My Optimus 45 Tin Tools etc Roarer The disc came with it but after speaking to Mike the Stove, he says it was from an earlier model & not part of my stove. Shiny Full Set Up First burn was orange but probably burning off all the crud etc However second burn was much better Super Sexy ( Only just realised the reservoir cap screws onto the end of the pump knob after I took the photos )
Great stove; really fine presentation. Welcome to CCS. Splendid debut! It's not easy to find one with an intact tin of the older, 'square' type; newer ones had a cylindrical tin with a lot of unsatisfactory styrofoam support structure in it. My favorite stove, when all is said and done. My folks gave me one in 1962 or '63. An unknown item in these parts then, it contributed greatly to my status in my gang. My nostalgic memories of it brought me to CCS in 2001. (It will produce a yet more powerful burn than you show.)
Nice to meet you. Yes I love the tin too, the pot support doesn’t fit inside as it’s about 2cm to big, so I’m going to use a leather strap to attach it to the top of the tin. Nice story, my dads got a couple of old stoves, not sure what flavour they are but my memory camping when young was always on these types of stoves, the smell, the noise sends you right back :-) one question if I may, as this hasn’t got an automatic pressure release valve on like my old blowtorch has, could it be over pumped and damaged or if it was would it just squirt fluid out of the jet?
I don't believe these originally came with a trivet, which is why it doesn't fit in the tin. This 'overpumping' question comes up now and then, but it is extremely difficult to see how it could possibly happen, apart from somebody actually trying to achieve that deliberately. Yes, I think fuel would emerge.
@Blueangelical Very nice indeed. I would think it dates from the mid/late 1950's or thereabouts although Optimus did not date mark their stoves. As regards pressure release valves, would your blow lamp be a petrol fueled model? If so, that would partly explain why it had a PRV and your paraffin stove does not. Monitor made a feature of fitting relief valves to the filler caps of paraffin stoves but I think the general consensus is that they are considered more of a marketing tool than a necessary safety feature.
My torch is a Buflam, by Chas Twigg & Co ltd. made in Birmingham, England. here’s some piccies a little advertising poster for them I found
Well that pre-dates 1957, as that was the year they went bust! It has a pump on it, so I am thinking paraffin, maybe, but not necessarily. Need to find an expert - deffo not me!
Hi @Blueangelical . Very artistic images of a nice Optimus No.45. The flame would look and perform better without the addition of the brass cap from a “silent damper” perched on top of the roarer burner. As Mike has told you this part does not belong to this particular stove. Both Optimus and Primus used this form of silent damper at some time. Here is an image: Primus No:100 - Fifty years of continuous development? Best Regards, Kerophile.
Yes I spoke to Mike the stove after I took the first pictures and he told me it wasn’t part of my stove. I’ve taken it out of the stove box and suck it on my wall :-)
Hi @Blueangelical Regarding the likely age of your Op. 45: From this thread: Dating Clues for Optimus No.45 and 48 stoves.
Hi. Your stove looks impressively. I agree with the previous speaker, it has been exposed very nicely in the photos. It looks really beautiful against the old boards. The torch also. Regards.
Thanks for all the positives folks, it’s nice to share with you. Managed to snag this Primus 1601 windshield too, somebody had spray painted it and it was horrid when I had it. Much scrubbing later, then baked it over a high heat and oil plunged it to seal it.. I treated the stove to a new jet and replaced the pump cup and washer as well as the metal burner washer too. Now burns bluer and with more of a roAR and here’s it all making me a cuppa… love this stove xx
So after seeing my stove all sparkly, the old man popped over with his stove to compare. His has on “The King of Stoves - Svea 106” and it’s practically the same size as mine with a different pressure release knob We replaced his jet with a new one, gave him a new leather pump cup which he’ll have to soak in oil first to supple up, gave him a new lead washer for the burner, although his was existing one was fine, he’s got a spare now, also swapped out his none return valve for a new one as his leaked fuel into the pump chamber. Then we run them side by side to see who’d win in boiling a pint of water from cold. Now his had the bigger kettle which covered the plate and mine had my smaller kettle on. Both flames were pumped to the same roar, absolutely no wind. Which one boiled the pint of water first ?
@Blueangelical Well my guess is that yours "won" - wholly on the basis that otherwise, you might not have mentioned it!!
