Greetings, Gents, Recently, I've scored a few more neat stoves, and thought I'd share them with you. I bid on, and won, an Optimus 100, and as the seller was from a town not that far from me, he and I made plans to meet yesterday to complete our business. We met down the mountain, while Sweet Bride and I were running errands. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to receive, as the seller had told me that he had fashioned the flame spreader out of steel, to replace the missing one on his stove. Imagine my surprise, when I found the stove to be outstanding in all respects, and his flame spreader to be perfectly and professionally done!! This stove has one of the nicest Optimus pot support rings I've yet seen. I'll post photos soon. Very nice stove, and in perfect condition, all for just $35. What's not to like??! After picking up the stove, and running a few other errands, Sweet Bride and I headed out to Yucca Valley, to visit the Old Town Coleman Center, and score some lantern parts for myself and Bart. The drive out there took about an hour, or so, as we were already down the mountain, and it's all desert terrain. The surrounding mountain peaks had a nice covering of snow, however, from our last spate of storms. Frank Bebb, of the OTCC, made arrangements to leave a bag of the parts I needed, and at the end of the day, I had them in hand. Frank is a good guy, and his prices are simply unbeatable! But, one other neat thing happened while we were visiting Yucca Valley. This small town has several antique stores, and while perusing the offerings in one of them, I found a nice stove!! Sitting quietly behind a Coleman 200A lantern, was a very nice Primus 51!! It was stamped underneath the font, "AK", which means 1946, and the stove is almost 100% complete. The only missing part is the flame ring, which I can replace, easily. This stove even has it's chained font cap, and the pot support ring! Very nice! Cost? This gem set me back only a paltry $20!!! There was one other stove in the same shop, but I decided not to buy it. This one was an Optimus 45, onto which someone had installed a silent burner. I could not tell if the burner was from Optimus, and it did look a bit "different", more like a SVEA burner. The inner and outer caps were missing, as was the adjustment spindle, the pot support legs, and the pot ring. The asking price as $22.50. I think the seller would discount the stove 15%, but I didn't ask about it. If anyone is interested, I can send them contact information for the store. Besides the good fortune of these two stoves, I have another one on the way, from Florida. This one is also a Primus 51, but one with a silent burner! We'll see if it looks as good as it did on Ebay, and I'll post photos of all three stoves soon. Oh, yeah, the parts I needed from OTCC fit the Exponent lantern perfectly, and Bart's parts will be on their way to him today. We topped off our mini-adventure by driving back up into our mountains and going home by way of Big Bear Lake, where we had dinner in one of our favorite old haunts, The Captain's Anchorage. This place used to be owned by Andy Devine, whom some of you movie buffs will remember as Wild Bill Hickock's side-kick, and a mainstay of many old Western movies. Great place, and one we don't get to visit often. My Mom used to live in Big Bear, but no longer does. So, it was a real treat to visit that restaurant again. Got to run, but I'll continue this as soon as possible, with further reports and photos. Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc Mark
Hi Mark It sounds like you had a great time. The place names you drop into your posts are ones which sound so familiar to old buggers like me in the UK who grew up on films and TV programmes made in the USA. They sound so wonderful, so exotic and so exciting - I am very envious!! Your recent aquisitions sound really good buys. Get the photos on as soon as possible. It must be great (sorry, have used this twice now) to be able to call into the Old Town Coleman Center for parts - not quite so easy for us here in the UK. As you will have noticed, I have come across a lot of emoticons/images and have started to put them in my posts. Unfortunately, I have so far only made a few of them available to me to post on-line. This means that sometimes the emoticons do not match the text. So you get this one . . . . |imgRemoved|
Who of our generation, at least we Yanks, can forget Jingles? I've been watching a lot of the Western classic movies over the last year, and was delighted when he showed up in several. "Stagecoach" I think made both his career and John Wayne's. I also remember him as the host of the Buster Brown show on early tv. Pluck your magic twanger, Froggie!
I seem to remember Andy Devine in just about every old western I watched as a kid. Not a superstar, but he worked a lot. Doc, the 45 was fitted with either a silent or a roarer burner. I now have 5 model 45's 4 roarer and 1 silent, great stoves, go back and get it My local antique shop gets stoves in for me from time to time, he thinks it funny that grown men collect them and he is very good on prices. My last lot from him was two Alladin kero heaters and some new old stock wicks in their boxes, he charged me ?15, about $35. I think it pays to let people know what you want, it can pay dividends.
Hey, Guys, Yes, "Jingles" was one of my favorite charactors in the old Western movies! I also loved "Gabby Hayes". Remember him? But, "Jingles", and the raspy/squeeky voice that Andy Devine used for his charactor, really made him memorable! Rik, I have one Optimus 45 with an adjustable silent burner, and have used it for years. It's a favorite of mine! But, I also have around 4 other #45 stoves, and thus didn't buy the one I found yesterday. I doubt that it will go anywhere, so if I decide to get it, I probably have some time. But, I'm not "moved" to get it at this time.... OK, Hell, I'll drive down tonight, and wait for them to open tomorrow morning!!! You are absolutely right about letting your local sellers know what you might want to buy. That's worked to my advantage, like it has for you. Hey, I know someone who is looking for an Optimus 199!! I'll "pass the word", and will also keep my own eyes open for a 199 for him!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc Mark
NIcely done, Doc! It's always a trip when you make a find like that, that too good to be true buzz you get when you get a break. I'm not much of a western movie fan I almost scared to say, but wasnt 'Gabby Heyes' the same guy who played the old timer in Blazing Saddles? Now THERE was a funny movie! The scene where the Waco Kid 1st meets Sheriff Bart while hanging upside down off his bunk and says "then we are awake....but we are very confused" has become a great source of comfort to me over the years. If it is indeed the same guy, I'd love to eat at his restaurant if only to say I had. Never been to the U.S, but I'm working on it. Pity the NZ buck is barely worth the paper it's scrawled on.....
