I do wish there were a DIY section here.

It could have two parts. One for gunsmithing, and the other for just general DIY.

If you ever make the section/s, I volunteer PMB to sort through all of WaGuns to find all the threads that belong there. LOL (I have put DIY into the title of this thread, to make it easier for him to find.)

~~~~~~~


Ok, getting to it...

First the background story.

In 2006, we had a big flood here. Roads washed out, whole houses and RVs floating away. Etc. I was stranded with no power, and no access other than walking out over a railroad bridge, for more than 6 weeks.

A friend of mine had a guest cabin that floated away. Never to be seen again. In that cabin was a LOPI stove that had never been used before. They found the stove about a quarter to a half mile away. (That's probably about where the guest cabin broke to pieces and the pieces floated away.) They brought it home, and it sat outside for 11 years. With a coffee pot sitting on the stovepipe fitting, to keep the majority of the water from getting into the stove.

They gave me the stove a couple months ago.

In spite of the coffee pot, the inside of the stove was packed with wet sand when I got it. 11 years of this, lead to massive rust.


When I started the cleanup, one of my biggest concerns was the internal passages. This being a model, (LOPI Answer95. Which is unlike other lopi answer stoves.), that has 'secondary burn'... I was, (am), worried that the passages might be full. Either of sand, or of rust. Also, these sort of things are usually engineered with a certain 'capacity'. In other words, passages of a certain size, to allow a certain amount of air through.

These passages are not just straight through from one place to another. They go around corners. I CAN'T see through, to see if I have cleaned out the rust and sand. I can only clean them the best I can, and hope nothing is left where I can't see, that might cause a hindrance to the airflow.

Same with the holes drilled, that the air ultimately flows though. My concern with those is that some are smaller because of rust. And others will end up larger, because I have chipped/cleaned rust out of them.

Here is a look inside the stove, at the beginning. (I have the world's crappiest camera. Most of the time it will NOT focus, no matter what I do. This is the best I could do.) This is looking toward the top of the stove.


Here is a look at the pipe in the front that comes off of some of those passages. This is some of the holes I talked about.


And now, by far, the worst of the damage. The floor of the burn chamber. This is after I used a needle scaler to remove the worst of the rust and scaling from about half the floor.


This picture really doesn't do justice to the reality. An incredible amount of rust and scale was there. If you look to the far right, mid-to-bottom corner of the picture, you can see one place where it is about to break through.

This was a 5/16" thick metal floor. Now it looks like it could break through if a mouse ran across it.

Obviously I can't just put the firebricks back in, and take a chance on it.

What I really need is a 5/16" thick piece of steel that is 12" by 21". (1/4" thick would probably do.) And I would weld it in.

I have no idea where I can get such an animal. Even if I did, I couldn't afford it. So I have been thinking about options.

I have some floor tiles that are 12"x12". Being ceramic is a plus. But I don't think they are the best option. Not really made for that, are they? LOL

However, what about... (I am not sure if I want to go to this trouble or not.) This, or some combination of this?

• Smooth a layer of furnace cement over the floor of the burn chamber.

• Lay in one complete floor tile, and one tile cut along one edge, to fit.

• Smooth in another layer of the furnace cement. Mostly to fill in around the edges, and along the seam between the two.

• Last...

I have this old 7 gallon propane tank. I have seen people make woodstoves out of these. (Was thinking about doing the same, before I was given the LOPI.) So obviously the steel is good enough to last a while.



As a final step, cut a patch from that tank, flatten it out, and lay it in there. Then either go around the edges with furnace cement or weld it in. Although, I think if I weld it in, I'll just put more furnace cement in, in the first step, and omit the floor tiles.

• Now reinstall all the firebricks, and light it up!


My preference would be to get the right plate of steel in the first place and just go with that. But I have no idea where. Nor do I have a budget for it.

I'll post back here, once I have finished. Or if I just decide to abandon the project, for lack of acceptable resources.

Tag to get back to you on steel. Should be able to help you out.

Cool!

Ok, I have a question.

Has anyone here ever used a product like OSPHO, on the inside of a woodstove?

Seems to me that even if it works, it would be a waste of time. Because it would be affected by the heat and flames.

Pretty much, working, but then going right back to rusting after you have used the woodstove a few times...

Has anyone tried it and had good results?

Yesterday, I picked up the piece of steel I need for the floor of the stove.


Sometime today, I will work at getting it into the stove.

The door may be big enough diagonally, to fit the plate through, but I kind of doubt it.

Cut the plate into two pieces to get it into the stove.

Welding the two pieces back together is optional, because you have fire brick going on top of the plate.

If it was me, I would stove cement the corroded areas flush to the rest of the metal only. Plate pieces in, no welding. Fire brick back in.

Prior to that, use a drill bit the right size to open up the secondary burn channel holes to the correct size.

At the bottom of the runs, I would drill out the lowest holes to about a half to 3/4 of an inch to get wire up each channel to open up the channels from any debris or loose rust remaining.

Use a shop vac to suck up all the crap, then weld over the holes, or plug them with a bolt or plumbing line plug the appropriate size.

Stove black the exterior, hook up to your chimney, and fire that bitch up.

Enjoy a good cigar and some hooch in front of the fire.

Now THAT is advice!!! Thank you.

Already cut the plate in half, and got it fitted with a bit of trimming.

Was debating whether or not I wanted to weld them in. I'll probably go for the furnace cement option, which I already have.

Already going to have to do a bunch of work, cutting fire brick to fit in there with the new, higher floor. (Going to have to be careful not to make it even higher, with the cement.)

I HAD considered drilling the holes, to get into the passages to clean them out. I hadn't considered something as simple as pipe plugs, (Black pipe. Standard plugs.) to plug those holes back up.

Yeah, they'll look a bit ugly, if I put them on the sides as well. Which I would have to do. But I really don't care all that much about the looks. I just want it to work right.

Plus, the holes will be where there are air passages. They will not be holes directly into the firebox.

~~~

So, at this point I am looking at:

• Drill 1/2" holes to access the air passages and get them cleaned out. Put in pipe plugs when done.

• Clear out the last bits of corrosion in the firebox.

• Furnace cement only to even out the old floor.

• Place in the, (Now two), metal plates for the floor.

• Furnace cement any cracks.

• Clean up all the old rusty-crusty fire bricks.

• Cut enough of them, to get those fit in. Then fit the rest in, full-size.

• Clean up the door and put it back on.

• Clean up the rust on the outside. Treat that with rust-pho. Maybe paint it.

• Install and fire up.

Use NOTHING on the outside of the stove besides stove black - everything else will outgas nasty shit, or burn off and look like shit.

Stove black just needs clean metal to stick to, and applies best with a piece of an old towel, with a tooth brush used to work it into rough surfaces left by corrosion.

Wipe away the excess before letting it dry, and fire that bitch right up.

Photos needed of the pastoral scene of yourself with libation and cigar, relaxing, A.F.

( After Fire )

At my rate of work, I'll be lucky if I am finished before spring. LOL

Fast reply - I just added more on refinishing safely.

Good advice. I'll look for some stove black.

Maclendons Hardware is your friend.

I have put several hours into this so far.
Benefit of tearing some cartilage in the shoulder I suppose.

Thank you for finding this.

I finished cleaning and fixing the stove. Still haven't installed it.

Wanna make God laugh? Tell Him your plans.