Everything Fisher

[summit]

coaly, all the pics I have seen are of Fishers with the cast door... have you ever run into any with a steel door? the Fisher stove story said he produced a few originals that had a handmade steel door before he contracted out for the cast iron doors... Also, have you ever seen any with the side flue outlet? the book mentions some (like the original one in Bob Fisher's house) for Fp installations.

 

[coaly]

Here's a picture of a steel plate door on his patent;

http://www.google.com/patents?id=edknAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq;="combination+heating+and+cooking+stove"&source=bl&ots=vnIeOfDAH5&sig=A3U-f5dKVAMfNkzdtN0IHMQih9w&hl=en&ei=bkx9S7H0BYeVtgeG6tmwBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAw#

Notice the door is hinged left. It's a left hinge on the book cover too. I've only seen a few left hand hinged. Shown below. It's in Conn. sold just months ago, going into a garage. I don't know if any of the first plate doors were right hinged. If so, anyone could make a steel plate door from the patent picture and stick it on a newer right hand hinge and claim it's an original. So I think a unmarked steel plate door stove would be left hand hinged. If you were designing your own stove, you would build it to open with the weak hand, and toss wood in with the strong side. But we're talking logs to 30 inch, which would require both hands anyway. Maybe you would design it to open with the hand you would not use a poker with? And very possibly he would have built it the way the customer wanted it. Speculation on my part. I've searched for "unmarked", "handmade" and "homemade" stoves with no markings, but never saw anything come up for sale resembling one. That's why I put my note to Bob in this thread back in post #78 just in case. You never know !

Just saw a side flue on Craigslist. Have to see if I saved a pic of it.
It makes sense to build a heating appliance that would set out in the middle of the room more, and not be stuffed back into a hearth where you can't cook on it. A rear vent Papa would stick out into the room 4 feet plus.

 

[coaly]

Side Vent Mama Bear in New Hampshire. Asking $400.00

It's a wonder smoke doesn't come out of my computer, I've got so many stoves in it !

 

[hareball]

Coaly- Thanks for all the info. I'd really like to get new pins and do damper maintenance after this season is over.

Really love the way the Baby Bear came out!!

 

[summit]

coaly: you are a wealth of anything fisher, my man.

 

[coaly]

Thanks again.

I've got a contact in Colorado that bought the remaining inventory of the Fisher Stove Factory in Woodland Park, Co. He has hinge pins, but they're only button head rivets that you can find sometimes in old hardware stores. Lancaster area of PA is where I go for square head stove bolts and nuts for antiques. Old rivets you heat in a forge too. It's easy to make them from a hex bolt too. Just start with a long enough bolt that isn't threaded up to the head. Grind off the points, then chuck it up in a drill. I spin it against a bench grinder wheel (drill in reverse) with the grinder running as well, and round the head. Looks like the real thing when you're done. Then cut to length.
He has a bunch of aluminum 5 fin draft caps, and a few cast iron, brass plated fin caps. Sets of double doors, & handle springs. None of the doors are fitted with handles, they are as they come from the foundry. Some old straight top doors as well. I know of a driver that drives coast to coast, so if I get the shipping cheap, or next to nothing, the whole lot may be coming here to PA.

 

[coaly]

Thanks for the kind words summit, but I still have a lot of unanswered questions.
Obviously there were very few of the XL Series sold due to it’s specialized heating capability of 3000 s.f. The Free Standing Honey Bear was small and near the end of production, and the Insert with the glass Honey Bear style doors near the end of production limited their number. I’d like to find the original paperwork for these three models for part numbers and accessories that were available.

At least the regular readers of this site realize the influence that Fisher had in the evolution of Woodstoves within the industry. Ben Franklin had a good idea building a fire in an iron box that would radiate heat far better than an open fire, but no one came up with so many improvements from the material used, to the simple design and control of the fire as Bob Fisher.

 

[coaly]

The floor template that was packaged with the Goldilocks is show below, and I would like to find one for the Honey Bear Pedestal Stove IF one was supplied with the stove. Maybe someday a sales rep or Factory Showroom Manager / Worker will come across this thread and offer more information.

