This one we call "The beautiful albatross" the cast had disintegrated on the top plate, forcing us to grind it back to flush and we have had to refashion a means of attaching a pipe. Baby Jesus aka Big Neal has done a wonderful job fabricating my design brief. Bringing back to life this beautiful little cooking range. Really pleased with the outcome of this one. We chose bolting over trying to weld cast as the risks we felt were too high and that coupled with the high possibility that it would have too higher a carbon content, meaning a weld wouldnt take and that in preheating and attempting to weld we could crack it, we decided to take this route.

Built a fire box today for a little cooking range I am restoring. It's warm but I'm still popping them out. Sensible people get the work done out of silly season and are ready for when it comes around. This little beauty is off to see my man Big Neal for a bit of collar fabrication, custom made metal D shaped tray that plugs into the side of the hearths base to extend the distance to catch embers, but can be stored away when not in use and a bendy pipey. No combustibles behind this firebox. Tiles tomorrow. My friend Fleur is a sweetie and lets me buss up the reggae bassline as I work. Real fact.. David works better when his sound runs and he is happier and when he is happier he is more generous when it comes to how small the bill is. Gonna be a sweet install and I'm looking forward to having a dinner made for me in it.

Reconditioning a Villager Heron and building a firebox and tiling for a refurbishment project on an old boat that had been fire damaged. Fire had most likely started by the ash pan door being left open. Hearth designed with 200mm plus in front to avoid such in the future. Stove scrubbed up well for its age. New outer chimney, collar and stack pipe. Back to function.

Nice little Epping cooking range we reconditioned, its off to the fabricator now to have a new spigot manufactured as the wall of the cast has disintegrated. Will need touching up after, but it was so rusty we took it back to see what work would be needed. Firebox and oven were all good luckily, so it's worth the restoration work.

Fabrication and replacement of a flue that had corroded at its meeting point with the collar, which was causing dangerous fumes to leak into the roof cavity. Combustible materials that were charring around the stack pipe cut back to a safe distance and a heat resistant registry plate fitted to close the gap and make it look neat. All new ropes and seals, good rub down and a paint and it's back to function.

Took a trip to Big Neil our fabricator to pick up some bendy flue pipes. Good to see his thumb on the mend after he smashed the bone in three with a lump hammer. For something made off site it was a perfect drop in. Previous pipe had eroded as it had no return on the top to bring it straight though the roof collar. Fitted all new parts from roof to the stove body as the cast collars were also cracked. Rubbed down the stove, replaced ropes and seals and gave it a paint job. Advised client on making the walls safer by cutting away combustibles as they want to copper it over. The stove had been leaking at both stove level and at the top of the pipe into the roof cavity. Left with it being safer than its original install. Satisfying work.

Another Hamlet 4 install on a little Dutch cruiser. Nice opposing symmetry on the tile work. Tough to find a spot to install this stove. We placed it in the v cabin of the bow. Lowest point of the boat allowing the heat to rise nicely and making for a very cosy snug. The boat is still a project and the framing off and upper walls are awaiting the carpenter.

This is a stove that was fitted by somebody that clearly had no experience. We arrived to service this stove and found no fire boarding and the stove dangerously close to the tiles with no air breaker behind. To gain extra depth we decided to remove all combustible material and build a concrete fibre board box and replacing the foam for fiberglass roll. When the tiles and wood were removed it was found that three utilitys, water, electrics and gas all ran together, all less than 5cm from the body of the burner. The total shocker though was the three silver solder joints on the gas pipe and on the other side of that hole in the wall a jubilee clip connecting to a rubber hose and the gas bottle. No gas locker, no separation from the inside and the 13kg bottle sitting loose about a foot from the body of the burner. Gas bottle relocated, somebody to re run the pipe as a single length and all pipes and cables shielded and relocated to a safe distance. One of the most hazerdous installs we have seen this year. After all the safety issues were resolved we layed the base tiles and installed the burner, leaving the client to tile the walls.

Reconditioning another Morso with a fallen out backplate. Serious design fault that causes this problem all too often. Luckily this one could be repaired as the problem was with the plate and the bolts and not the back wall of the stove itself. Total strip down, joints ground back to bright metal and a rub and a paint. Flue cleaned, stove bolted to the floor. All seals replaced. Up and running again by the evening.

Reconditioning a clients 'barn find' Morso for a big install tomorrow. Scrubbed up pretty well considering the state it was in. No cracks in the cast. Structurally sound stove. Bit of a patina to the top plate giving it plenty of character. Tomorrow we build the fire box and drop it in place. Volkan will be joining us on welding duties, as the marina that did some work recently cut a flue hole and positioned it between four air vents, all at less than an arms length away from the site of the chimney. We will be capping and repositioning them and blanking the old flue hole and repositioning before we can install, else the stove would have been half sitting in a cupboard and if there was a down wind North, East, South or Westerly would have been blowing concentrated fumes back into the cabin. Lots of logistical issues to rectify today. Full steam ahead tomorrow.

Arrived to service a relatively new Morso. Stove was incorrectly installed using a 4" flue pipe instead of the larger 4.5". Lack of signifigant draw was causing the stove to heavily lip smoke around the top of the door and the fact that the pipe was too small created a massive void that needed to be packed without any metal being below. Fitted a 5/4.5" adapter and the larger size pipe, rubbed the stove back and replaced all the seals. In a house you would have over four meters of flue and on a boat you rarely have more than two, with a throaty stove like the Morso we highly recommend using a longer twin skin outer chimney. Few other mods to the install which included cutting back the wood around the stack pipe at the roof end and fitting a secondary fire board between the tiling and the stove as the tiles had no air spacer or fire retardant behind them.

Back out servicing badly installed burners in East London. This one came up looking as sharp as the day it was made. Secured to the floor, flue cleaned and balanced properly, all seals replaced, new outer chimney and rain hat. Completely different set up after.