New Day - Same Conversation

**Rick** · 04-03-2009, 04:54 PM

My wife took a ride with me last night to pick up 2 Coleman gas stoves. I found them through Craigs List. The gal showed us the stoves, I paid her $25 and we walked off with our...my...new toys.

"They're junk", my wife told me as we walked back to the truck. She always tells me that when I by something used.

"I know," I replied. That's what I always say when she says it's junk.

"What are you going to do with them?" she asked. She always asks that question right after I say, "I know."

"Use them," I said. It's what I always say when .... you get the idea.

I don't know how many times in 35 years we've had this conversation.

I spent about five hours today cleaning one of them. It's a 1973 425E two burner and it looked like they had used it for a barbecue grill. It was truly nasty. I took it completely apart and it's now all back together (and no left over parts, thank you very much) and it works like a new one. I even got a half tank of gas with this one. Yeah, I know. Probably old and I should throw it out but it burns just fine. It's not the prettiest sow in the barnyard but she boils water in a heart beat.

My point in this post is some things are meant to be repaired and you will be amazed what you can have if you are willing to invest a little elbow grease and a bit of soap.

If I'm as lucky with the second one as I was with this one I'll have two stoves for a whopping $12.50 each and some of my time. If the second one is nothing but scrap, I still came out with a nice emergency stove for $25.00. Since my house is all electric, this little guy might cook a meal or two for us.

Oh, when she gets in tonight I'll say, "Well, what do you think?"

And she'll say, "You did okay."

Don't ask me how I know she'll say that.

Before:

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.
Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.
Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

After:

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

I'll let you know how the second one turns out.

**grundle** · 04-03-2009, 04:56 PM

great work! That is beautiful

**Alpine_Sapper** · 04-03-2009, 05:01 PM

Agreed. Awesome work. But, uh, Rick... just how many stoves do you need?

**Rick** · 04-03-2009, 05:03 PM

Wait. Oh, it's you, Alpine. I thought you were my wife there for a minute. Actually, I have one more coming. But I have kids so when they start seeing these I'm sure the other two stoves and probably this one, if I'm not careful, will find a home.

**Alpine_Sapper** · 04-03-2009, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

Wait. Oh, it's you, Alpine. I thought you were my wife there for a minute. Actually, I have one more coming. But I have kids so when they start seeing these I'm sure the other two stoves and probably this one, if I'm not careful, will find a home.

ooooooh, ouch. buuuurn.

I'm just jealous, that's all.

**Rick** · 04-03-2009, 05:11 PM

That's the same question my wife asked. "How many stoves do you need?" "How many kids do we have?" is what I always ask.

**DOGMAN** · 04-03-2009, 05:13 PM

Dang, what did they do to that thing? I thought I was rough on stuff

**Rick** · 04-03-2009, 05:16 PM

The other one doesn't look much better. Some folks have no respect for possessions. I love them to death, though. They pay top dollar for stuff, abuse it, then sell it cheap. That's where I come in. (tee hee).

**Pal334** · 04-03-2009, 05:27 PM

Good deal. And you are correct, let THEMbuy high and sell low to you. Amazing what a bit of ingenuity and elbow grease can do. Congrats

**crashdive123** · 04-03-2009, 06:10 PM

Nice work, but no left over parts? What did you do wrong?

**Rick** · 04-03-2009, 06:24 PM

(chuckle) I'm an engineer's worst nightmare. I always figure out how to put stuff together with less than it was engineered with. When I got done with the stove, I looked around and said, "This can't be right. I don't have parts left over."

The only thing I can figure is I lost one or two and they'll show up right after the tank detonates.

**Rick** · 04-04-2009, 03:04 PM

Okay. The second stove is finished and it turned out to be another good one. When I pulled this one apart there was a lot of rust and a couple of mud dauber nests. Sure fire indications it had not been used in a while and I feared that might be because it had a bad generator or manifold.But both were good. So for the sum of $12.50 a piece and some of my time I have two butt ugly but perfectly functional gas stoves.

If you plan on doing this in your kitchen it's probably best to NOT do it when TDW is home. Just sayin'.

Before:

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

After:

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

**crashdive123** · 04-04-2009, 03:07 PM

Nice job. Don't look at them as butt ugly, but rather experienced stoves.

**tennecedar** · 04-04-2009, 03:38 PM

Fully tested and trustworthy is what I call my ugly stuff

**FVR** · 04-04-2009, 03:49 PM

Sometimes the wives just don't get it.

Years ago, at a yardsale I saw a very dirty raggy blanket piled up. I looked at it, the lady wanted 5 bucks. I bought it, asked for a plastic bag and threw it in the car.

My wife took a look at it and said I had wasted 5 bucks on a nasty blanket.

Took it home, threw it in the washer, yeh, even though it was wool, you can wash it, just don't dry it.

Took it out, hung it up and she was amazed.

Just today, I picked u a pair of Chippewa biker boots, brand new in my size for 10 bucks. Price on the website for them onsale.........170.00.

Have to jam on yardsales.

A Whitney 3.5 pt for 5 bucks. When I showed her the going price on their site, good deal.

**Rick** · 04-04-2009, 03:49 PM

Ooh. I like that. I'm fully tested and trustworthy. Yeah. That's me!

**Runs With Beer** · 04-05-2009, 10:55 AM

Nice job on the stoves Rick.

**Rick** · 04-05-2009, 11:25 AM

I took the stoves completely apart and sprayed down the pieces with 409 and let them soak for about a half hour. I then washed everything down to remove the loose stuff and as much grease as possible. I used a Brillo pad to remove the remaining grease on the non-painted surfaces. I use 00 steel wool (lightly) on the painted surfaces to remove the grease and grime on those. To remove the rust from the reflector pan I used 100 grit sandpaper then washed it down again. I used my air compressor to blow any excess water out of the manifold then wiped everything down with food grade mineral oil. Not bad for a one armed guy, I guess.

If you have a small fuel tank like these have and you find some rust on the inside of the tank, just take a hand full of BBs and drop them inside. Give the tank a good shake and the BBs will knock the rust loose and clean up the inside of the tank without the risk of blowing yourself up.