Home Stove Works #25 Base Burner Restoration

nortcan wrote:Hi Paul, we still be waiting for the next batch of photos showing your art. That will bring some new actions on the forum !
Thanks

Hi Pierre, Did a bit of traveling and relaxing the past few weeks, but I did free up some time to get the refractory done on this one and the Grand Social insert.

First picture is the firebowl shimmed up in the sandbox.

Second picture is the tapered pot screwed down and centered in the bowl.

Third picture shows the sand packed around the bowl to the top of the fingers, and refractory poured

Fourth picture is bottom of bowl

Fifth picture is finished bowl

Paulie

Got some free time today and decided to work on getting the stove back together.

Sent the name badge and footrest out to be cast, and once they are back, all that will be left is the mica and plating.

Paulie

Got the mica finished up in the doors and my footrests and personalized family name plate came backno no n1 from Tomahawk today. Hope to get them fitted, ground and polished up and out the door for plating.
Looks like other than a test burn this summer, it won't be heating the man cave till late fall.

Paulie

It's really looking terrific, Paulie.

I love that gun-metal gray color.

Paul

I thought you were going to do the plating??????

Sunny Boy wrote:It's really looking terrific, Paulie.

I love that gun-metal gray color.

Paul

i thought the gray ones were the casting patterns ??

Scottscoaled wrote:I thought you were going to do the plating??????

I thought so too. Didn't you just purchase the equipment for plating Paulie? Or am I mixing you up with the other Paul?
No matter, your work is extraordinary, (as usual), and the fall will be the icing on the cake, to all your hard work. Can't wait to see it, and your man cave in action. By the way Paulie, how was the mica going in, on all them windows? Have to tap out or re-drill any framing holes? I'm guessing more than a few hours went into them.

Sunny Boy wrote:It's really looking terrific, Paulie.

I love that gun-metal gray color.

Paul

Its finally getting there. Which gun metal gray Paul......... The fresh gray color of the new castings or the primer on the patterns ?

Paulie

Scottscoaled wrote:I thought you were going to do the plating??????

This one is going in to heat the Man cave so I want all of the plating to match. Right now my nickel tank and rectifier are too small to do the bonnet.

Paulie

KingCoal wrote:

Sunny Boy wrote:It's really looking terrific, Paulie.

I love that gun-metal gray color.

Paul

i thought the gray ones were the casting patterns ??

Thanks right Steve, the light gray ones are the patterns. The one footrest had a tab broken off and the other was cracked in half. I welded them up used one as a pattern and had two new ones recast. The name plate has more plastic in it than metal.

Paulie

joeq wrote:

Scottscoaled wrote:I thought you were going to do the plating??????

I thought so too. Didn't you just purchase the equipment for plating Paulie? Or am I mixing you up with the other Paul?
No matter, your work is extraordinary, (as usual), and the fall will be the icing on the cake, to all your hard work. Can't wait to see it, and your man cave in action. By the way Paulie, how was the mica going in, on all them windows? Have to tap out or re-drill any framing holes? I'm guessing more than a few hours went into them.

You didn't lose your sanity Joe, I bought the tip of the iceberg of what I need to be able to plate everything on the stoves. I'm going down to Philadelphia next week to look at some more plating tanks, pumps, heaters, air spargers, anode baskets, bus bars, and racks.
It's a little more involved than I envisioned.
If the numbers work out, he has the equipment to do cn copper, acid copper, bright nickel, black nickel, brass, bronze, and acid tin.

Now that the penny floor hearth is done, as soon as it warms up enough to let the fire die out, I can move everything out of the room to grind and pour the man cave floor. I'm not sure if I want to put up the greenhouse first and move everything in there or just lug it upstairs. Too many projects for an old guy.

Actually the mica went in really easy thanks to our fellow members and their excellent tips.
Most of the original mica survived and I was able to use them as patterns. I used a paper cutter, scissors, and a few dabs of high temp silicone to hold them in place until I got the mica retainers tightened up. Didn't need the drill at all. Only took about two hours and four beers!

Paulie

Sheesh, you guys need to paint more cars. Not the gray primer on the recasts. "Gun-metal gray" is a darker color with a slight metallic sheen - I mean the finish color on the stove being assembled.

Since your putting mica, and the stove body looks darker than the recast parts, I'm assuming the finial finish is already on the stove body. Is that paint, or polish ?

Paul

Sunny Boy wrote:Sheesh, you guys need to paint more cars. Not the gray primer on the recasts. "Gun-metal gray" is a darker color with a slight metallic sheen - I mean the finish color on the stove being assembled.

Since your putting mica, and the stove body looks darker than the recast parts, I'm assuming the finial finish is already on the stove body. Is that paint, or polish ?

Paul

OK ........ Gotcha now, it was after midnight when I answered, but I think it has a lot to do with the lighting. The stove room has fluorescent and the man cave is led. This pic when I fitted the recast footrest shows the difference better.

For a comparison below the stove is the cast nameplate from an Acme Carbon polished and ready for plating. The wing is nickel and the footrest pattern primered. The stove body has three coats of high temp black, one coat of high temp copper on the outside, and then stove polish. I may rub off the raised portions when it's finished to highlight it like I did the Hero Dockash. It only takes a few minutes, and if not satisfied I'll stove polish it again. Here is a picture of the front and back sections of some finials in various stages under the same light.
They were all cast by Reading Stove Works for the Brilliant Sunshine, Penn Garnet, and International Star. They were also sold to Grander Stove Co and are on the Merry Brides. They all have the same casting numbers and I needed one to complete the $50 Brilliant Sunshine baseburner I found on Craigslist. The recast halves interchange perfect with the originals. Now you can see why I was confused. If I were to pick gun metal gray ........ I'm thinking the recast footrest
Paulie

Oh yeah ! I like that copper high-light affect. It really brings out the three-dimensional affect of the design work !!!!! And I'm surprised how well the stove polish covers the copper !!!!!

Almost seems a shame to mess it up by putting a fire in it.

Paul

Mind blown with that copper!

So after the three coats of high temp black you spray with high temp copper then polish? Seems simple enough but have a feeling if I tried that I wouldn't get the same result. Did you do anything special for the letters to get them so crisp or just buff out the polish?