“There's some guy up the street throwing an old woodburner out. You wanted one for the workshop, didn't you?”, said Mrs_Rod.
I certainly did, thanks.
Took a walk up, and there it was, left out for the scrappies. Went back with a sack-truck, and five minutes later it was in my workshop, on the bench, ready for a good looking-at.
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Mick, on Flickr
Opened the the door, and...ahh.....
Turns out it's not a woodburner at all, it's a gas heater tricked up to look like one.
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Mick, on Flickr
Still, it's a nice cast-iron box, with a glass-fronted door and a dummy ash pan hatch, complete with non-functioning air vent. So it's sort of half way to being a proper stove, and might save me from having to convert a propane bottle, or make something from scratch. Besides, who could resist iron casting with this level of detail.
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Mick, on Flickr
So let's see what can be done.
Stripped out all the gas-related gizzards.
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Mick, on Flickr
And loosened a few bolts.
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Mick, on Flickr
The base casting has a huge air inlet vent and some kind of vanes cast in.
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Mick, on Flickr
An angle grinder can deal with the vanes...
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Mick, on Flickr
And a handy off-cut of steel plate fills the hole nicely.
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Mick, on Flickr
Some penetrating oil, and some attention from a spanner...
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Mick, on Flickr
Gets the air vent working.
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Mick, on Flickr
The stove's back plate is the only part not made from cast iron. It's steel plate, so can be welded.
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Mick, on Flickr
Convenient, when it comes to filling in another big, unwanted hole.
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Mick, on Flickr
New rope gaskets all around.
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Mick, on Flickr
And a trial re-fit. All good, so far...
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Mick, on Flickr
The flue adaptor was originally on the top plate, and that blanking plate was on the back. I decided it would be better for me to have a nice flat top on the stove, and the flue on the back, so swapped them over.
That simple sentence does not even begin to describe the titanic struggle I had getting those six little screws out without shearing them off.
Don't even ask...
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Mick, on Flickr
The thing about a gas appliance, of course, is that it doesn't have a grate. So I would have to make one.
Fire grates are usually made from cast iron, and for a reason. I had visions of anything that I made from steel bar sagging under the weight, when it was red hot.
So I went straight for the “over-engineered” approach.
This plate is 10mm thick, with enough holes drilled to allow good air flow, but not enough to weaken the steel. Well that's what I hoped anyway...
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Mick, on Flickr
The other thing they don't have is an ash pan.
Never mind, find a bit of sheet metal, and cut it up,
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Mick, on Flickr
My high-tech metal folding apparatus comes into play. (Hoofing great mallet, just out of shot..)
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Mick, on Flickr
Job done. And while I had the welder out, made a little tool for pulling the hot pan out from under
the fire.
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Mick, on Flickr
I decided to make a little plinth for it to stand on. As you'll see, I'm better a metal-work than bricklaying...
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Mick, on Flickr
Stove in place, knocked a hole through the wall and fitted a flue pipe.
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Mick, on Flickr
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Mick, on Flickr
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Mick, on Flickr
Ready for the first burn.
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Mick, on Flickr
Nice and gentle to start.
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Mick, on Flickr
That's fine, now let's open her up, and see what she can do.
With the vents fully open, roars like a blast furnace and consumes fuel at an alarming rate.
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Mick, on Flickr
At more sensible air valve settings, there's a good controllable heat that keeps the shop at a nice working temperature, and quietly gets rid of the many scrap pallets we have laying about at work...