The template is placed on the floor over carpeting or floor covering. The thin lined square box is plumbed with the 16 inch on center ceiling joists. This is the chimney box mounting area on the ceiling between ceiling joists for chimney support. A clear vertical space is plumbed to the bottom of the roof for the insulated chimney sections to pass through the outside roof plate with storm collar. The carpet or floor covering is removed where instructed on the 3 X 4 foot template, and the air intake hole is cut through the floor as shown on the template anywhere in the shaded area. A 4 X 4 Corrugated metal air chamber is placed on the floor, which allows airflow up through the floor hole into the air chamber, which has a square hole in the center that lines up with the hollow stove pedestal. A brick 4-foot square pad provided is placed over the air chamber with matching hole in center. A 4 X 4 foot black angle iron trim ring is placed over the pad edges for the finish trim to the cut carpet or floor covering edges. Stove is placed on pad, and connected to chimney support box with double wall pipe for the reduced clearance to wall. Shown in the last picture of stove are rear heat shields. Shields are full floating at sides; ½ inch apart reducing stove clearance 12 inches to combustibles. (I’ve never heard a sound from them expanding or contracting during use. Original paint on back and shields, upper cook surface is painted yearly and shows 6 months of cooking abuse.)
With the use of the template against the back or sidewall, a Fisher Stove could not be installed too close to a wall.

 

[coaly]

One of my questions was answered this morning;

XL Fireplace size and weight ! (aka the Unknown Bear)

34 inches wide
29" deep
36" high
weight; 550 pounds
Logs to 28 1/2"
3000 s.f. heating capacity
$509.00 with black front; Included Screen, Damper, Firebrick.
Nickel front add $50.00

The ad from March 23, 1978 ;

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AJ&pg=5673,6628741&dq=stove+ends+fisher&hl=en

 

[tickbitty]

Coaly, how many stoves do you have, and how many do you burn? Just curious! Are there others you are looking to buy? I am pretty sure that on an "all craigslist" search a couple weeks ago I saw an ad for one of those XL fireplaces somewhere. I am sure you saw it too!

those ads you find are too funny, all the other stuff. Cedar plank paneling that covers 32 square feet for under 12$ and comes with two tubes of liquid nails!

 

[hareball]

I really dig the ads too. Just killed hours looking at old wheel horse ads.

 

[coaly]

OK, Here you go; My oldest ad to date from Dec. 7 1975.

This one shows a three piece top with chrome ball handle before the spring handle.

On the facing page is the competition at the time; A Ben Franklin

Daily News, Bowling Green Kentucky;
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=4122,923957&dq=stove+ends+fisher&hl=en

 

[coaly]

tick, I'll just say, I have a dozen too many.

I burn a Hitzer EZ flow in the middle of the living area with an open floor plan for the entire house. Always under 2 tons a year. In the middle of a huge kitchen I have a 6 inch Dura-Vent chimney support box in the ceiling. Putting a tin ceiling around it soon. That normally has a Fisher Goldilocks under it. I use it for spring and fall wood heating, when the coal fire is too much. (can't wait)
Now, after the fall wood burning and the coal fire is established, when it gets below 20 or so, instead of turning up the Hitzer thermostat, I'd rather have a small second fire at night. So I have a antique piano mover. (I've refurbished a few player pianos that one came with) It is like a low steel frame that rolls under a piano. A little long, but perfect for stoves. I disconnect the one in the middle of the kitchen, and connect any one from the Fisher collection. I also can switch to a Sears Roebuck kitchen stove that is a tiny thing like an apartment size coal stove with two eyes. Also collect Buckwalter antique stoves, so sometimes I stick a pot belly coal stove in the middle of the kitchen. I have a Buckwalter Apollo 6 eye cook stove with bread warmer in the kitchen too, but it's way too much work to move it to the center of the kitchen, and far too much heat.

Normally the single door Fishers are used for end tables, that my wife crochets doilies for. Can't scratch the paint with lamps ! I keep an antique damper collection inside the cleaned out stoves, and found you can use them for anything from bread boxes to onion and potato storage. (downstairs) The big cook stove makes a nice bread box and pie safe for fresh baked goods. She's Mennonite, and I should weigh 300 lbs. but work it off. I built my house from scratch, and it's unique with a 1920 kitchen. Hoosier baking cabinet, crank peelers and grinders. Oak wall crank phone, ice box, all usable and functional. So the cast antique stoves fit right in when I burn them. It just gets too hot in here with two coal stoves. So the Goldilocks with the cold running back shield is great for facing an ice box. Entire raised ranch living area up is 2000 s.f.

