Wish us luck!!

[berlyn]

We started to restore our 1939 14-B Chambers stove. That's because hubby has complained he has no room in our garage!! After it's sat in the garage for about 8 months we started on Sunday disassembling it to get the stovetop off. You have to do that!! We finished on Monday late afternoon. We tagged and bagged each part(s) separateley and took pics so we would remember how everything goes back.
We are sending our stovetop to Lousiana to be reporcelian, as they had the most reasonable price. While disassembling it we found only 1 broken spring from the griddle/broiler, not bad for such an old gal!!
Well at any rate we did a whole kitchen remodel for this stove to fit. Hubby is excited that he'll be able to clean and repaint the interior where needed, I've got all the parts that need to be replaced. He's going to polish up the gas lines and wax the porclelain and give it some much need attention.
Any ways here some of our pics from the time we picked her up till today and we'll keep everyone updated!!

Also, when you go to the photo album, take a look at our other projects on the column to the left. Hubby is pretty darn handy, but Big Bertha will be his ultimate project!!!


[url="http://community.webshots.com/album/259218814eAzvEX"]Big Bertha---1939 14-B Chambers Stove[/url]

Thanks,
Berlyn

[lorikeets]

Wow Berlyn, thanks for all the great photos. And I thought mine was dirty! Have fun with your project, and I can't wait to see the finished photo in the new kitchen.
Gwen

[cejesq]

WOW. Lots of work there but the results are lookin good!

-CJ

[taheckler]

Hi Berlyn,

Hey, I LOVED the pictures! I have a stove that I think is the identical twin to yours, right down to the black porcelain top and condition! Actually, mine is probably in worse shape because so far ALL of my springs have been broken and many of the bolts were frozen in time (with the help of plenty of rust.) I wish I'd seen your pics before I disassembled mine - your pictures are a good anthology of what to expect when the covers come off. With every screw that came out of my ol' girl, my heart sank more. In fact, by the time I was removing the broiler box and thermowell from the top (I'm having mine re-porcelained too), I had to cut the stripped bolts off with a Drimmel, and drill the old screw out of the hole. Those last 7 stripped bolts were my lowest moment - I got close to thinking that the ol' girl might be a write-off. But, I kept plugging away, and now I'm on the upside as I'm going to take my reporcelain work in to the shop this week (I'm lucky, there's a place within driving distance that reporcelains for VERY reasonable rate,and they specialize in stove parts.) I had the chrome parts for the lights and timer face rechromed so was able to reassemble part of the backsplash last night. Putting it back together is the reward! I feel VERY pleased just seeing the little bit put back together in lovely like-new condition again - very satisfying and way worth the effort. I can't wait to get the top and burners back after they've been renewed - you probably feel the same.

I guess that the message in this long story to anyone reading this is to remember that your old stove IS an elephant, and must be eaten one bite at a time. And savor those moments when you win, even if it's just removing a single bolt. It's going to be worth it - these stoves are gems.

Thanks again, Berlyn, for your magnificent photos - keep 'em coming!

from Tura
in Southern California

[Todd W. White]

Be sure you replace the insulation when you're re-doing them!

[taheckler]

Todd, thanks for the comment about insulation. I had considered replacing mine, but was wondering if that was going to be even tougher than taking the top off (that was torture.) I would like to replace mine, though, if you can give me some insight into what it entails, and where I might find comparable insulation (the rockwool that's in there is pretty good stuff.)

Thanks!

[nufan]

i've not done anything to my insulation yet, but when i do, i plan to go with ceramic fiber.

if you go to my little webpage (see my sig) it has a link to a store on ebay that sells it in big rolls for not-too-much $ [img]smile.gif[/img]

[stoveman]

Hi Ya'll, Replace insulation???? Well, here's some stuff to think about. Chambers insulated their ovens, thermowells and oven door with "rock wool". They then wrote cookbooks and recipes understanding the "cool down" times of the oven and thermowell with Rock Wool insulation. Rock wool has an R factor of about 4 per inch of thickness. Now, you change to a different type of insulation with probably a different R factor and change the cool down time..... Won't all the cooking charts and timings of the recipes be changed. Don't burn that roast!
I have found that there are only 2 places that the rock wool deteriotes (it melts), The top front edge of the oven and the bottom of the oven door behind the "light Here" label. So, I only add a hand full of good clean wool to these areas. And rock wool is cheap, available and lasts more years than we will. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it! Anyone have other thoughts on the insulation ? Regards, Sam

[nufan]

interestingly enough, i did some research, and found the following:

Thermal conductivity:
rockwool .037 W/mK
kaowool .06 W/mK

smaller is less conductive, so the rockwool is actually better insulation. Crazy. I guess i'll leave well enough alone.

Thoughts?
(disclaimer, research was done on the internet - newer rock-wool could be better than the old stuff)

[berlyn]

Sammy D. -------
I'm thrilled you responded to the debate of insulation-- to redo or not to redo.
We removed the interior oven panel to replace it with a newer one. The "light here" label is missing from the original panel. The insulation was in great shape (like new) and we decided to leave it be.
I feel we would be changing the temp and cooking specs, if we messed with the insulation and you hit the nail on the head. We want to learn to cook with the gas off.

Our stove top arrived in Louisiana on Wednesday and we should have it back in about 4 weeks. So, hubby has his work cut out, if only the weather will cooperate!!

Sammy D. in your opinion what paint would you recommend for the black interior panels. (See 3rd from the last pic in our photo album for reference.) We've been told Krylon high heat/black. The rust is not as bad as it looks and we can more than likely "wipe" it off with fine steel wool pad.

Any suggestions, recommendations are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Berlyn