It took a while, but with a great deal of grunting and swearing (and wishing my strength was a little better; I haven’t been firing on all cylinders lately) I managed to get the job done. I repositioned the stove, cleaned it out, and reassembled it.
That last part is a miracle! How often do you leave a bunch of parts in a box for the better part of a decade… and then find them all when you want them?
I don’t know the age of the stove. I’m guessing it’s from 1939 but that’s just a guess. I looked up the make and model on the internet and found nothing. Funny thing, grab the serial number of a 1940’s tractor and someone somewhere has a web page explaining who made it and what they had for lunch. Not so with kitchen stoves.
It’s not a pristine antique but I’m very happy with it’s condition. It’s just new enough that it’s probably not a valuable antique. It’s just old enough to be cool.
Also it looks to be fully functional. It has a damper that works. There is a wood dumping grate lever thing (that’s a technical term?) and after some reassembly and a few “taps” with a mallet I got that working. There’s a flue adjustment lever over the oven and that works. The oven door spring is weak but looks fixable (and I don’t plan on baking a pie in my garage anyway). The oven door thermometer is probably toast but who cares? Everything else opens, closes, fits, seems straight, isn’t cracked etc…
A few details remain. I’m fabricating one small part. Nothing too big. I plan to install that before the “test firing”. Also I need to noodle around with black pipe and it’s junction with the existing insulated chimney (probably Metalbestos… it looks old but solid). Also I put the stove far enough away from the wall that I can slap up some paint. (And yes, the wall is “fire resistant” drywall; old and dingy but in good repair.
All told I’m not far away from having the cutest little kitchen stove in my garage. It’s like Christmas came early. I have plans to brew coffee on the cooktop, park my ass in a chair nearby, and hang out in my garage this winter. Ostensibly I’ll be working on a project. More likely I’ll be enjoying the space… something about wooden cookstoves really appeals to me.
Pics or it didn’t happen? Here goes:
I began with entropy and parts.
End result: Isn’t that the cutest little stove ever? I’m going to name her Betsy and use her to brew coffee (and maybe make bacon and eggs). Oh yeah, it might heat my garage too.