This was a conservation more than a restoration. I got this stove from an estate a couple hours down-Island in Duncan, BC and have been sitting on it for a couple years. I wasn't sure what to do with it. I really would have liked to strip and repaint it because of all the surface rust, but 2Bs are pretty rare and it was in such good shape otherwise. Not being able to find an off-the-shelf paint colour to match made up my mind. I gave it a good cleaning and degreasing, knocked down the rust with 400 grit, then wet sanded with 1000 grit, and gave it a light coat of boiled linseed oil. It runs extremely well. This is one of the few old stoves I've got with a story. The 2B was made in 1938 and the last of the No. 2 stoves before Coleman switched to using stock numbers and it became the 416B. I was able to track down the son of the original owner. He said his parents built a house in Victoria in 1938-1939. They built and lived in the garage first and bought this to use as part of a temporary kitchen. He said they likely bought it at Eaton's. Once the house was completed the stove when on a shelf in the garage and sat there until 2024 never used. That explains the surface rust and everything else being in excellent condition. It also confirms my suspicion that The Canadian Coleman Company imported most of the stoves the sold prior to the late 1930s. We know Toronto made their own version of the No. and No2, and later the Gypsy and Ranger. There was an A-series of 2s and 9s made at some point in the 1920s, but Toronto doesn't seem to have made anything else as far as stove went, choosing instead (I think) to import other models from the States.
