Massachusetts residents check in here!

NW of Boston, but still in the eastern part of the state. I think the Nashoba Valley school district includes Chelmsford, Groton, Littleton, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend and Westford. Does that help?

Mike

Yep, the Groton part did. Thanx Mike.

You're welcome.

Hi, I bought a Coal Chubby stove from Larry Trainer over a month ago and like it very much. My furnace has not gone on since I installed the coal stove. The past 4 years I have been burning wood but no more. I use to use a Jotul 507 coal stove which worked out good but needed a little bigger stove. It's less work with the coal stove. I'm a barber by trade and work a lot of hours during the week. My hobbies are ham radio and fishing.

Hey Guys -
My name's Erek...born and raised in Chicopee, now living in Wilbraham. I recently acquired a Modern Glenwood Oak #116 from my grandfather who bought it in the early '50s and from what I 'm told never really used it. It has a ruptured firepot from years of use without a liner. My grandfather attempted to patch up at some point and I don't believe he used it at all after the split. Now looking to restore it and use it as a primary source to heat my raised ranch from the (sub)ground-up!

I'm here researching the pros/cons of coal vs wood, to search out other guys that have restored cylinder stoves for advice and tips and to join them in reveling in the beauty of our +100 yr old stoves!

Thanks.

wellcome s/h the stove hospitol in tiverton or little compton could give you a assist on the rehb i'm sure jim

jim d wrote:wellcome s/h the stove hospitol in tiverton or little compton could give you a assist on the rehb i'm sure jim

Thanks jim d. I already contacted them and sadly he said he didn't have a firepot for me at this time. He did however refer me to Barnstable Stove on the Cape, so that's my next call tomorrow.

Welcome to the forum Steelhorse.

Congratulations on your inheritance. I'm sure if you've been searching that you've run into my restoration thread for the Glenwood MO 116 I did this summer. It's an awesome stove and you are going to be very happy with it's performance. You might or might not find another firepot for your stove, but what you can do is have your recast at a foundry like Tomahawk Foundry in Wis.(I've used them and they do great work) or Auburn Stove foundry in Maine. The process is to remove your's from the stove and patch/fix the crack with JB Weld or anything that fills the crack and makes it look as it should. This is because they will use yours as a mold to copy and pour a new one. It's a big piece and will be pricey but that may be your best shot. Most time, unless the stove is totally worthless, they don't part them out and usually if they do, it's because the fire pot is no good!

If Doug (Barnstable) doesn't have one, you might try Bryant's antique stove in Maine also. It's going to tough to find one though and you'll need to get lucky. Good luck.

Steelhorse

Welcome to the forum!

A few bucks spent on a new recast firepot will end up paying you back several hundred times over with the savings over oil, gas or GASP electric heat over the years. For grins you might also want to keep an eye out on ebay as well for one.

Though I suspect having a new pot cast will be your best bet. Don't forget to ask them what the cost would be to have 2 or 3 pots cast. Doesn't hurt to have a spare and an extra you might be able to sell to someone down the line. I think most of the cost when casting a pot is in the initial setup making the mold ect ect ect. The actual cost for the pot itself isn't much. Just a thought and of course I could be 100% wrong too. Wouldn't be the first time nor will it be the last!

ciao!
mark

Thanks guys...I was afraid I might have a hard time sourcing an original firepot in good condition. I originally received an astronomical quote from one guy who admittedly said he was just going to more-or-less JB Weld the crack, over-wrap the firepot with stainless to cover the damage and then firebrick the inside. I know it's only a band-aid and a questionable one for safety, no less. I plan on burning coal after reading the pros/cons...even though it seems to be running on par with wood currently, it would save me time dealing with the wood (e.g.: cutting to fit the smaller pot and stacking).

I spoke with Doug this morning and he didn't sound optimistic, but he took down my number and told me he'd look around for one.

I already called Stanley Iron Works the other day and they told me they only really dealt with the cook stoves. I'll have to call Bryant's today and I might as well start calling the foundries and get some price quotes, because it seems like that may be my only option. Have you guys seen a need for extra firepots on the forum or do you think I could sell it off to one of the restorers?

I found a couple of complete-ish stoves on Craigslist but they're condition is questionable, distance farther than I'd like to travel for a shot in the dark and they're commanding a pretty good price ranging between $600-1200. I would certainly hope the new casting would be less than that! Even if I could trade in the rest to one of the restorers I can't see it being cost effective at that price range. The whole stove needs a solid restoration regardless and I would more than likely employ either Emory or Doug to do the job. I'm handy and after reading Steve's restoration thread I think I could do the task, but my wife and I work different shifts and we have 18mth and 30mth old girls to manage and I'd like to have this ready for the upcoming season.

JB Weld won't stand up for 60 seconds in a hot coal fire. Not a chance in hell. Used to use the stuff on everything before I found a welder at Wal-Mart 11 years ago. A REAL weld I'd trust a bit more.

Smitty's right and it takes a very good welder to fix cast iron. A firepot is even trickier and even then who knows. The thing to do it use the JB to get it looking like (the model) you want the recast one to look. I once made a copy of a dump fork out of wood and they cast it for me. What you send them is what you'll get back.

I'm gonna guess they you can get that pot recast for in the neighborhood of $350 or so. I had a a grate and fork done for around $150 including shipping but your pot is allot bigger and will cost more to ship. That said the set up cost to cast it might not be that much more and the metal is not that expensive. I think you could get it done for between $300-$400. Once you have it and rebuild the stove, put a refractory lining in it and it will last longer then you will. It's the unlined pots that fail over time from the extreme heat cycles. The stove will actually run better with the liner too.

SH, Why don't you post some pix of the stove or at least the pot where the problem is. We can help you through the restoration if you need it. Most of it is on my thread in the right order too. How's the jacket/barrel look and the back pipe? Those are easy replacments if you need them. If the rest of the castings are good and the ash pit door and vents are nice and tight you're in good shape.

In an effort to not clog up this thread with my personal issues, I'll start a separate thread in the Hand Fired section for this build and grab some pics to throw up in the next couple days.
Thanks -
Erek

Hey is Doug still running the Barnstable stove shop? Haven't seen him is years

Hi Folks!

My name is Scott, I live in Southwick.

I'm a corporate aircraft mechanic by trade.

I just installed a Harman MKII and fired it up this evening.

I started another thread on it so I'll post pictures there.

Works like a charm.

Cheers,
Scott