Florence HB No.68 - Refurb...

I found a Florence HotBlast stove on a trip through eastern KY today. A lady had been using it for a decoration and then decided she was done with it.
I have to admit, I'm a total rookie when it comes to evaluating stoves and what their potential value may be. I picked it up for $200. I don't know if that's a deal or not but I can tell you that I have pissed away a lot more money on things in the past that were likely worth a lot less...lol.
The only knowledge I have of these stoves is what I've read here on this forum. As most of you probably know, I live in KY and burn bit. From what I understand the Florence Hot Blast's are right at the top of the food chain when it comes to their ability to effectively burn bit. I have been researching these on here with the thought of adding secondary burn capabilities to my other Hotblast (the modern day Hotblast that most on here don't seem to like...lol). Honestly I'm not even sure where I'll use it. It's pretty big. I have a small shop that's only about 500 square feet. My guess is that it would run me out of there. And, it's not an "add-on furnace" like my other HB is so It's really not a candidate to replace that.
Now that I have it, I'm considering doing a complete refurbish on it. It appears to be complete (at least to my novice eye). Right down to original lid-lifter that is is designed to lift lids with one end and attaches to the grate for shaking on the other (Maybe that's not that big of a deal but I thought it was pretty cool).
According to the trim, this is a model No. 68. I haven't been able to find any info regarding this specific model. Or what the possible age of this stove might be. It doesn't seem to me to be nearly as ornate as most of the other Florence HB models. Maybe this was an economy model or base model.
The cylinder is made of what I assume is a heavy gauge rolled steel instead of cast. Maybe that's the way they were all made. I don't know because I've never actually seen any of these stoves in person before. The cylinder does have some pitting but no obvious holes or soft spots. It also shows the signs of what looks to me to maybe be some over-firing. It has warped a little on each side of the door frame. It's not bad but definitely a little warped. Is this cylinder something that can be replaced with a new one? Are there places that can roll a new one? Any thoughts?
All of the ornate trim pieces have been painted silver. I assume that at one time they were nickel plated. The finial is pretty unimpressive looking.
The fire pot seems to be in good shape. The grate and secondary air ring also seem to be in good shape. All the other major components of this stove appear to be cast. So I assume a wire wheel and some stove polish will clean it right up.
On the door someone has placed a thin piece of tin behind the trim in an area where I assume there was once a piece of glass.
There is a little spin control looking knob on the rear of the stove at the bottom of the fire pot that is what I assume to be a secondary air flow control. This control is frozen up. Maybe if I disassemble the whole thing to refurbish it I'll be able to see what's going on with that.
I have attached several pics below.
I have no unrealistic expectation that this stove is some rare find but I find it to be an interesting piece of history.
Any input or advice regarding refurbishing would be appreciated.

Nice looking stove. I haven't seen one like it before either.

I see the air ring is there to burn off the volatiles, can you see any warpage on it? The pics don't show the warped area you speak of, is it the barrel thats warped, or the door frame itself? I would tear it apart, check the firepot well for cracks or warpage then make a decision at that point. The barrel can be made if necessary. KingCoal just had one made for his project stove, And Wilson also had barrels made, so it can be done.

If you decide to keep it, you may want to get new grates cast, along with the air ring, at someplace like Tomahawk Foundry. They do good work and are very fast. They just made new grates (similar to yours) for Uncledodat, and they turned out fantastic.

There was probably Mica in the door, others on here can tell you where to get it.

William says the Florence Hotblast stoves were some of the best bit burners available. And with your availabity of Ketnucky Lump coal, that doesn't clinker that stove would work great.

Good luck and please post lots of pics.

That secondary air ring/cresent, I beleive, is not made of cast iron. Protect it by all means, it may be die-cast pot-metal. They seem to get abused, my guess, by allowing the air holes to become blocked or plugged with excessive ash where by loosing the steady movement of air though the channel which prevents them from becoming hot enough for the pot-metal to reach the melting point and be ruined forever.

SWPaDon wrote: The pics don't show the warped area you speak of, is it the barrel thats warped, or the door frame itself?

The warped area is on the drum and not too bad. If you look at the pic below I held a piece of angled aluminum up to the drum just beyond the door frame and you can see where the warpage is. There's a small area on both sides of the door frame that is like this. The best I can tell the door frame seems to be fine.

Also below is a pic of the "hot blast" control. I assume that is supposed to turn but it's frozen up.