Downstairs is a Coal fired Gibraltar if I want to heat downstairs. (3 flue chimney in living room starts downstairs with 2 flues - center flue is for upstairs) Never heat downstairs. The third flue was for a water heater or boiler if I wanted to go with a hydronic system. Since my other hobby is boilers on wheels, like traction engines, road rollers...... big stuff, I have a few antique stationary boilers you could add to the stove list if you want. Can't move stoves around down there since the "paths" aren't wide enough to get them through. It's bad. I keep 2 dehumidifiers on downstairs all summer since antique tractors, a Model T, lathes, milling machines, and lots of cold metal would become a condensation problem. That's the only "cost" of collecting metal chunks. Condensation prevention.

What stoves I want? Original Papa Bear before the cast door. Honey Bear pedestal (hint hint - Kevin) Wouldn't mind having that left hand Mama from Conn. if they ever get back to me....... or the "new in box" XL in California. That would be a shipping nightmare since I need a crate built to ship the new stove in the original marked Fisher box without damage. Inside that 'bad bear' is a new owners manual, fire screen in box, and firebrick still in box. The detail of th enickel plated XL door can't be described until you see one in person. They are amazing. If I didn't have my 93 year old dad that needs me here all the time, I could very well be making a cross country trip myself. We'll see. (Already need a bigger place, and I've only been retired two years !)

She's doing the baking while I typed this;
Here's a shot of the ultimate gas stove behind the Goldilocks; Just took out Snicker-Doodles and bread for the week. 5 foot Garland Double Oven, 2 foot griddle, broiler and 6 burners. That isn't rust on the door, it's a reflection of the wood floor behind me, where she has the paint worn off it's actually shiny !! We're both into stoves thankfully. We're unique.

 

[tickbitty]

Diary of a stove-crazy man! That's awesome that you both follow that passion. And that hearth.com can benefit from your obsession!

 

[coaly]

Nah, the stoves are just in case it gets real cold and to keep the house from blowing away!

 

[coaly]

I forgot an Upland 207 I used to burn downstairs when the Gibraltar was upstairs (replaced by the Hitzer) is in a tractor shed now. Only burn the Upland when I have to work on a tractor for snow removal equipment in the winter. This summer I’m switching it out with a Better-n-Bens steel plate that will take more abuse than the cast Upland. The thinner walls on the BnB heat up fast and radiate intense heat quickly to bring the building up to temp quick. I baby the Upland since it’s in such good shape and the large rear piece is susceptible to cracking if heated too quickly.
And I forgot a little Franco Belge top loading coal stove I use to rebuild steam pumps, and steam lubricators in a caboose /converted shack. Try to do that sort of thing in the summer now, but a few short pieces of wood in the Franco Belge is all it takes to make it toasty. I use it to warm steam oil to get it to pour, and boil water for heating parts in steam engines and pumps to break them loose. Forgot all about the stoves outside the house.

 

[coaly]

Hey tick, As you scan Craigslist, you keeping track of all those rare "Double Door Papa Bears" and model number D237798 stoves? (the patent number) Lots of "only need a new door gasketers" out there too.
There's one in California in their Zen garden for cheap rusting away. Nice "Garden Stove" that comes with 4 brass feet !!

 

[hareball]

Hey tick, As you scan Craigslist, you keeping track of all those rare "Double Door Papa Bears" and model number D237798 stoves? (the patent number) Lots of "only need a new door gasketers" out there too.
There's one in California in their Zen garden for cheap rusting away. Nice "Garden Stove" that comes with 4 brass feet !!

I saw that one a week or 2 ago!!

Coaly, you have some really heavy passions!

I really hope you get the stock of new doors and parts. I remember someone mentioning some religious group bought a warehouse full of Fishers back in the day for "the end". Many are still in boxes along with un-assembled doors and parts.

 

[tickbitty]

Hey tick, As you scan Craigslist, you keeping track of all those rare "Double Door Papa Bears" and model number D237798 stoves? (the patent number) Lots of "only need a new door gasketers" out there too.
There's one in California in their Zen garden for cheap rusting away. Nice "Garden Stove" that comes with 4 brass feet !!

