Garrison Wood Stove Baffle warping Problem

If anyone is familiar with Garrison wood stoves, they are a terrific little heater - in a relatively small space, this thing heats like crazy.

Problem: In the ceiling of the woodstove there is a 1/4" thinck piece of steel at an angle to maximize heat distribution and re-burn some of the smoke, etc. It's jjust part of the design.

However as I've been burning this winter the baffle has warped and dipped downward in the middle. this affects the stove in a few ways: it limits the amount of wood I can load, it exposes the flue opening to spark and flame which HAS to be dangerous, and affects the way the dampers let in oxygen.

My questions are these:
1. Is thre baffle easy to remove, flatten, and reinstall.
2. Can i just remove and flip it upside down so it warps upwards thereby prolonging the time until I need to repeat the process
3. is this warping dangerous/is there a way to prevent?

Please answer IF you have experience with Garrisons. They are REALLY different than your average stove and i cant afford guesses!
thanks

jimmy in Minnie
1976 garrison 2

Check out this link. Select make and model.
http://www.woodmanspartsplus.com/68/catalogs/Wood-and-Coal-Stove-Manufacturers-Cross-Reference.html

Garrison is a steel plate stove. The baffle (they called it a breast plate, there is another vertically mounted baffle behind it) is 1/4 inch steel, as is the stove itself. In early production units, the breast plate was welded in, which did result in warping, and often actually put such stress on the stove that the stove body welds failed. Later, they let the breast plate 'float' by supporting it on pieces of angle iron but not welding it in. If the plate is a floating plate, you could turn it over, or replace it with a newly fabricated plate. The warping will have some effect on efficiency and tendency to smoke, etc. If it's welded in, you are on your own. At the factory, we experimented with floating units which had a bend across the front, which did stiffen it a lot. That never went into production, at least not at the Portland Oregon plant where I worked. It's a great old stove. Good luck.