This is a tutorial/story of how I restored this 60-70 year old log burner/wood stove

Supplies

Workshop
Tools
Welder (optional)

Step 1: Find Out What You Are Working With

Personally, my log burner is made out of old cast iron and if you didn't know old cat iron is incredibly brittle

The burner was not too rusted but a bit.

The insulation was a specially casted fit this burner if this is your case try to preserve what you can of the insulation.

The glass on the doors was broken

Step 2: Disassemble

I started by removing the doors and the frame around them.
The main body was held together with four threaded rods, and bolted down to the bottom plate. Ours is probably different you just have to find how your’s is held together. Just make sure all bolts are loos before you start prying.
When all of that was lose i took a small pry bar and popped it apart because it was rusted or glued together.
I ended by cleaning up the insulation bits and dust

Step 3: Repair Weld

In the disassembling I had some pieces breaking and fractures in the body that i had to weld but if you don’t have a welder high heat JB weld would probably do the job.
The locking mechanic broke and kept breaking for couple of times but it worked out in the end.
Then there was a crack in the main body that i had to weld.
And some tabs that hold the side panels in place.
And finally the treated rod that had lost half of its original diameter to rust. (i can’t say that the welding job is good here, but it dose the job)

Step 4: Sandblasting

Next up was sandblasting but since I didn’t have a big sandblasting setup I just took it over to a sanblaster and had it sand blasted.
But If you a have a sandblasting setup you could of course sandblast it your self.
I personally only had the inside sand blasted to keep the original texture because the sandblaster tends to leave pretty rough marks but its all up to you.

Step 5: Assembly

I started by drilling out the old snapped threaded rods and welded in the new ones.
On my burner is a slot for a stove rope witch is a glass fibre rope.
I fixed the rope in place with high temp silicone (1000°C) but if you are gonna be using glass fibre rope and of silicone be sure to be using gloves.
Meanwhile when the silicone was drying I welded the new threaded rods in place. (As before I’m not proud of the weld job but it dose the job)
24 hours later when the silicone had has it time to dry.
I started by bolting down the front plate to the bottom plate.
The front plate has the threaded rods attached to it. I slid the side panels on to the rods and placed the top panel on
I had to cut a bit of the top panel because of the fat weld job.
The back panel went on next i lined everything up and tightened it down and to finish the main body I bolted down the back panel to the bottom panel
And finally the feet went on and the door frame and doors popped on.