FISHER CLAW FEET AND VENTS

[justart]

I recently picked up a beautiful papa bear stove, when I started to clean the claws I noticed they were brass! .. same as the vent handles .. over the years i have come across a few different papa and mama bear stoves .. I have never seen brass knobs and feet as well as the door pins .. just wondering if this is a rare find ? thank you for looking

 

[justart]

I am in the process of restoring .. just thought I would add additional pictures the front number , the back and the door

 

[coaly]

The air dampers were available from the foundry that cast them called Barr Castings. They were available in aluminum, brass and bronze.

The first straight style foot was cast iron. Smooth with chrome plate, with or without Fisher Stoves across the front. Then a straight type was made of cast iron with white brass plate. They were rough to simulate the hair. The angled feet were made with white metal and were white brass plated. That is the one on top in your pic. Notice it will have FISHER INT EUGENE OREGON embossed inside. I’m guessing a foundry used one as a pattern to cast the brass, not sold from Fisher as far as I know. When this stove was made there were only chrome leveling ball feet. The bear feet were years later, and the angles version was the last, so they were added much later. This was the 95th stove made and sold in Seattle Washington by Bob's cousin licensee Barb Jorgensen.

The brass air dampers with 5 fins were used on later models with brass plated doors. They were painted black, then wipe the paint from edges with mineral spirits.

Here is how you get the detail including bear claws using "green sand" casting. This is a solid brass reproduction. No, I don't sell them, or make the fakes that were circulating years ago. They were quite poor compared to this one;



Here are new brass air dampers. Before and after paint. (1980 and after)



This is a screen shot of yours from the Barr Castings website (Portland OR.) years ago when they made them to order in aluminum, brass or bronze. They have the original patterns. This is the EZ-Spin air damper, designed and patented by Bob's father Baxter Fisher. This one has the steel insert to prolong thread life. They were available with or without steel insert. Keep the threads greased with silver anti-seize or high temp grease! You can reach through with the brush in can, or Q-Tip from the rear opening on door.

 

[justart]

Thank you coaly.... another question about this papa bear.. I just got done restoring it.. I just noticed the tree placement.. the second tree is lower than the others instead of being taller.. I just noticed this. Strange , have you seen this before ? Thank you so much for all you do !!

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