Keeley Columbia Oak

Hello,
I've been looking for a hand fired "parlor" stove for some time now and recently looked at one that a friend of a friend pulled out of a house that he was demolishing and refurbished on his own. I believe he was anticipating that it would only be used as a show piece and not put back into service as he did not seal the individual pieces when he reassembled it (refurbishing things he finds is something that he does frequently). The stove is a Columbia Oak made by the Keeley Stove Company in Columbia PA. He totally disassembled and sandblasted the entire stove. The stove was originally nickel and porcelain, but his refurb consisted of a high temp powder coating of the previously nickeled pieces and high temp stove paint for the previously porcelained pieces. The grates look brand new and nothing was broken or required repair, that is nothing was welded. He did have the inner baffle (sheet metal, sits above the firebox) fabricated with what seems to me to be an appropriate material. I think he did a very good job, omissions notwithstanding.

There are a few parts missing, the mica in the door has been replaced with a steel sheet and this stove had a hopper which is missing. The firebrick which sits directly above the firebox are slightly rounded and would be held in by clamps on either side of the door are also missing. Actually he has the originals, at least some of them, but some are missing. The firebox is 12 inches in diameter at the bottom, 14 inches at the top and approximately 12 inches deep (didn't measure the depth). The stove itself is about 4 feet high. Unfortunately when I went to look at this stove I forgot my camera so I only have 4 pics from my cell phone, (old flip phone so limited resolution).
I want to replace a little used woodstove in my house, the idea being that it would be used occasionally, especially when we lose power which is not infrequent. Otherwise the EFM 520 highboy in the cellar does just fine. I am familiar with handfired coal stoves, I have a warm morning that does an outstanding job heating my garage and an old "heatrola" that I use in another outbuilding.

So my questions are, will the type of material used on the outside of the stove (powder-coating and high-temp stove paint last well? Are the firebrick or some substitute available? As you can see from one of the pics there is an outlet on the top of the stove that presumably would have directed hot air to the second floor of a structure, something which I don’t plan to do. Any downside to that other than appearance? I understand I would probably need to dismantle this and seal it with furnace cement. Oh, the threads on the air vent were stripped and would need some sort of repair.

Given all of this, is $1K a reasonable price for this stove? Sorry for the long post.

Thanks in advance, Jim

$1K and a non-restored stove? hmmm... Powder coated the nickel trim? Well it might work, but I wouldn't want to be the test house at that price... High temperature paint is used all the time.. But you still have to tear the whole thing apart and re-do all the seals... This one would not work for me...

dj

This is a mid-quality oak stove. $1,000 is way too much to pay for that stove. For that price it would have to be a mint original. Don't jump on the first one that looks promising. Take your time and you will find one that you will love and be happy with.

Good looking stove, but looks don't heat the house. I agree that $1,000 is high. For $1,000, for me at least, it would have to be pristine, no missing anything, fresh nickle, ready to fire. Even in pristine condition I'd have trouble paying a grand.

Thanks very much for your informed responses, I will pass on this and keep my eyes open.

Jim

They aim of restoration is to bring the item back to original condition. In this case too many things are either undone or done in a different way from original. It no longer has the possible antique value it could have.