Well, hmmmmm. I should have taken pictures while I was doing that part of the fettle. Here's some advice. Buy brass scrap you think could work. Use a pair of tin snips if it's not too hard to cut. If it is too hard, do what I did and cut it with a metal cutting blade on your saws-all power tool. Use a Dremel-like tool to do the fine detail cutting. Finally, use a ball-peen hammer to shape the material and then, here's the key to all this - follow your gut. sam
I am proud of the achievement and pleased with the result. I'm also so glad to be done with it. I have other fettles that I've been chomping at the bit to work on, like my XR500 motorcycle... Thank you for your kinds words, sam
I've rescued numerous stoves that were in pretty bad shape, not as bad as this one but bad nonetheless. None worked at first, but with a little TLC, they can all look and work really nice. As for the types of people, well (IMHO!), I'm of the opinion that people care about what they care about and not care about. They might not care about their stove, but their garden might be immaculate. I guess I'm giving people the benefit of the doubt. But, I am glad that there are a few that don't care about their stoves so I can go in and rescue them! sam
Awesome!!! What a load of crap from the start, but what patience and hard labour You have put into it. I am in awe.. My suggestion is, whatever You do, keep the tank with the ding in it.. To remind You of Your hard labour, and all the sweat. Now I simply must go back to that fleamarket again, to buy the corroded heap of brass I saw there... If what You did is possible, there is no end to the limits.. Again, congratulations on a job well done. Best regards Uffe
Thank you Uffe. It was a labor of love and certainly not for profit and I'm going to keep the tank. It would be like an old sports scar. A reminder of what we went through! sam
Rustoleum textured, outdoor metal furniture paint. It worked effectively on the massive pitting of the case. sam
Hi Sam, That's an inspiring fettle - very well done. Presscall - ref your comment about volatile paint fumes and naked flames. I've use my Coleman oven a number of times for paint curing in the six months since I bought it with no problems. However, I've used specific high temp paints that are designed for woodburning stoves. The literature for those says that the by-product of paint curing is CO2. As CO2 is heavier than air I've been more concerned about it affecting the burn of the stove. However, I've had no issues either way. Cheers, Graham.
Wow. I am impressed on so many levels. There were just so many techniques involved. Cleaning, polishing, painting, but most impressive to me is all the fabrication (the heat shield rocks - but all the other stuff that you don't readily see is great too!) Outstanding job. Add to that it is just darn pretty too.
thanks for taking the time to document the original and resulting condition... it gives those of us stovie mortal fettlers hope that one day we'll be able to resurrect a fix half as nice as yours!
