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Okay we finally got our Chambers back from the decrepit old man who claimed he could fix it up and he did not do a very good job!! Well, I guess you get what you pay for. He was able to get it converted to propane and installed pilots so it doesn't have to be lit with a match everytime. He did a horrible job cleaning but I can do that stuff. My big question is with the top. Ours is not chrome it is dull black so is my only solution to have it reporcelained?? Is there no other way to make it look presentable?? Thermolux has some high gloss paint that they claim can approximate porcelain. Don't flame me, we really don't want to pour too much more money into this one. And does anyone know of any place in Northeast Tx to do the porcelain?? TIA
Jessica
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I would google porcelain and find the businesses in your area - and start visiting and asking questions. It really may not cost that much. If Lowracer can cet a fantastic chrome job for $100.00, you should be able to do something even better, I would think. A fresh top will bring great new life to the look and feel of your stove.
On the other hand, I did talk to one of the recommended stove restorers (on the stove lover's site) in the Northeast and he scoffed at the idea of even pe-porcelaining the burners and grates "just take it outside and spray it with back paint" - believe it or not! If you sparayed it you could probably still get it porcelained at a later date (I think).
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As you said, you get what you pay for. I don't know about the Thermolux, if it DOES provide a nice surface, will it be able to withstand the heat?
I would call GiGi (562-634-4002) get a price for reporcelain from her. It might not be as expensive as you were anticipating. Even if you don't use GiGi, I'm sure she can answer your questions on painting the stove top. If it will hold up, if you can reporcelain after painting, etc...
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Welcome to my neighbor in Greenville. Ok, first things first. Do you have an A, B, BZ or C model? And what color? There is a Porcelain guy in Dallas, but I have never used him. Think he is over on Industrial Blvd. in a metal building. You might try and get a quote. When I last talked with him (10+ years ago) he could do Black and White, but no colors. I no longer have a # for him, but am sure he is in the Yellow Pages.
Off topic, I have rental properties in Rockwall and I am there about once a month. Perhaps we will bump into each other at the Chilly Mart.
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Well, times change... The Porcelain guy in Dallas lost his oven and went out of business...As far as I know, there is no one in Texas that does Porcelain.
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Well I was getting really excited there - a porcelain guy on Industrial, probably close to the Chilly Mart! Oh well, I am resolved to send my pieces to Gigi.
Sam must have been distracted by the Chilly mart or he would have surely mentioned his 'poormans' solution for a new porcelain top! I like his creativity.
I have 'googled' this for Alvajo and anyone else who might have missed it before. (Look at the bottom of the page). Sounds like a good alternative to me.
http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ult...ic&f=7954&t=46
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what model do you have? Highback? lowback?
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It wasn't the Chilly Mart. It was the Mud Wrestling that made me forget. You know what, I think that the Mud Wrestling has made me Remember something, but I can't remember what to do with it!
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The post MaryOpal refers to is a conversation thread with vtran265. If memory serves me right, Victor was so disgusted with the black car paint that the previous owner used on his stove that he ended up parting it out and selling it all on on e-Bay, and then bought himself another vintage stove instead (not a Chambers.)
I advise against painting the top - do it right (reporcelain) and you'll treasure it forever.
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Hey y'all:
(How's my accent?) I've given Mark and others grief for makin' their stoves all new and purty lookin', but seriously, if you're working on that stove and you want it to look good now, don't you want it to look good later too? Like two years from now? Ten years?
Do it right, spend an hour taking it apart, another hour packing it, send it to Gigi. The extra time and a few extra bucks you spend now will be worth it in just a few years.
Joe P
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I could find anyone either, Sam. That's why I went with GiGi. Her work is great and pretty darn reasonable!
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You should check out GiGi's. They will do the stovetop properly. I went there on Wednesday to drop off Opal's burners and assorted other parts for new porcelain. It is like stepping back into a different era. The stove is just full of vintage stove parts. Their business card lists an e-mail address, but they depend on old fashioned hand written records. I think that all of the professional restorers in LA use them along with many professional restoration shops around the country. Andre said that he might take a short vacation sometime this summer and I imagine that they will be closed during that time.
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Point of clarification - I would never recommend painting the porcelain parts on your stove - I was referencing Sam's post on 'waxing' your stove. I have not tried it yet, (and I don't think Sam was kidding - but it is sometimes hard to tell). Sam is always referencing his OKM model Chambers stove - he's a sly fox [img]wink.gif[/img]
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Sorry, I must have heavy fingers this morning, I double posted
<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ June 16, 2006 10:46 AM: Message edited by: maryopal ]</font>
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can the stove top simply be swapped out with another, say, a chrome one?
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Oh my so many choices!! I think I am going to pursue finding a porcelain person. I hate to do things halfway and it's just a big risk to take with painting. Anyway, the stuff I need is going to be hard to find anyway. Uncertain Stoveman, was the porcelain place in Dallas called American Reporcelain and Repair because that came up on a search?? It is hard to believe there is no one around who can do it. I am loathe to ship the monster top to California!! The decrepit old man who started my restore had a person who could do reporcelain but his oven wasn't big enough for the whole stove top or the lid. Mine is a model B, with the fold-down top, lowback. Anyway, wish me luck-I am determined to find someplace closer! Oh and see ya at the Chilly Mart. Although I don't frequent it much--what about Wal-Mart [img]wink.gif[/img] !! Hee hee.
