Hi All Didn't think I would be posting again anytime soon as I had no intention of upsetting the better half and buying anything soon, but it appears even reading this forum can have unintended consequences. I had put the below stoves on my watchlist on Trademe as they had appeared here in another thread asking "What is this Fitting?", I certainly had no idea what they were, but was interested to watch and see, with no intention of bidding. Auction closed with no bids and on Sunday morning I received a "Fixed Price Offer", thought about it for a while, and then thought why not....it's only $40.00, $10 a stove..... Spent the next 2 days reading CCS about how not to buy incomplete stoves as the parts will probably be worth more than the stoves.... and I cant even see under those "Fittings", what have I done?? Anyway, went to pick them up last night and met old Rob, told him how I hadn't even thought about bidding, but the "Fittings" had caused discussion. Rob replied that he didn't know what they are but that they had been on there a long time to presumably to stop dust. How long have you had them Rob? "emmmmm 30 odd years... but they were my parents before that, I just kept them thinking one day I would look at restoring them, but got into cars instead". At that point I raised the first "fitting", then the next and next to find all inner caps and all but 1 outer cap in place.... and the caps don't look too bad... thank golly, at least there was hope! Loaded them up and chatted some more, I made a commitment that if I can get them going or even just cleaned up a bit I would flick him an email with pics. So arrived home with these....including the "Fittings" and set them up like their auction pic. So as per the auction description I had 1 Valor, 1 Osiris and 2 unknown, but described as, 1 possibly another Osiris? All but the Valor show signs of a very hard life and some old repairs..... But why did the Valor have a Optimus fuel cap on it? (and burner caps) and why did one of the unknowns have a Valor fuel cap on it? well at least they fit when swapped. Flip the 2 unknowns over and 1 has Hasag on the base with Hasag and No1 on the top, the other has a circle of xAB Optimusx Stockholm with Made in Sweden stacked between them on the base. The top was so built up with dirt/oxidation that nothing was evident, a little rub, a lot of rub....is that a 5, off to CCS and the SRG and the discovery that it is a Optimus No5, and a fairly early one based on the observations in the SRG. I will certainly be interested what @OMC, @igh371 and @kerophile, and anyone else! thinks about my observations to think it's fairly early. 1) external NRV 2) No feet on legs 3) only Optimus globe on tank side between pump and tank filler 4) incuse Optimus and Stockholm on each side of air valve, and top of fuel cap 5) Pinecone pre heater (I think burner is wrong though and no markings on caps, yet) 6) Optimus No5 on 1 side of tank top, Patent with Made in Sweden above it on other side 7) early tank base stamp? Do these make it pre 1915? I have cleaned a bit more with a fine cream and toothbrush, but may not do much more around the tank top lettering as it is all well worn I will take some better photos as time allows if there is interest, but I'm keen to know it's likely age. A lot of work ahead on all of them to try and get a burn at least once, after that they can look pretty most of the time..... Cheers Barrett (PS....it's all @Garth fault! "Fittings"????, well that's what I told my wife )
Barrett, You have done a great job sharing the No.1 details . Thank you, and that is an early bottom stamp. Barrett, Ian, kerophile, all, Pre-1915, I can say sure why not but can I explain why ... . The Patent and side globe logo only (no text) are noteworthy. I will defer to Ian @igh371 and take an easy way out: The characteristics of this one are closely aligned with Ian's No.1 Patent (posted as a pre-1915 No.1 ...in 2014). Good Lord only knows how many old domestics Ian has resurrected since then . Learning more details all the while. thx omc
@Barrett your Optimus No.5 is a nice find. I'm absolutely with you with where you are heading re date. We can now see the Optimus No.5 also appears in exactly this form in the recently posted 1911 Optimus catalogue. Could your stove potentially be even a little earlier than that? - it would be worth checking the pump rod cup assembly - is it the newer style shown as part number 247 in that catalogue, or the older style, with fixed backstop behind the pump cup, still available in 1911 as part no.246. Ian
Glad to see they have a good home still searching trade me for a 111 optimus finding lots of stoves but not the one im after
I saw them too and wondered about the Pixie Hat 'fittings', so did not bid / respond. Glad they have gone to a CCS member and not to the dump or metal-merchant. Will watch whatever restoration is performed on them with interest.
