there will be an auction of antique woodburning parlor stoves in oklahoma city on sept 22. there was an article in the local paper and i also saw a film clip on local tv news.

these are totally restored and they are gorgeous!! they are the parlor type, not very efficient, but sure look great.

the husband and wife who are selling these say they never take the interstates. they always drive the little highways and back roads and stop at every antique, junk, used, secondhand, whatever store. and they also inquire at each stop if anyone knows of anyone who has an antique woodburning stove for sale. they take these back to their home shop and totally restore them. folks i have seen these and they are gorgeous. right now they have approximately 100 mol, and are going to sell most of them off because they are out of room and are getting more and more old ones in to restore.

the auction site is 1/4 mile from where i work in okla city. i tell ya what, i'd show up just to soak up some of the knowledge and skills of these folks.

have a great day

gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), September 01, 2001

Answers

Wouldn't I love to be able to be there! I bought an old Glendale cookstove last summer at a yard sale. My husband and I are restoring it ourselves. Rust and soot had built up under some of the pieces, buckling the stove top and causing us to wonder about the safety of using the stove. We've got it all apart and are sandblasting every piece before we put it back together. A couple pieces had to be replaced. Luckily for us, there's a place in Thorndike, Maine called Bryants that restores old stoves. We went just last weekend for the parts we need. I am in heaven when I walk into that place! They've got a "showroom" with finished stoves for sale and literally hundreds of thousands of parts & pieces in back rooms where they do the restoration!

They do mainly cookstoves, but do have a good assortment of palor stoves as well. Some of them are very ornate--just beautiful! My father picked up a nice looking parlor stove at a yard sale a few years ago and offered it to me (free), but at the time I didn't know I could get the parts it needed. I wish now that I had taken the stove! I wonder if I'll ever come across another?

Hopefully my husband and I will be able to get my stove all painted, cemented and bolted back together so I can use it this winter. You should see all the pieces! I took pictures along the way as we were dismantling it in case we got stuck and couldn't figure out how to put it back together right. It's quite a job just taking one of those stoves apart! I had to use a dremmel and cut each bolt since they had all rusted. Do you know how many bolts there are in a cookstove!? I should've taken a count. :)

You have a good time at that auction, Gene. Let us know if you come home with one.

-- Nancy in Maine (paintme61@yahoo.com), September 02, 2001.