Jotul Nr. 3 (help)

[westcoastpicker]

Okay, I picked this Jotul up from an estate sale, it was rusted up pretty bad, had it sandblasted and hit with a high heat black. Couple of things, does anyone know where I can find the front? I believe its either glass or a screen? 2nd thing, the legs, they are weird, look very similar to a Hoff & Windinge for Tasso I found online.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[begreen]

Yes, that is odd. The Nr. 3 had tall thin legs. It's going to be a real challenge to find parts. It was not a common import here.

 

[westcoastpicker]

Yes, that is odd. The Nr. 3 had tall thin legs. It's going to be a real challenge to find parts. It was not a common import here.

Yeah, I was afraid of that. Might have to get some kind of small screen. I don't think the bigger piece with the spikes on top goes to this unit either. Added a pic of legs

 

[Dezdan]

Did you ever make a positive ID? About 20 years ago I picked up 2 identical jotul stoves not far from you in Riverside County; identical legs and all. See my post here from 2011: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/jotul-nr-no-2-stove.62600/

I don't believe them to be NR.3, but maybe an odd/rare variant (NR2?)? Beside your stove, I've only seen one other with identical legs in 20 years of looking.

 

[Dezdan]

Here are some photos of one of my stoves. The ash pan on both has NR.2 on embossed on them. The only difference between my stoves, is one (seen here) has open gaps in the front grate and the other is solid.

 

[Dezdan]

This is the best photo I have of my second one at the moment; it is currently in storage. You can see the front grate has the same pattern, but is solid instead of hollow. The internal damper handle on this one was broken and a T handle was put in place by a previous owner.

 

[Dezdan]

Funny, the more I dig into this model, the more I find they are all in SoCal!
There is this one: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/antique-jotul-indetification.180487/
And one I found on IG:

 

[Dezdan]

I think it has all come together, this thread is the missing link of why these stoves are only in SoCal; https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/dick-van-dykes-stove.178607/

The video Jotul North America posted clearly shows a NR.2 on the set of the Dick Van Dyke show:

I think they were imported as movie props!

 

[peakbagger]

The local story in Southern Maine was that prior to mid seventies Jotul had no interest in the US market, stoves were occasionally imported by dealers who sold stoves but they were not official distributors, they effectively were buying them at retail in Europe and having them shipped over. An individual who was interested in selling/distributing them contacted the factory to get a distributorship to buy them direct from the factory. Jotul assumed the US market was not worth messing with and gave the person inquiring about distributing the stoves the rights to the entire US (possibly North America). His companies name was Kristia Associates and he built a large company supplying Jotul's to meet the demand during and after the oil embargos. At some point Jotul figured out the size of the market in the US and forced Kristia to sell the business to Jotul or Jotul would pull the distributorship. That is why Jotul US is based in Gorham Maine where they have some manufacturing but I still think the castings are imported from Europe.

 

[begreen]

There are many varieties of Jotuls that were not and currently are not sold in the US. Up until the oil embargo Jotul was under the leadership of the Gahr family which focused on sales in Scandanavia. They sold the business to Norcem in 1977 which led to international expansion. In 2018 Jotul was sold once again, this time to OpenGate, a private equity firm. This is unfortunate. They have not anticipated the current market demand and have had very few offerings in the states since 2020. This includes their popular line of now-discontinued inserts that were designed and made in Maine.