Hi @igh371 I am unable to view the subscription level information yet as we are in the final stages of building a new house and the tight budgetary restraints that poses, so asking the Minister of Finance who controls all electronic transactions to gain me access to stove information needs a selective timing no matter how small the cost is, cash is so much simpler, forgiveness is more forthcoming after to fact rather than the benign conversation as to why something is needed before the fact. I will find that selective time soon. In the meantime if you could look at the below pump pics and advise you thoughts to which part number this is? My thoughts are that it is the later part as the pump rod is machined to form the one way sealing action much the same as my 22? Cheers Barrett
@Barrett, yes that is the later type, but as the 1911 catalogue shows even that could as old as 1910/1 in the case of this type of Optimus
Thank you @igh371 So cool to be able to know a approximate age thanks to CCS. Was just looking at your early No1, Beautiful. Thanks so much for your help, and I may need it again as I try to resuscitate the bangers. Cheers Barrett
@Barrett OH dear!.... Another case of stove pox. There is no known cure. I thought I'd escaped throughout my 20s and 30s but got sucked back in when I volunteered as a scout leader. There are plenty of ways discussed throughout CCS to keep your good lady sweet. This wasn't one of them. Regards John
Hi All Just an update on the Bangers. After the success of firing the Valor 55 up last night and cooking the dinners spuds on it (posted in Flame Shots), I couldn't wait till this morning to give the Optimus 5 a crack having cleared the nrv late yesterday. Whilst cleaning and working on the stoves yesterday I noticed that the Valor was wearing a Primus burner and the Opti the Valor burner, not knowing why, I decided to leave them as is until I know whether they will be users or stuffed shelf objects. A bit chilly outside this morning so I gave the Opti 2 pre heats and then closed valve and gave 2 pumps, up she fired rather green , waited a few minutes and added some more pumps..... straight into under burn! Noticed I had a minor weep around the fuel cap so quickly made a new gasket. Pre heat and light again, closed valve and 2 pumps all good, wait a few minutes and pump 5 times, under burn! Broke my only picker trying to clean nipple, took nipple off and checked it, try to go again..... Under burn! Off with the burner, thought I would swap the primus off the Valor but I couldn't get it off even after running 2 pre heats to warm it up. Out with the Carb cleaner and a good blasting and soak. 2 pre heats just to be sure and away we go, after a few minutes its time for a bit more pressure, 5 pumps.... all's good. Ran for about 10 minutes without issue, so thought it's a shame not to have a pot on it A few good pumps to make sure we are up to pressure and on with a heavy copper bottom pot with about 600 mls of water, had a soft rolling boil in 6 minutes without further pumping. So a lot of beginners luck.... as both stoves are running on old pump leathers (soaked in olive oil) and nrv's that were stuck closed but opened after soaking the pump tubes with Kero. Guess those "fittings" were protecting them all those years lol. Now that I have 2 runners it is clear I will need some more tools for nrv's, nipples, and pickers if I'm going to carry on with this old stove capper, which much to the wife's bewilderment seems set in stone with the silly grin they give me. But that's 2 out of 4 so far, and this morning I managed to free the stuck Orisis pump, she'll be next, but may not be till after busy weekend. We have the Rally of NZ around our place up north this weekend and the roads are closed and we are locked in, so we have a paddock party to watch, 1 of the 2 runners will be coming along to heat the early morning soup Autosol is bringing the Opti back to life, currently reading all the solder removal/repair threads. Shots show first pre heat, first light, first under burn and then final re light and boil after burner clean. Again Thank you all for the collective knowledge on CCS. Cheers Barrett
These folk have all the tools ,seals,pump washers etc I get my parts from them caravan camping marine in Christchurch they have located a lot of obscure Tilley parts for me in the past too.