Another question, why the two doors on the barrel? It's like a split door with the smaller top door behind the larger bottom door. So you have to open the big bottom door before you can open the smaller top door? Is that like some sort of smoke shield maybe?

Holy Moly,

if I have the correct view, it's HUGE seems like it could easily be 4 Ft. tall at the base of the finial. I've not seen a Florence of that design before either.

i think $200.00 was pretty reasonable judging from what can be seen in the pics.

can you show us how the back is built ?

going to be a wonderful project if there isn't hidden problems or damage somewhere you haven't seen yet.

KingCoal wrote:if I have the correct view, it's HUGE seems like it could easily be 4 Ft. tall at the base of the finial. I've not seen a Florence of that design before either.

can you show us how the back is built ?

It is big. About 46" to the base of the finial. The barrel is 17" inside diameter.
Not much going on in the back. Just the "hotblast control at the bottom".
There's nothing very pretty about this stove...but it's interesting.

I don't want to jinx myself but I've looked pretty closely at the fire-pot and gas ring and don't seem to be any cracks... fingers crossed!
I am looking forward to the project.

You did good @ $200

Can't wait to see some fire pics!

Dammit! I just realized that, or at least I think I just realized that a piece of the skirt is missing. My guess is that there should be 4 pieces of skirt. One in the front, one on each side and one in the rear. I only have 3. The front and both sides.
Oh well, I guess if one was going to be missing it is best that it was the rear one...

Ky Speedracer wrote:Dammit! I just realized that, or at least I think I just realized that a piece of the skirt is missing. My guess is that there should be 4 pieces of skirt. One in the front, one on each side and one in the rear. I only have 3. The front and both sides.
Oh well, I guess if one was going to be missing it is best that it was the rear one...

I doubt very much there was a piece of skirting on the back of the stove. It would make it very difficult to access that afterburner port on the back of the stove.

Randy

Ky Speedracer wrote:Dammit! I just realized that, or at least I think I just realized that a piece of the skirt is missing. My guess is that there should be 4 pieces of skirt. One in the front, one on each side and one in the rear. I only have 3. The front and both sides.
Oh well, I guess if one was going to be missing it is best that it was the rear one...

No, no rear skirt on that stove, I have never seen a #68..

Photog200 wrote:I doubt very much there was a piece of skirting on the back of the stove. It would make it very difficult to access that afterburner port on the back of the stove.

That was kind of my thought originally but when I was taking the other 3 skirt pieces off I noticed the bolt holes on the back of the side skirts and made the assumption a "back piece" had been removed. I guess they made one mold for a single side skirt that could be used on either side.
Thanks for the feed back guys!

Ky Speedracer wrote:

SWPaDon wrote: The pics don't show the warped area you speak of, is it the barrel thats warped, or the door frame itself?

The warped area is on the drum and not too bad. If you look at the pic below I held a piece of angled aluminum up to the drum just beyond the door frame and you can see where the warpage is. There's a small area on both sides of the door frame that is like this. The best I can tell the door frame seems to be fine.

Also below is a pic of the "hot blast" control. I assume that is supposed to turn but it's frozen up.

Another question, why the two doors on the barrel? It's like a split door with the smaller top door behind the larger bottom door. So you have to open the big bottom door before you can open the smaller top door? Is that like some sort of smoke shield maybe?

The warpage on the barrel is minor, no worries there as it can be remade relatively cheaply, and it doesen't appear that it would interfere with the operation of the stove.

Just be sure to dismantle the stove and reassemble, sealing everything and you should be gold.

EDIT: the two doors is because I believe that stove can burn wood also. Sorry for missing that part.

Well, I'm a little bummed tonight. I tore down the stove tonight and found a crack in the fire pot. It was behind the air control ("hot blast control") on the back of the stove. There was no way to see it until I took it apart.
That area was warped some and the crack goes across the middle of it and down one side. This seems to be the only area with any cracks.
Is there any repair that can be done to a cracked fire pot?

Yes, some have repaired small cracks in firepots, and then lined the firepot with refractory cement.

The problem with that is your cracks appear to be quite severe. And if it could be done, it would reduce the effeciency of that stove drastically. When the air is brought in thru the 'hotblast' control, the air is superheated by the firepot before it goes over the fire to burn off the volatiles.

.I would check on the possibilty of having a new pot cast. Tomahawk may be able to make one, but at least could give you an estimate.

It was a popular stove and many were made. You may find a *donor* stove with usable pot.

Thinking of what it would take to re-cast one, makes me think it may requires multiple mold parts, and not just using the desired part. But always worth a shot to ask a foundry.