Updating an old Quaker stove

[Cscott]

Hello all! I am hoping to pick your brains and collected knowledge. We recently picked up a Quaker Standard Moravian Parlor Stove model 404. It needs some repairs; I need to make up a replacement hinge pintle, door latch, and standard stuff like replacing the gaskets. However, it looks like there is a likely lot of heat loss through the chimney due to the baffle design. Does anyone here have any experience with this stove that can speak to how well it runs? I am not new to fabrication and metalwork, having worked as a blacksmith and fabricator for 14 years, so I have debated whether I should fabricate a secondary air system and install a new baffle. I don't have access to my modeling software currently, but I have included in the photos an irritatingly unproportional hand-drawn picture of my thoughts on the secondary air system. I thought I could either replace the current baffle entirely or keep it in place and rest a baffle board on top of it and the air bars.

 

[Ali]

I have used one for the last 10+ years. A great stove. That baffle was made to circulate the heat so it's more efficient. Yours looks a bit wavy at the bottom. May need replacing. I read somewhere they are easy to replace. Don't know where you'd find the part, though. I am in the process of changing the gaskets on mine as it is falling off the windows. I am having a heck of a time figuring out how to replace them as the new way is to wrap the window with a tape gasket. I tried it and it left the glass piece too thick to put back into the frame. The original gasket was rope, on both sides. I was warned it doesn't protect the glass from contacting the cast iron frame. It could break. If you figure it out, could you let me know?