Put a Face to the name, and now I remember who he is. Brings back fond memories ..sigh!! Enjoy the Stoves, Doc Spudz
Doc I gotta move to your neck of the woods. I have never found a brass beauty in any sort of shop around here. It is a shame. Go back and get it, you know you want to.... Good hunting. -franco
Morning, Stove Mates, Yes, Andy Devine.... brings back the memories. And, as noted in the bit that Spudz sent to check out, Kingman, Arizona, has renamed their main street after Devine. Kingman was his home for much of his life. Memories, indeed! Mike, I believe that Gabby Hayes had passed away by the time "Blazing Saddles" was produced. But, the "bearded old fart" portrayed in that movie _does_ , indeed, look like he may have been based upon Hayes' charactor! That was one funny movie, and besides the scene you mentioned, there are TONS of other memorable ones!! "Hey, Mr. Taggart, how 'bout some more of them beans"? "No, I think you Boys have had enough"!! Great cast of actors in that movie, too, so the fact that it's chock full of neat bits shouldn't be surprising. As to finding stoves, here and there - I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If you don't look, you won't find!! In the last 25 years, after finding the tons of stoves I now own, in more places than you can shake a stick at, I deeply believe that credo! Check out every swap meet, flea market, boot sale, newspaper ad, antique shop, thrift store, you can find, over and over again, and you WILL find some damned fine stoves!! Believe it, live it, make it happen!!!! But, yes, I do seem to be blessed with good fortune when it comes to finding neat stoves, and in many other ways in my life. For that, I am grateful and very appreciative! Life is good, thank the Lord!!!! I'll try to get time to take and post photos of the newest members of the stove family soon. I may wait until the silent burner version of the 51 arrives, just for fun. But, I'll post the photos as soon as possible. Take care, Lads, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc Mark
Hey, Lads, Here are a couple of poor photos, for which I apologize, of a few of those new stoves. First in line is the 1946 Primus 51 we found in an antique store in Yucca Valley; the second stove is the Optimus 100 that I won on Ebay, from a local Gent, who was a pretty nice guy, and quite interesting; and the last one in line is a SVEA 123 that I found last weekend in San Diego. Bought it for $22.50 as a gift for my best bud, from Las Vegas. An hour after I bought it, I fired it up, right in front of Mom-in-Law's place, using the fuel that was left over in the tank! The next photo shows the very interesting, and home-made flame spreader that the seller of this stove fashioned. I think he did a bang-up job of it, and it should work nicely, when I get to play with this stove! The pot ring is one of the nicest I've found. Last, is a photo of the interesting fuel cap, with it's captive tank cap in place. I've only seen one other like this, and that one was on a Radius stove. Any ideas as to the age of this contraption? Thanks for looking, Lads! I may go back and score that other stove that was being offered in Yucca Valley. It was an Optimus 45, with what appeared to be a SVEA silent burner, missing both inner and outer caps, it's pot legs, and also the spindle. Asking $22.50, but I may be able to get it for less. Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc Mark
Doc Great stoves, thanks for posting the photos; you are right that flame spreader is a fine piece of work for home production. Definitely get the 45 they are beautiful stoves, the one I picked up and cleaned up before Christmas is sitting on my desk as I write ! I picked up a legless Svea 106 recently which uses the same type of legs as the 45, and Bryan Miller made a set up at very reasonable cost, and as you know Bryan fettles wonderful legs Regards Keith
Hi Mark Great photos and great stoves. I like the look of that Optimus 100 - with a bit of luck someone might recognise the unusual tank cap which fits on the filler. Actually, although I haven't got one, it looks familiar and I have been trying to think where I might have seen one. It might well have been at Bryan Miller's. If he sees this post I am sure he will advise if he knows anything about it. I see you have yet another 123!!! It is no surprise at all that it lit first time without any fettling. As you may know, it is probably my favourite stove. I also noticed that you also got the special patented Svea pricker that went with the 123. A great design. |imgRemoved|
HI Team. It does my heart good to see the lovely stoves all tooled and polished up, if nothing else it's history preserved. In this world of butane cartridge pizo start insta-cook no waiting technostoves there must and should be an island where time has stopped, or at least slowed the hell down. The pic below is a Snail #71 from Japan, I think it's just missing the burner cup (Silent type?), when I pump it up it fountains kero everywhere, I'm not brave enough to actually light it. Seems to be in ok shape tho, no major dings on the tank which oddly has all it's writing in english, no ideograms. Here's the thing: cute as a bug's ear it maybe, I have no major interest it as my interest lies in backpacking type stoves. If anyone does, slip me an E and we'll deal. :-) Mike.
Hi Mike Suggest you don't try to light it, it's missing both it's inner and outer burner caps, so it would get a tad messy, if not downright dangerous ! Cheers Keith
I might be wrong (and sorry to be so technical), but what's that at the top around the tube-shaped thing in the cup-shaped thing? Looks just like an inner burner cap to me. Bloody stovies...
Ah David ! . . . . . well that's where you'd be wrong ! The inner cap when fitted to the burner goes up to the top of the tube thingy. The tube shaped thing in the cup shaped thing ( at the risk of going technical ! ) is part of the burner and takes the gaseous paraffin from the two riser tubes, around the burner to be warmed nicely before being delivered down to the jet. The inner cap is a much taller thingy usually quite a close fit inside the outer cap, which is obviously a slightly larger thingy full of holes ! There you go - crystal clear ! Keith
