Sand blasting your Stove.

[CamFan]

Coaly,
why don't you sandblast your stove? I got one yesterday, a papa and it went straight to sand blast shop. I will rebrick, repaint it and let it go. It will get every thing in all the cracks and places you can not get a wire brush to. I have no desire to save all the stoves I get.

 

[coaly]

I've picked up stoves cheap over the years and cleaned them up to keep one model of each. As I find a more "desirable" one for the collection, usually an earlier one or model you don't see too often, I'll sell the original one to "upgrade" my collection so to speak. So it's not too often. My wire wheel is a 6 inch cup brush that goes pretty quick. Weiler Brush Co. is right up the road from me, and they make up kits for welding schools. Not all programs use all the pieces in the kits. Long story short, an excess of certain wheels and brushes are extremely cheap, sometimes a buck or two. So by the time I load, deliver, drive to the nearest town, unload, and drive back for it days later, I can have it done. It's a hobby, I'm retired, not a business, so time is not an issue. Between what needs to be done on 3 property rentals, I play with the stoves. (among steam engines, traction engines and antique metal chunks)
I know it would be a cleaner stove if I had it done that way, but a sander on bad spots and a wipe with fuel oil keeps them clean as I do a little at a time. When ready for paint, I take it outside and wipe it down with Spirits, then lacquer thinner before paint.
I do have a blasting cabinet large enough for any stove door and small parts.

 

[CamFan]

I hear ya. I have been out of town. I need to check on the one I had done.