Dad delivered my old wood cook stove and the clawfoot tub this weekend. Luckily, Ross and Keron happened to stop by to see the house just as Dad arrived to unload them, so Ross gave us a hand with the heavy lifting. (BIG THANKS!) Both the stove and the tub need to be cleaned up somewhat, although they are in really good condition overall. Some quality time with a wire brush, cleanser, and brillo pads is in order. Here's what the stove looks like:
This was my Great-grandpa's cook stove, it came out of the original Pobst Place homestead in Plain. You can see one of his "improvements" on it - that weird little light fixture attached to the underside of the right warming oven. I'll be removing that. I got this stove when my Great-Aunt Margarite sold the farm and moved into an assisted living facility several years ago. Dad coated it thoroughly with WD-40, wrapped it up in plastic and since then it's been sitting in his barn waiting for me to build a house to put it in. The bathtub also needs some TLC. It's dirty on the inside (it's been out in the pasture watering the cows) but some Bon Ami should take care of that. We have all the feet, although they could use some sand-blasting. Handily, Ross has a sand blasting chamber, and he just got a new bag of black sand. So I'll be taking the feet over to his place one of these days to take advantage (probably not for the last time) of his tools and expertise. Dad welded the tabs on the back of two of the feet that were cracked, so it's all set to re-assemble once I scrub off the rust and re-prime the underside. There are a few nicks in the enamel as well, but they are small so I should be able to patch them myself.
I guess it's lucky that Dad was able to bring these over this weekend. Otherwise I wouldn't know what to do with myself now that the shingles are done!
3 comments:
If, when you clean out the tub, there is a ring of faded rust in the basin and the finish is dull rather than glassy, it means that the outer glaze has worn off over time. A bleach/water solution left in the tub for a day or two will usually get it white again, but what it means is that the porelain is now porous and that standing water can penetrate the glaze and rust the cast iron below. It is still perfectly usable, you just wouldn't want to leave standing water in it to rust again. Since your not going to shower in a cow field, that shouldn't be a problem.
Ps. Try Renovators Resource online for a decent deal on clawfoot faucets. In case you couldn't tell, I'm a clawfoot connoisseur.
Thanks! I was going to call you for advice on the tub but you've saved me the trouble. I might still call later...
My plan is to go to hardware sales and thoroughly pick somebody's brain. I'll need to get a wire brush or two, an enamel patching kit, and probably some kind of rust-remover. I'll also ask them about a primer to apply to the underside and to the feet after I get the surface cleaned up.
Post a Comment