Help me identify this Fisher Stove

[islandwoodsie]

I recently found this stove. I am thinking it is a Grandpa Bear. I have a couple of questions. Has anybody ever seen numbers welded on the bottom of a Fisher Stove. If so, what does this mean? Stove #51 made in 1964 in Pennsylvania????

OK, my next questions is. We used to always use the Stove Black paste. You rubbed it in and polished it off with newspaper and it left THE nicest finish ever. Kind of a gunmetal blue. It lasted like forever. I can not find this anywhere. All that is out there is this CRAP polish stuff that lasts like about 6 months or Stove Paint. I have done other stoves with the paint and it looks pretty good. I really don't know how long it will last though. I'd prefer to have the REAL old time stuff that was probably loaded with poison, but actually WORKED. Does anybody know of this product and where i can find it?
As you can see i am sanding this stove down and will probably resell it once i get it refinished. I had to replace 9 bricks and have countless hours sanding and wire brushing it. There is some pitting on the top (probably from water containers leaking) I would love to use some auto glaze putty there but don't know if it would take the heat.
A little old lady had it and wanted it out of her way. So i gave her a few hundred bucks for it. If i didn't have such a nice stove already i'd surely keep it myself. But, as it is it'll just be in my way.

The Dimensions of outside of box are :

28"w x 23"d x 30 5/8" h



Can anybody confirm that this is indeed a Grandpa Bear?

 

[Don H]

Stove Bright satin black #1990 is the correct (factory original) paint.
Lots of info on this site about refinishing and how to identify your stove.

 

[islandwoodsie]

I really am bad at forums, but after reading through some other threads i have learned a lot. But, i am still interested to know if anybody has any insights to the 5164 PA welded onto bottom of stove. I see these stoves were NOT made in 1964 so i am assuming it is number 5164 made in a Pennsylvania shop? Thats a LOT of stoves for one shop, but i guess it is feasable.

 

[bholler]

I recently found this stove. I am thinking it is a Grandpa Bear. I have a couple of questions. Has anybody ever seen numbers welded on the bottom of a Fisher Stove. If so, what does this mean? Stove #51 made in 1964 in Pennsylvania????

OK, my next questions is. We used to always use the Stove Black paste. You rubbed it in and polished it off with newspaper and it left THE nicest finish ever. Kind of a gunmetal blue. It lasted like forever. I can not find this anywhere. All that is out there is this CRAP polish stuff that lasts like about 6 months or Stove Paint. I have done other stoves with the paint and it looks pretty good. I really don't know how long it will last though. I'd prefer to have the REAL old time stuff that was probably loaded with poison, but actually WORKED. Does anybody know of this product and where i can find it?
As you can see i am sanding this stove down and will probably resell it once i get it refinished. I had to replace 9 bricks and have countless hours sanding and wire brushing it. There is some pitting on the top (probably from water containers leaking) I would love to use some auto glaze putty there but don't know if it would take the heat.
A little old lady had it and wanted it out of her way. So i gave her a few hundred bucks for it. If i didn't have such a nice stove already i'd surely keep it myself. But, as it is it'll just be in my way.

The Dimensions of outside of box are :

28"w x 23"d x 30 5/8" h

View attachment 231605

Can anybody confirm that this is indeed a Grandpa Bear?View attachment 231606

Yeah paint is the way to go. I am not sure what you are expecting to get for it but i wouldnt invest to much time. If you paid a couple hundred for it there isnt that much room for profit. Most i see changing hand here in pa only sell for 200 to 300. With a top of 500 for absolutly perfect ones.

 

[Don H]

Just sold one last week (Grandma) refinished with new brick for $600. I bought it for $125 and had $60 into it. Guy wanted it to heat his garage/shop and paid my asking price without question. Sold it in two days and had multiple calls.

 

[islandwoodsie]

Soo, nobody knows anything about the numbers on my stove ?

 

[Don H]

My very first post here asked what the numbers meant that I found on the bottom of a Baby Bear I had just purchased.

Here's my understanding. Letters welded on stoves are often the initials of the welder who assembled the stove. Numbers are production numbers (yours is maybe the 5,164th stove of that particular year) for the particular factory that produced it. You can't really tell anything from the numbers since there's no data from the weld shops. As far as I know the only way to definitely date a stove is by the UL tag, if it has one. Other than that you can guess by some of the features of the stove. Door patterns changed over the years, so did stove leg, draft knob and handle design. There are others on this site that know far more than I do, maybe they'll weigh in.

I'd love to see a book written for Fisher collectors describing the evolution of these stoves with pictures. The Coleman Collectors Club has such a book for their products and it is a wealth of information.

 

[islandwoodsie]

Yeah in one thread or another i read. Somebody had worked in a particular shop and new something of identifying marks. I find it hard to believe they would have built 5,164 stoves in one shop in one year. Thats 14 stoves a day IF they marked mine on Dec 31

 

[Don H]

In the late 70s Fisher had several shops making stoves as fast as they could and couldn't keep up with demand. People were waiting months for a stove. The number on the bottom of my Baby Bear was B - U 39. Neither Coaly or CamFan, both who post here, (CamFan who worked as a welder for a company making Fisher stoves) knew what the number meant. If I recall CamFan though it might have come from his facility.

I just read an article where a start-up company making Fisher stoves sold 2,000 in 9 months and was looking to double it's production space and employees to meet a 45 day back log.

 

[coaly]

5164 PA is the 5,164th stove made in Factoryville PA. The numbers start at #1 which is a Papa in 1975. Your stove is a Grandpa from '77 or early '78.

Please stay away from stove black on steel plate stoves. It is for cast iron with texture surface, not smooth finish. All Fisher Stoves as well as other steel plate stoves were painted.
The main improvement over blacking a stove is that stove black is NOT impervious to water vapor or water! Iron will rust eventually right through stove black which was the reason antique stoves needed to be redone frequently. Yes, the old stuff was better and lasted longer, but for CAST IRON, Rutland Stove polish is fine. Boil overs on stove top or high humidity allows them to rust. Machined smooth and polished tops of ranges were coated with oil, not stove black. Only the rough surface was protected with it. Later premium ranges were enameled to prevent constant blacking. Sunday was normally "stove" day since it was left to cool and serviced weekly.

Pitting on top usually isn't an issue. That is a 5/16 thick top.

The door latch rod needs adjusting since it should be the same angle as stationary left handle when latched.

 

[Don H]

Thanks Coaly!

 

[islandwoodsie]

Very much appreciated the info. Thanks.

Nobody seems to want to touch the question about WoodStove capable "body putty" for the pitted areas. So i am going to assume there is no known substance. This stove isn't awful bad pitted, i just thought there may be something to use to make it really gleam when done. I bought the metallic black Stove Bright paint. With the "gloss" type finish i imagine the pits will show, but it will be fine. I just like to "TRY" and make things perfect.
I find, the closer to perfection you aim, the better results i get. I am NOT going to give up on Old School work ethics.

 

[Don H]

Filling in pits is done by spraying a coat of paint and allowing it to thicken and then use a putty knife or credit card to scrape up the thick paint forcing the paint in the pits. This takes several coats to fill in the pits depending on how deep they are. I did this on my last stove and it worked well.

 

[islandwoodsie]

as i was a drywall finisher for 20 years, i THINK i can handle that

 

[Don H]

Ha! I was gonna say it's like finishing drywall except there's no joint tape.

 

[islandwoodsie]

Here it is shined up. I never could get all the old paint off, so th ere is still some paint pits that i really don't like. But from across the room it looks sweet. Damper wheels are on the work bench still drying.