I'm cleaning up a really cheap enders I mentioned that was for sale.... It was cheap even if it was for parts.... This has to be the rustiest stove I've cleaned up. I was surprised that it came with a spare jet Dropped the mess into citric acid....look at that soup! Tank cleaned up ok...I will leave the paint here alone...cool label. More later... I'm in the middle of a knife fight with the rust haha
I’ve been using citric acid and lye once in awhile to remove paint. Paint remover only gets most of the paint off, leaving much follow up work. Duane
I dearly love my Baby, good job cleaning that one up. Finally had to put a new wick in mine last year, now it's roaring again.
@hikerduane Thats a new one in the use of lye for me. I will have to try it! Right now its citric acid, electrolysis, or airplane paint remover...depending on the weather I guess. This was citric acid and airplane paint remover. Works good.
@Majicwrench Its a pretty stout little stove for being small as it is! I had to replace the wick in this one too, I think someone in france was trying the wrong kind of material but switched it and got it running. It has the pump that is angled and doesnt need a washer for the pump leather. Different that the 263 I have. I had to make the burner plate as this one is missing. I made it out of a SVEA 123 plate I reshaped down.
I have one of these too but mine is missing the pump NRV system, would love to find one to get it back going. Nice job on getting the rust off
Be careful in more than one way with lye. Even spillage briefly will lighten paint, don’t know if polishing compound would restore full color. Also, may cause paint to lift if spillage is very brief, paint at that point may have been compromise already a little. Just a observation a few days ago when working on a Coleman 200A. Duane
@hikerduane my wife actually said this exactly "don't get that shit on your skin...it burns" haha...I'm guessing it's more common to find lye in Europe. I'll have to try it though... Looking for some today actually
I thought that was an odd looking burner plate. Interesting all the different burner grates on the Baby.
I’ve had no issues touched lye solution or pulling pieces out, just never dipped my whole hand in. I also will pull pieces out with something, then grab it in my fingers. Only burning is if there is a tender area on a finger. I wash right away in water or dip in vinegar. Duane
@Remus1956 Excellent work on fettling/restoring your Enders Baby, certain stoves some look better with a aged patina look some look better in pristine i personally think and like the look of the Enders Baby in nice clean condition as you have done well done there
@mr optimus thank you! That means a lot actually. I'm kind of a mix of both...I like the patina on a lot of my stoves... But when they're in such bad shape as this I figure it's not going to hurt anyone if I clean it up. This one was so bad the box had rust particles like dirt floating around. At least it doesn't have holes in it... Lucky for $40 bucks
