largely used in the construction of stoves and for encasing locomotive engines. I am informed that it is there named "stove-pipe iron".

My Modern Oak came to me (I am the 3rd owner) with the original Russian Iron barrel. It had a strange olive drab colored finish to it.
By the time I bought the stove, it needed replacing.

from what I read the olive look to it was a trade mark of the Russian iron

Post corrected!

Russian iron was the best product for stove bodies back in the 1800's. It was made in the Ural mountains and the iron sheets were pounded out between sheets of leather. That gave them the distinctive blue color. Sheet size was limited so we do see joints in strange places on early stoves. I have two late 1700's stoves with good sheet iron bodies. Great stuff. In the US many companies developed the same iron sheet bodies and called the material "planished iron" It has that blue color and is great stuff.
Bog iron was very common in southern New England and was mined as early as 1627. Several small foundries grew up as the puritans spread out and found enormous supplies of the ore. Bog iron is created by peat plants excreting the iron as a waste product. It is very fine grained and even today , when we find original hollow ware, it feels as smooth as glass. It was so extensive that during times of war, farmers would dig it up, smelt it and it was used as currency in this area. After the war of 1812 it was all sold to the foundries and melted to make products.
If you want to know more about bog iron you should look up the Ellis Foundry of Carver , Mass. Another interesting fact is that the first foundry was run by a man named Leonard. He was brought to the colonies around 1627 or so specifically to set up foundries. His family made hollow ware and stoves right up till the late 1930's. 300 years is a pretty good run.