Hi All Banger Stove update Plans on putting one of the 2 runners into service at the Rally were cancelled due to my boy bringing some lurgies home from school which saw us both rather crook on the weekend, so standing in a paddock on a wet cold morning was ruled out, first rally I've missed. Anyway started on the Osiris, and this one was going to prove that beginners luck soon runs out. Looking at the before pic, the burner looks to be un pre heated? It had a stuck pump, which I had been soaking during the week, managed to get it out and found that the Osiris use a very large rubber O ring setup, which was now just pieces, so first I tried some heavy rubber I had and then discovered that the nrv was blocked solid, more soaking along with some cleaning to kill time. On Sunday I tried to pressure blow the nrv with the pump, this saw my new pump rubber blow apart after many attempts, so how to get the nrv out, now remembering I'm very impatient..... I soon had ground a slot in the end of a long coach bolt and thought I'll just be gentle and not stuff up the nrv, to my delight the nrv came out without any stress, but what a mess. So cleaned it all up and used some thin industrial rubber that I have as a pip, using the pip in the end of a drill chuck to cut it as I had read elsewhere here- Thank you whoever that was?. made a new washer for the nrv and tank lid from automotive gasket I had and also had to make another pump rubber, this time I thought I'd try a rubber tap washer (impatient and it was at hand), drilled out the center to fit and then used the drill as a lathe to take down the outside diameter to suit pump tube. Not sure if the rubber will last in this application, but it sure works at the moment. Time for a crack at a burn, I do realise that my choice of a cardboard box as a wind break is not usually recommended, but it's all I had at hand..... Success! But I didn't think it seemed to be developing much power as such, so I tried the caps off the other stoves, which didn't see any improvement, so decided that a 500ml boil test was needed to judge it by. Well I was pleasantly surprised that at just over 4 minutes they was some boiling action and at 4.53 it made the unvented lid rattle, the Osiris seems quite powerful for the look of the flame. So very happy and decided a family pic of the 4 was needed Now the family had headed back to the city leaving me alone at the place, feeling a bit better... time for a beer or 2 or.... Anyway suddenly I've an urge for a group boil up..... Sadly it was at this point that I realised that old pump leathers don't last forever and the Valor had a problem with getting up to pressure, luckily I had started molding some leather for the larger pump size a couple of days earlier, so over another beer or 2..... I swapped it out. Got to test it right? and no one is here but me, why not just do it inside, and well if I'm doing one... may as well do 3... So that was my weekend and the Osiris is now a little bit of favorite, it's got some spunk. I think the Trivet is meant to go with the Osiris and this is how it finished the weekend, I've left the feet bottoms and tank base the original condition just for reference. I would love to find out more about these stoves, as I like to with them all, so if anyone knows more history than what I currently found on CCS it would be great, there's little anywhere about them. I do wonder why the pot supports are removable as nothing else appears to be easily removed for any reason. Also remembered I had seen a rusty Trivet and 2 pickers at a small shop in Whangarei, so picked that up on the way back to the big city for $5. Sorry for my long posts, but I'm loving it lol Cheers Barrett
Hello @Barrett and a nice early Optimus you have there. I to was watching that auction and saw that stove but never followed it up. Congratulations on a great find and a great way to start collecting. Regards, John
G'day @Barrett Nice work on the stoves and I can see your infection of 'Stove Pox' is incurable Rather than using O rings on the Osiris pump it could be better to install a leather pump cup. It will work much better. Using a bolt to make a NRV too isn't a problem but you should wrap some tape around the threads to prevent damage to the pump tube. I usually pack it out with the tape to make a snug fit in the tube to help keep the tool straight on the head of the NRV.
