When Krystal mentioned that she wanted to restore that old stove in the kitchen, the crew here at TOT looked at each other dubiously.  Why not throw in a new "contractor special" that will serve her well for then next 2 years, 7 months.  We tried to sway her, but she put her foot down and pointed her baby blue finger nail at the stove, "We are going to restore this stove!"  Upon a second look at the old stove, we agreed.  This was a piece of history worthy of restoration.  We however were not knowledgeable on the ins and outs of stove restoration, so we contacted the experts at Buford's Front Yard Appliances down off of Deerlick road, past the macroy shack.

Fire it up!

When the folks at TOT came to me with a job, I was rarin' to go.  Fred and I hopped into the pickup and headed over to the sight. (ed. Fred is Buford's dog... a hound)  When we got there, it was a beautiful sight.  Nothin' to those old babies but plumbin'.  No electronic ignition, not pilot light.  This I could fix. 

First things first.  I had miss Krystal pull off the door and pull the unit away from the wall.  There was some concrete splattered on it from somewhere.  I had Miss Krystal work on scraping off the concrete bein' careful not to scratch the finish.  I took to removin' the propane line and burner valves.  The valves were in pretty bad shape, but I knew we could get them like new.  I grabbed a bucket out of the back of the pickup and filled it with carburetor cleaner.  I then let the valves soak for the better part of the day.  There was some paint on the back of the unit that was cloggin the propane line so I took some brake cleaner and shot it in there.  Brake cleaner will remove anything so be careful.  I put down some old Maxflight towels I found lying around to act as a drop cloth for the dissolving paint. 

The inside of the oven was just as dirty as the outside and Miss Krystal wanted to use some pansy consumer grade oven cleaner.  After much discussion I finally convinced her that the only way to clean out the inside of the oven was to use brake cleaner.  I showed her how clean the back of the stove was.  She was really impressed.  She bit her lip and removed the dropclothes for me and brought them to the bathroom.  While she was rinsing the dropclothes, I sprayed the inside of the oven and let it sit for a while.  When she came back, I had her wipe down the inside of the oven while I checked on the valves.  They were beautiful, clean to the bare metal.  I grabbed the Maxflight towels to put the valves on to dry off.  I was amazed how clean Miss Krystal had gotten those dirty old dropclothes. 

Once inside again, I saw the inside of the oven was spotless and it looked as though Miss Krystal was plannin on takin a nap on the floor.  She said somethin' about not being able to breath, so I helped her out to the front steps where she sat down and had a cigarette.

While she was outside relaxin', I put the door back on the oven and re-installed the plumbin'.  With the propane tank fully charged, I snapped the flint on my Zippo and lit up the burners.  Everything was workin' great.  A final touch of stove polish and the unit will be fully restored.

Many people today are always looking to get of their old stoves, but with the right tools, you can be the envy of your friends with a beautiful vintage stove.  As Miss Krystal discovered, its easy to do with the right tools.  Remember, Carburetor cleaner for the valves and small intricate parts and Brake cleaner to take the toughest stains and paint off of anything.  Just be careful with the brake cleaner on the finish of the stove.  Happy restorin' .