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Yep, American Porcelain in Dallas can't do stove parts anymore. See Ya at Walmart....or the Appraisal Board, I'm fighting with them on property taxes.
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There is a place in wichita that can rechrome your top for $100. Google this site for Robbie's Hobbies.
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If the top is just dull you may be able to polish
it out with wright's silver polish. It has some
very fine abrasives [jewelers rouge] that will
remove some of the outside dull finish. It takes
a bit of time and a lot of elbow grease. If it
is scratched up, there is a windshild scratch remover
product at auto parts stores you can get but you
will probably need a buffer. Autozone has one
on sale now for $19.95. You can try a small
area by hand. I really cleaned up the porcelain
on my 61C with wrights silver creme. Removed all
kinds of stains and dull places.
You said you wanted cheap. Two to three bucks
for the silver cream, nothing for your work.
You will not get it all the first time, but if
you will try a small area and really rub, and
rub some more, and more and more you will see
some improvement. If you see enough to satisfy
you then you can finish the rest. But it will take a lot of work.
Pokey
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Alvajo, take it easy on the "decrepit people" comments - some of us resemble that remark! [img]graemlins/whatever.gif[/img]
<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ June 19, 2006 12:23 AM: Message edited by: RobbiQuest ]</font>
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Since it's black porcelain, not chrome, rechroming might not do much good. However, do any of you know whether the chrome tops are interchangable with the one he has?
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Unless there are rust or chips you can't live with I would try polishing it out. Take a look on Matty's pics, be prepared to spend a little time with a mechanical buffer and you can even remove small scratches.
Ron
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This man was seriously OLD!!! Like we took the range to him in January and I just finally picked it up at the end of May!! We were afraid he would die before he finished FOR REAL!!! It was hilarious because when I called him and arranged to take it to him I told him how heavy these stoves are (you could tell by his voice on the phone he was elderly) and he acted like it would be no problem. My mom and I (this is Jessica BTW [img]biggrin.gif[/img] ) were seriously worried when he walked out, he could barely walk then he climbed in our trailer and bent down like he was gonna move the stove and of course it didn't move-it was soooo funny so anyway that's why I call him decrepit. I am sure he saw Chambers stoves in action when they were new [img]wink.gif[/img] !!
We've actually thought about chroming the top but didn't want to be unauthentic, our model did not originally have chrome--can you chrome a top that is porcelain. I think I might try the auto parts place and see if there is anything like the PP suggestions. Keep the ideas flowing.
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Are chrome tops and porcelain tops interchangable?
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Blue Beetle, I guess no one knows the answer to that one [img]confused.gif[/img] ! Can you chrome the top if it is porcelain--can they blast off the porcelain and then chrome it? Would that be wicked expensive??
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You could probably get a bead blaster to take all the porcelain off and then send it to Mark's chromer in Wichita. I doubt that the blasting would be prohibitively expensive.
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On the 61C the chrome tops and the porcelain tops
are interchangeable. From what I have seen on
the post the C and B tops are not interchangeable
because the B has some sort of spring bracket
for the folding top.
I don't know anything about a B having never seen
one Just on this discussion board.
You would be amazed what will polish out.
Turtle Wax has a rubbing compound that is color
specific. If you could find a black and a buffer
and then finish off with the silver polish you
may get most of the dull off and back to the
shine.
The Windshield scratch remover has some type
of abrasive. Remember porcelain is only glass
coating on top of steel. Unless you replace
or reporcelain, anything else is going to take
tons of elbow grease.
Pokey
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I can do elbow grease! I guess I'll be heading to the auto parts store! I have very little to lose I guess if it doesn't work I can still have it reporcelained, right?
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My experience has been that you can interchange the Model B Porcelain tops with the Model B chrome tops. Personally, I like the porcelain tops better - I think they look a little more vintage.
If you find that the car wax isn't giving you the finish you desired and decide to have yours reporcelained, you might want to consider having it made white instead of black. A very few rare Chambers came this way. There's a thread on this board from about a year ago on that topic. We all saw a white porcelain top B on e-Bay one day and discussed it. I thought it looked pretty neat since it was unusual. But again, I like the black as I think it looks that much more striking against the rest of the white porcelain.
I think Gigi charged me about $100 to reporcelain mine. If you end up having Gigi do yours, just be careful about packing it - you would be wise to have a UPS store (or similar) do it for you so they can brace and pad it so it doesn't get cracked. Cast iron will crack when it's dropped.
There's lots and lots on this topic if you do a "search".
<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ June 20, 2006 07:25 PM: Message edited by: RobbiQuest ]</font>
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Of course, I'm coming on late in the discussion.
Hubby has me worn out on our "current" project. I think it's payback for Big Bertha.
Back to the topic...
Paint over the porcelian on a Chambers, no way!!
I tried everything the make Big Bertha's stovetop "presentable", nothing works on black porcelian, except to reporcelian!! I used everything and anything imaginable. Even tried "Dave's Insanity Sauce"!!
I sent mine to Hughes Place in Louisiana and was pleased. If I remember it was around $350.00. Gigi's in Cal. is less around $100. Many people have used and recommend Gigi's. I did not know of her when I began.
There was no comparison in Big Bertha's before & after pics.
We won the ugliest, most abused black stovetop award!!
Trust me, you'll be so much happier having it reporcelian.
Good luck and let's us know how it goes,
Berlyn
ps You did order a service manual??
