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Not sure what got me thinking about this but has anyone with an unrestored chambers started thinking about how long the unrestored version will actually last. I guess what I'm thinking is that I love the stove so much that I want it to last another 60 years or more. And at some point it's going to need worked on. Will there be anyone around to work on these things. So I'm contemplating how long it will take me to save up to send my wonderfully working unrestored chambers off to the shop for restoration.
For my plan to work, I'll probably have to buy another unrestored stove to get me through the restoration time.
Oh, this is getting complicated. And all for a stove that I didn't know I wanted.
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What kind of ceramic coating on the oven racks ???
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Ditto Ron and ha_sfan:
Although I didn't know it at the time, my B was in pretty darned good shape when we dragged it out of a Cincinnati basement. Bathed it in amonia and Oven Off, steel-wooled the chrome top, polished brass and aluminum gas plumbing, rebuilt the t-stat, painted some interior parts, replaced a few springs. The thing is like an old Buick. So little can go wrong, and anyone with a brain, some tools and a manual can put it right. That said, it doesn't hurt to have a few spare parts.
IMO, restoring is for fun, not necessity. I too love the history shown in the wear seen on my chrome cooktop, drip pans and burners. When someone asks me to restore a stove, I always recommend that they consider a "used" restoration, if possible, before they go to "like new".
As for the parts that need to be made: as long as there are Chambers fans who can make/fix parts or cause some machinist to make them (and there will be) we will know about them.
Don't worry about re-chroming going away: too many car and motorcycle nuts out there to let it collapse beyond the NIMBY thing happening now.
Joe
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Like Neil Young said, "Rust Never Sleeps."
For me the point of the restoration was to remove and stop the rust, and thoroughly clean it up, because the only thing that smells worse than 60 year old cooking grease is 60 year old cooking grease that you've reheated. New coat of high-temp paint and re-seasoning the cast iron parts. Grease the valves and get a safety put in so we don't blow up.
The top needed rechroming due to our old friend iron oxide, which had left spots on it, and a reporcelain of the burners, and that I don't consider a facelift. Just making it look like Mr Chambers intended it to look.
It's a hobby. As for cooking and recipes, I'll probably use it to boil water for my tea and heat up some oatmeal now and then, maybe cook a pizza.
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Mark;
Do you have your stove installed yet? I looked at your pics on flicker and it doesn't seem like it. If not, then just you wait till you try the twell, then the griddle and broiler. Soon you won't just be heating water and cooking pizza - you will be assimilated into the infamous oatmeal chat!
Ann
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Nope don't have it finished restoring yet. I'm planning to haul the main chassis into the kitchen this weekend, and then slowly begin attaching parts as they become finished.
I'm sure my wife will love to cook on it, she's the chef in the family.
Edit to add: Just called the rechroming place and the rechromed stovetop will be ready on Friday! Whoop!
<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ January 25, 2006 05:39 PM: Message edited by: lowracer ]</font>
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OK Mark, Now you've got me concerned about rust...if there is rust present, is dismantling the stove the only way to find it ? Is there any way to do a rust check while the stove is intact ??? I'm all for surgical intervention to save the patient so long as i don't need to change her appearance.
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The short answer: there's no need to do a rust check. If you have a 50 year old stove that was used to cook food, you have got rust. The only way to get rid of it is to tear it down and grind or chemically etch it off, then paint the bare metal with high-temp rustoleum.
Otherwise it's in there, slowly eating your stove from the inside out, growing and spreading like a reddish brown cancer.
Depending on how bad it is, your stove could live for twenty five or fifty years more, or it could rust through next week.
Edit to add: If however you want to do a rust check, just remove the burner grate and pan on the left burner, see if you see any rust down inside, use a flashlight. Look in the service cabinet at the side of the oven, and under the service cabinet floor pan, if you've got rust you'll see it pretty clearly.
<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ January 25, 2006 07:03 PM: Message edited by: lowracer ]</font>
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Well as I said before we had only planned on having the stovetop reporcelian and doing a good degreasing/cleaning on Big Bertha. The stovetop facelift was a must before I would ever bring her into my house or cook on her!! After we got the service manual for our B we had to practically disassemble the stove to get to the stovetop. It was at that point and time hubby decided to clean, polish, repair and replace any parts while the stove was apart and the stovetop was in Louisiana. He seems to enjoy doing tedious stuff like that!! Not me!!
We went with the theory too, "If it ain't broken don't fix it". Rockwool excellent shape, not replaced. Most parts were not in need of replacing except for the thumb latch springs and the stovetop cover spring. Most of the work was polishing, cleaning and degreasing. Hubby did the rust removal and repainted the interior cabinet. We are near the Gulf of Mexico and rusting can be a problem here. However, I did not reporcelian my grates and drip pans. I did a post way way back on that on that subject. We came across a good deal on rechroming the handles and latches that we couldn't pass up.
I wanted to refresh Big Bertha, but still keep some character to her 50+ years.
Most of our work was "sweat/labor equity". It's what you want to put into your stove.
I am debating on getting my drip pans reporcelian and totally undecided about the grates. Will it hold up or will it eventually wear off??
To do or not to do is the question we have all pondered with our Chambers!!
Big Bertha's Journey
Berlyn
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My stove is not restored. One of the major prerequisites for purchasing a stove was that it be in daily use and not restored in any way. After reading all of Todd's information and the restoration stories, I came to believe that these machines were so well designed and so well built, that if maintained and cared for properly, fifty years of use was just the beginning. When our stove arrived, it was indeed filthy and after having it checked over by our stove mechanic declared to be "just about perfect"...just needed a thermostat for the oven and we lubricated the moving parts. I thoroughly cleaned the stove and calibrated the flames, that was it other than the thermostat. I'm one of those "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" people. What I do think is valuable is to have a stash of important parts...and maybe that's reason to purchase a "parts stove". There is a true beauty to the unrestored showinga bit of age Chambers....I wouldn't want to give my 52 year old beauty a facelift.
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OK, here is my opinion:
I don't think you'll wear anything out. Case in point - Matty had only 2 broken door springs in 55 years. Her valves did not have any grease. Most of our "restoration" included rust removal, paint, and polishing the chrome. And removing years of built up grease.
We are waiting on the oven racks to come back from getting ceramic coating.
I think I might be concerned that 50-60 years from now you may not be able to send parts out to get them chromed or porcelain due to environmental concerns.
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I had my burners, grates, and drip pans reporcelained two years ago. They still look brand new. I don't know how long that will last, but I figure if it lasts even half as long as the last porcelain did, it's worth it.
Gwen
