A Stove Restoration in Progress – King Arizona

This is the King Arizona, not yet restored

King Arizona

The King Arizona is an unusual stove in that it is basically a cast iron furnace inside a cast iron filigree jacket. It’s similar in design to the Moore’s Air-Tight Heater 403B, except smaller, and has four large mica windows.

The entire stove was spray painted with silver paint, including the mica windows. Actually, that may have helped to preserve the cast iron from rusting.

On the other hand, it does make the sandblasting a bit  more difficult! It’s either the rust or the paint, it would seem!

One of  its other unique features is that it has an image of a leaping fish in the middle of the filigree design on both sides of the stove.

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King Arizona jumping fish

In the center on both sides of the stove, a jumping fish is part of the design in the filigree cast iron jacket.

This part of the stove was never silver  or nickel to begin with. Originally it was black cast iron.

We can tell, since when Russ sandblasts the parts,  it goes down through the layers of whatever was there originally.

The stove will need to be disassembled entirely, in order to restore it properly. In that process, we find lots of things that might not be evident on first look at the stove…

For example, the fire-pot of the stove is in bad shape. It is badly cracked. And the stove cannot be used safely ever again with a fire-pot in this condition.

King Arizona firepot

So, what to do? It cannot be welded as the cast iron of the firepot is seriously depleted and won’t take a weld that would hold. So, it must be re-cast.

This is done by filling in the cracked areas with bondo, sanding them out and sending to a foundry to be re-cast as a new cast iron piece, which will be as good as the original as far as its usage as a fire pot.

The one thing to consider with re-casting is that there will always be some shrinkage due to the casting process. So, it will be about 1/8 ” less overall dimension than it was before.  Sometimes, this will require some additional grinding or welding to fit on the apertures of the stove to hold the fire-pot properly.

Without this essential issue being addressed, this stove would not ever be operational again.  The fire pot is the heart of the stove – it must be in good working condition.

The King Arizona disassembled

King Arizona disassembled

Here are some of the pieces of the stove disassembled, minus the trim pieces which were already sent to be plated.

These will be sandblasted and painted, separately, and then re-assembled with high-heat stove cement between each seam, and bolted together using the proper hardware.

During this process we may find more info about the condition of the stove, such as hairline cracks which were covered by the heavy paint. Or, previous repairs that were made to the stove, which were not readily visible when the stove was assembled.

For example, we knew there was a large crack in the base, which had a repair, but was not welded:

Crack in base

Very interesting to see how resourceful this repair was!

Done very simply with four hand pounded rivets;  it worked very well to hold that large base together, probably while the stove was still being used.

Here is a picture from the inside of how the riveted original repair was made:

Original crack repair

Very impressive and also a very strong hold for the base.

We will weld this crack, but we are going to leave the original riveted repair.  It made the stove permanently stronger, and deserves to be preserved, as well, as a testiment to the ingenuity of the person who made it so perfectly, and with such a minimum of materials or advanced  technology.

Arizona furnace and base

The furnace top of the fire pot and the base, before sandblasting and re-painting.

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At this point, the pieces will all be sandblasted and painted with high heat stove paint, the fire pot will be sent to the foundry to be re-cast, and the nickel pieces are being re-plated.

King Arizona pieces painted

It is important to paint the pieces as soon as possible after sandblasting because without the protection of the paint, the cast iron will begin to rust immediately.

side panel detail painted

Sometimes there are little ridges in the cast iron from the original mould when it was cast. They may appear to be cracks, but upon closer inspection it is clear that they are just ridges.

furnace piece painted

base painted

Assembly Begins!

Now the pieces are painted and we have the fire pot back from the foundry.

recast fire pot

The fire pot is now brand new cast iron, however, it has undergone about a 1/8 inch overall shrinkage, due to the casting process. So, now it must be adjusted to fit back in the stove. The fitting process usually involves some grinding, and sometimes some welding, as well. And, of course, the fire pot is then painted.

grinding recast firepot

And, our nickel pieces are back from the plater.

nickel plated pieces

So now it really is time for assembly. Here is the fire pot, furnace and base assembled. The seams must be lined with high heat stove cement and the bolts attached before the cement sets.This is the heart of the stove, and everything must be right with it.

fire pot and furnace assembled

Now things start to go together rather quickly. Here, the front panel is assembled to the stove.

front panel assembled

And here, the side and back panels are assembled to the stove.

side and back panels assembled

Putting it all together

Time to set the body of the stove on its base. The body, or main part of the stove, is not sealed or bolted to the base, and can be taken off the base again for shipping.

set on base

Next: the boot rails and nameplate. The nameplate is bolted on and the boot rails fit into slots on the sides of the stove, and can simply be lifted off at any time. (which may be why so many antique stoves are missing their boot rails!

boot rails and nameplate

Adding the doors, swing top and finial. The main door has had its mica windows replaced and its exterior grid plated; the ash door has its nickel-plated vent; the swing top has been plated and the finial restored to its original copper and nickel.

The King Arizona restored – Yay!!

King Arizona restored

Visit us at gingercreekstoves.com to see our complete inventory of antique stoves.

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