Stovepipe Was Made to Order: Early Hardware Stores Custom-Made Stovepipe

By Delbert Trew
Published on April 26, 2010
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An old-fashioned stove.
An old-fashioned stove.
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Patent 733,131: Corrugating tool patented by James Blumer, New York City, N.Y., July 7, 1903. The portable device was used to corrugate sheet metal, especially the ends of stovepipe joints.
Patent 733,131: Corrugating tool patented by James Blumer, New York City, N.Y., July 7, 1903. The portable device was used to corrugate sheet metal, especially the ends of stovepipe joints.

How many Farm Collector readers have ever installed a damper in a stovepipe?

How many don’t even know what I’m talking about? The damper adjusts the flow of air going up a stovepipe, thus adjusting how hot your fire is burning below. Like a modern-day thermostat, this non-electronic device can save a lot of fuel when set correctly.

Recently I visited with Robert Adams of the Adams Hardware Store in Shamrock, Texas. The store was established in 1934; the Adams family took over in 1947. Robert has a small but very interesting collection displayed in the store. Be sure to drop in sometime to see it.

Old stovepipe-making equipment is part of the display. In the old days, customers brought in stovepipe measurements and the store owner made the pipe to fit. Why did the pipe have to be made? Because finished pipe took up too much room in shipping. Raw tin was cut to size and shipped flat in a wooden crate.

To fill an order, both edges of the 3-foot piece of tin were cranked through a crimper to make the edges clip together. One end was inserted into another crimper and cranked, sizing one end so it would slip into another joint. A shorter piece of pipe could be cut on a cutter device. Ells, 45-degree ells and tees were stocked separately along with dampers, stove bolts, stove wire, stove blacking and the tin-covered asbestos pad the stove sat on.

There were numerous styles of ash buckets, stove shovels and pokers for sale, along with a coal shuttle where coal could be stored out of sight under lids. Many merchants gave away lid-lifters as a premium, especially to good customers.

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