Osborne Restoration

Author: OliverOsborne

  • Brass foundry at Blackcountry museum

    We visited The Blackcountry Museum at Dudley over the summer so I thought I’d share a few photos of what we got up to while we were there. For those that haven’t been before you must! It’s really one of the most amazing places I’ve been, the attention to detail is incredible and if you linger around until closing time you get a glimpse of the place less the throngs and its something really special.
    The series of three photos here are of the brass foundry, the chap is casting a horse brass. The building was originally on a different site but has been moved to the museum and rebuilt with painstaking accuracy. It was originally a manger but was converted to this little cottage industry brass mill by its original owner. The furnace doesn’t have bellows but relies of a tall chimney and deep pit beneath the grate to produce enough draw.

  • Bungalow Belle

    The Bungalow Belle with boiler went a while ago but I haven’t until now had a chance to post a picture. Here it is before being packaged up.

  • New (old) ranges in stock!

    I’ve had a few deliveries over the last week and here’s the result, you guessed it- ranges!

    I tend to try and get my hand on anything cast by the Caledonian Stove and Iron Works so when this beautifully deco ‘Dover’ range came up I had to have it!

    Secondly a very smart 26″ Belle Portable with removable oven. These narrower ranges are increasingly hard to come by especially in this condition!

    Next is a very nice but fairly rusty Larbert 410114 30″ range, these are very pretty with their strap hinges and curve top oven doors. The firebox drop doors that are always missing will be replaced in the restoration with new ones that I have had cast in England from high quality grey iron.

    Finally, here is something really special! It’s a very nice little 24″ model, the kind of stove that can be found in narrowboat back cabins but can also slip into many standard chimney openings. It’s had a hard old life but we’ll get him ship shape again before long!

  • “New Clanic” 36″ Belle Portable range with sham

    I have recently got in a “New Clanic” Belle Portable range with sham. It is in very good shape and will be in for restoration next week. At present it is a pile of bits in the workshop so I can’t show folk any actual photo’s but here is an original advertisement of a Nichols & Clarke Ltd catalogue.

  • 1896 Larbert 41104 with boiler resto

    The Larbert with boiler goes in for restoration this week so I thought this would be a good opportunity to do a ‘before and after’ photo. It is in complete condition but has suffered a lot of damage over the years. A section of top plate on the RHS is completely gone, the back/ sides and oven have rotted out and the front panel is broken in three places. Likewise the firebox cheeks are both damaged, the grate hanger is burnt out, the oven is rotten and It is also missing a hot plate. But most importantly the whole boiler is knackered. Busy week then!

  • Cottage range installed

    I thought I would quickly post a picture of a cottage range I supplied with a surround and installed by the customers builder. It looks great with the lime render and Bath stone and should give folk a bit of an idea of what might be possible with the range below.

  • Cottage range for sale

    It’s been busy as ever of late with customers restorations but this week I managed to find the time to get one of my restorations done. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while but it has been sitting in bits gathering dust in the workshop until now. It is a ‘Cottage’ open range and is one of the prettiest I’ve seen. I’ve just put it up for sale so if you are interested pop on over to the ‘Shop’ section of the site.

  • Poorly Belle Portable

    I received another Belle portable for restoration today and it really is in a poor state of repair. In fact I can’t remember if this might be the most poorly one I have been asked to repair. Much of the damage isn’t visible from the photo but it seems to have had all manner of bumps, dings, knocks and cracks over the years. Not to mention its lost one of its sides somewhere along the line!

  • Early Larbert 41104 with water boiler

    I just received this range in stock, it is an early example of a Larbert 41104 portable range with water boiler. There is lots of work to do to this one before it will be ready to use again including the fabrication of a stainless steel boiler since the cast iron has been reduced to metallic mulch! It’s a very nice range however and will be well worth the effort.
    If you are interested in this one then get in touch.

  • 1894 Belle Portable with water boiler at home

    And here is the Belle Portable back at home. I’m pleased to see the fire has already been lit and a cork popped to celebrate!