You are the only reason I even looked. That and I read the Fisher Stove story... made me wonder, like you, where all those stoves went that were made by the franchises before the one pc bent top stoves by the major manufacturer. I had not even thought about that till I read your posts. So I went to CL looking and still haven't seen one except the one you bought!

 

[coaly]

hareball, That sounds like the Jeep for 50 bucks in a crate myth to me.

tick, A lot of those old stoves were scrapped in programs where dealers were giving rebates for your old unlisted stoves. 50 and 100 rebates were common, some dealers matching it to sell you a new listed stove. News articles in 1988 state about 20% of the unlisted stoves had been replaced.
Here's a news article about the government offering $300 with an EPA stove exchange program in 1995.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...pg=6230,798254&dq=wood+stove+rebate+500&hl=en

Later, organizations ran clips for up to $500 rebates on a new stove. No wonder they're gone;

"If you have an inefficient wood burning stove installed prior to 1990, you could receive as much as 500 dollars to off set the cost of an upgrade.

The Department of Environmental Quality just announced money is available for a woodstove change-out program that runs from March first to July first.

The original plan had been to provide rebates until the money ran out, but so many people have shown interest - it will distribute the rebates through a raffle."

With the price of scrap going from pennies to dollars a few years ago, free stoves in ads and people with old ones still laying around took advantage of the market and away they went.
Even this website has many posts encouraging owners to "upgrade from their smoke dragon" and " no Fisher is worth more than $100" yet every one sold on ebay is going from 500 to 800 now. I'll take every $100 Fisher I can find at that rate ! I'm not bashing anyones idea, but we'll see if any of the EPA stoves sold today double in value in the next 30 years. ;-)

Here's another freaky scenario; Now you can certify me the crazy man - they say "you can't take it with you". Well..............

Anyone price caskets lately? There are no laws preventing anyone from providing your own casket. Funeral homes and cemetaries must accept one you provide. You can have one shipped to your home and store it, or build your own. Hmmmmm
Two Papa Bears back to back with their backs cut out and welded together with the firebrick removed would be 64 inches inside the fireboxes door to door. I'm 64" tall now, and should only shrink with age. My shoulders fit through the door corner to corner. Upon my death, those two stoves would save my survivors thousands, and the cemetaries have a backhoe to lower the two into the vault ! I get to enjoy them the rest of my life, then in my Will, my Executor has a weld shop make a few bucks cutting and welding, and I'm good to go. I don't see a problem with that. And it gives me an incentive to not gain weight !

 

[hareball]

If you can get 2 XL's you might be able to take the Baby Bear with you

 

[coaly]

I wouldn't destroy the two XL's. My grandson already has dibs on the Baby Bear.
I just want to be buried, not draw lightning !

 

[hareball]

Do you have any info on how many XL's were produced or amount sold?

 

[coaly]

That’s one of my unanswered questions about the XL, as well as when the production started. Why the door change was made, and by whom? I’m wondering if an artist was hired, or a mold carver at a foundry took it upon himself, and if there was probably only one foundry to cast those “Sun” doors.

Most XL advertising was from Salt Lake, Utah in the Deseret News.
Some in Kentucky, and some from Beaver County, PA. next to Ohio. So they weren’t only a local thing.

The pictures used were first of the “Sun” door from March 78 up to August 79. I found this “Fir Tree Door” that infers something happened that they went to the trademarked newer Fisher style writing. This is when the arched doors appeared on all models with the trademarked Fisher Logo on the right door. So here is an ad with a picture of an XL without the “Sun” door. Again in Utah where most of the XL pictured ads came from.

“Fir Tree XL” for lack of a better description Nov. 6, 1979;
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...3469,2332058&dq=fisher+goldilocks+stove&hl=en

If this stove was produced, I’ve never seen one for sale or a picture of one. I’m thinking they stopped production of the XL shortly after this door change.

The stove in this ad is the only one I’ve seen. It has XL legs, and this is shortly before the Grandpa III that has plain angled legs. The top looks higher than a Grandpa, so I believe it is an XL.

So if it exists, I believe this would be the least produced style of the rarest model.

 

[BrotherBart]

I think that being cremated in a Fisher would be classier. :lol: