I have a xxxxxx antique French stove, can I still buy spares for it ?
Firebox repairs are generally feasible, the difficulty/cost very much depends on which model of stove you have. Many of the French antique stoves have a fairly simple sheet metal construction that can be stripped out and repaired or replaced entirely and reasonably cheaply.
In common with stoves from other parts of the world, many other antique French stoves have a cast iron construction that may be firebrick lined and have additional metal heat deflectors or baffles, damage to the cast iron is less easy to address unless one has the skill and equipment to weld cast iron. Having said that, there are products available that may be suitable to effect repairs without resorting to welding and its inherent risk of increasing the damage.
As regards loading of an antique multi-fuel stove via the front door, the majority of these stoves were designed to be loaded via the top and have grilles installed to protect the door and mica from heat damage whilst allowing firelight to be visible and a higher fire to be built; in essence, the front door is generally more appropriately opened for cleaning the stove and lighting.
Spare parts may be available for antique and vintage stoves; many stove restorers will have a stock of parts salvaged from stoves that are not viable to restore and we certainly have a fair stock of replacement parts for stoves dating from 1888 to 1960.
A – the answer is yes, no and yes. Service items such as fire rope or window mica are easily available, we supply these from stock. Original stove parts such as a new doors, ash cans, grills or legs have not been available for decades, from anywhere. These same parts are sometimes available as used items from suppliers such as ourselves. We are building a stock of used commonly asked for original parts but as there were literally hundreds & hundreds of models, the coverage is at present patchy. Also stovefinders have now embarked on the long process of having some new original parts re-manufactured, and although we are at the beginning of this project there will be a constant policy of adding new parts when suitable.
