Hi, here is a stove that I received last week. It is a Primus 100, with the year code "A" for 1911, so over 100 years old. I have fettled it and here are some photos: Before anyone gives me a hard time about preserving patina, please study the last photo. This was the stove as I received it. There was quite a lot of work in fettling this historic stove. Best Regards, Kerophile.
Hi George brilliant transformation, well done there on a brilliant job and brilliant score. I adore the engraving and knurling on these older stoves, every component beautifully lettered and engraved, and the knurling on the pump knob and tube cap and filer cap is all so superb all this adds up to real quality item
Greetings, George, Fantastic job that wonderful old Primus 100 back to life, and making it look better than new!! HUZZAH!! Great photos, too, by the way. Thank you for all the sharing you do here at CCS. I always enjoy seeing what your latest stove/fettle/Kerophile Tea Test will be!! Again, brilliantly done, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Mark
I am pleased you included the 'before' photograph. It makes the final result even more impressive. As usual, these early stoves have deep engravings and so survive the ravages of time. This is a real beauty and is now set for another 100 years.
lovely indeed . and as much as like patina the as found wasn't patina . more like pootina . not a lot of choice in cases like this . and an excellent job you have done of it . cheers, kerry
Hi George . Fatastic fetting primus stove Very good image with vintage kettle !! Congratulation George Gunsoo
Hi Everyone, Thank you for your kind words. Hi Gunsoo, this model of copper kettle is one of my all-time favourites. It is made by Tagus,in Portugal. It is made for use rather than ornament, so is tin-plated internally.: Check out Tagus kettle on Ebay.com. Best Regards, George.
Morning, George, WOW!! There are tons of those Tagus kettles on eBay! What size is yours? R52? It would be nice to have several of those, in different sizes, for different situations! Thanks for the tip. I'll go fishing, and see what comes to hand! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Kerophile Excellent!! I appreciate and very much enjoy the fruits of your labor and you're often enlightening, sparking stovie interest beyond the post. Here, the brass feet caught my eye. You explain the repair in another post TY. It's an improvement in-brass and done SO WELL they were meant to be there. There's a fondness for this discus shape. YOUR stove is a VERY early Primus discus example, let's see.... CCS is so awesome, there's a catalog to learn even more, I do, and "what's this?" the 1912 catalog does not show your rounded discus tank. WHICH possibly leans support to yours being a VERY early example, maybe even the 1st year. It shows too that catalog images aren't always accurate to the year. I'm OFTEN a lil off and may have missed with any # of the factors. I think in a previous life I may have printed stove catalogs. THANK YOU for sharing kind sir. PS re discus shape, big picture it's one of the rare win-win examples which are great when it works out. ie dome/arch have superior strength, a win, the discus has more dome top and many agree looks better makes the win-win. With the stronger shape they use thinner brass. Some older flat sides may be stronger than newer discus BUT lighter weight is win-win too imo 1. cheaper production / reduce resources used and 2. meant to be portable, so lighter is better.
Thank you for posting George - the transformation was a treat to watch. The tank cleaned up nicely! Frank
Hi, here is the link to the fettling of this stove: https://classiccampstoves.com/posts/287827 Regards, Kerophile.
Hello George, Here is a photo of I an old Optimus I recently purchased very similar to the Primus you show here. It is not obvious from this photo and being somewhat new to this, I did not notice that the leg shown in the rear of the photo is actually bent. You can see better from these two photos...bent leg...It doesn't look to me like the tank is bent or pushed inward NOT bent.... The point of all this is that after I found your post where you restored the Primus, I'm now thinking the right way to correct this issue to replace all three of the feet in the same fashion that you did. If you have any thoughts from your years of experience with this, I would certainly love to hear it. BTW, where to do you get new feet for the stoves? The ones on it are steel and saw that you replaced them with brass from another stove. What does a guy do if he doesn't have another stove lying around to scavenge??
Hi, You have acquired a classic stove with plenty potential. I have no idea of your experience or skills level so my advice would be to take a measured approach. You look to have a stove with two legs which are original and quite serviceable...so if they ain’t broken don’t fix them The distortion on the third leg is not due to a bent leg, but as you illustrate, a distorted foot. It has either been damaged in situ, or perhaps detached at some time and re-attached incorrectly. I have seen re-attached feet before where the tank has been bent inward when the initial damage occurred and a clumsy repair has been carried out with the new foot following the indent in the tank. You asked what advice I could offer: 1. Grip the tank firmly in one hand, and use the other to pull the displaced leg back to the vertical. If you feel/see the tank being pulled outwards, or the solder joint separating from the tank stop. 2. If Option 1 does not work, carefully unsolder the displaced foot from the tank and after preparing both surfaces re-solder the foot (suitably restored to correct shape) back onto the tank. Re-soldering Stove Legs. Best Regards, Kerophile.
Thank You for your insight. I was going to try to pull the foot away as you described, but was not sure that was the correct way. So, thanks for confirming that. I thought about putting a huge "hose clamp: around the whole thing to try and keep the solder joint from pulling loose. Of course, I would put rags or something under the clamp to keep it from damaging the tank. As you said, if that doesn't work, then remove that one leg and re position it. Regarding that, I'm thinking the application of heat/solder will remove or discolor the patina in that area?? If it does, I would think the only way to get the appearance to be consistent all over is to clean it as you have described so well in other places on the CCS. One question I do have regards cleaning. Is the last step( after all the other methods) to use a buffing wheel on a bench grinder to polish the whole thing? I assume you would use rough on the wheel as if you are polishing ...a fine piece of jewelry??
Hi, I think you mean jewellers rouge rather than rough.... Yes I use successive polishing wheels and waxes. This is a link to the stove which had a dented tank where a leg had been detached: Fettling Hovik Primus. Best Regards, Kerophile.
I tried to tug on the foot and I felt it begin to pull loose from the tank. So, it looks like I a, going to have to resort to step 2. BTW, I got the links you sent via the other thread...very good information. Thank You. UncleBumble
