This is the picture of the stove I copied for the Kitchen Room Box. It's from "Better Homes and Gardens", April, 1941. I find these magazines at antique malls, it's good to have a few. I would really like to have some magazines from the 1920's, but those are hard to find and cost more.
This stove will be made from basswood. It is painted with oil base enamel. I paint, sand, and paint again until I get a smooth finish that looks likes porcelain enameled metal.
I don't make my appliances open, I don't think I could get them to look realistic if I made them to open. I'm just interested in making them "look" realistic, anyway.
If you don't like this style of stove, get on the Internet and type in "vintage stoves". You'll get some beautiful examples, with measurements.
I make my appliances first, then I fit my countertops to them. Sometimes when I scale the measurements down I will round off the fractions to make it easier.
This stove is 3 1/4" wide, 2 1/2" high and 2" deep.
Use wood glue for everything, until I mention the tacky.
First you will need a block of wood measuring 3 1/16" wide, 2 9/16" high and 1 13/16" deep. This can be a solid block of wood or you can stack basswood and glue & clamp together any combination that will get you to 2 9/16" thick.
If you are stacking, rough cut pieces about 3 1/4" x 1 3/4", glue & clamp 3 to 4 pieces together, let dry them cut 3 1/16" x 1 13/16". Then glue & clamp, using wood glue, your stacks together, KEEPING EVERYTHING VERY EVEN. Let dry.
Cut a bottom, this is the toe kick, 3 1/4" wide, 1 5/8" deep and 3/8" high.
This piece is not as deep as the block, that's for the toe kick. This piece is 3/16" wider than the block, that's because we are going to add sides to the block, each side 3/32" thick.
Glue & clamp the bottom onto the block, keep the backs even, 3/32" on each side and 3/16" back from the front.
Soften the 2 front corners of the bottom by sanding.
Cut a back 3 1/4" wide and 3" high from 3/32" thick basswood. Round off the 2 top corners. Glue & clamp this onto the back of the block/bottom assembly. The back will have 3/32" extra on each side and 1/2" extra on top for the back splash.
Cut the top 3 1/4" x 1 29/32" from 3/32" stock. *(That's a 32nd beyond the 7/8" mark)*
Divide the top in half and center 4 circles, 3/4" in diameter on the left half. Cut or drill these out. Place the top on the block and mark your circles. Remove top and paint the marked circle areas on the block silver. Let dry. Glue & clamp onto block.
Doors. Cut 2 from 3/32" stock: 1 1/2" x 1 1/2"; and cut 2 from 3/32" stock: 1" x 1 1/2".
Sides. Cut 2 from 3/32" stock: 2 9/16" x 1 29/32".
For the light on the back use 3/32" stock and cut 1 piece 1/2" x 1/2". Cut a 3/8" dowel 1 1/8" long. The safe way to do this next step is to sand this dowel flat, in half, and round the ends, like the shade in the picture. If you have a Dremel with carving bits, you can hollow out the shade, but you don't have to.
Using fine sandpaper soften the front and side edges of the top. Soften the front edge of the back splash. Soften the front outside edge of the sides, only. Soften all four sides of the doors.
Glue the 1/2" x 1/2" piece to center edge of back splash. Let dry. Glue the shade onto this piece. Let dry.
Mask off the silver painted holes in the top.
Using oil based enamel, I use white Rustoleum, paint the top, top and front of back splash white.
Paint the sides and doors white, paint both sides to seal and prevent warping.
Paint the bottom and the block all around and the back with black enamel.
Let everything dry.
Paint it all again, black and white. You only have to paint the fronts of the doors from now on. Let dry. Sand using fine grit sandpaper, 220.
Paint it all again and sand with finer grit paper, I'll go up to 400 grit. You are looking for a glass smooth finish, when you are satisfied, stop. Don't sand again. I will sometimes paint and sand 7 or 8 times until I get a finish I like. Something always gets on the wet paint, somehow, I don't know.
Glue on the sides and the doors. If you clamp, be careful, don't use much pressure, and put something between the wood and the clamp. If you don't it will leave a mark and you'll have to sand and paint again, Oh no!
I used the centers of round plastic canvas cut to size and painted black for the burner grates. For the knobs you can use poster board stacked and glued together for the right thickness or polymer clay. Cut 9 circles, 1/16" to 1/4". Cut 3 of them less than in half and place cut edge onto middle of the circles. Bake according to package directions. Or glue the 1/2 circles onto the circles. Paint the color you want. You can use tacky or super glue to glue these on.
I found clock dials on line at clock making websites. Size the dial the size you want, I glue it to a thin circle of wood or posterboard a little bigger and painted silver to look like a rim. Then I'll coat with a finish to make it all shiny. Glue this on with tacky or super glue. The handles for the doors are cut from 3/32" basswood. You can use tacky or super glue to glue these on. I used an oval template for the shape, 1", 20 degree oval. I painted these black with a silver line through the middle. I also painted the shade with a silver line along the edge.
A good substitution for the silver line is silver foil from a stained glass supplier. It's thin and narrow and has a sticky back. You'll have to cut it even narrower but it looks very nice, just like the metal trim used. I also used this as the edge along my counters in the kitchen room box and for the trim on my refrigerators.
I want to give you a tip. I am married to an architectural woodworker, we have a shop and he makes cabinets and furniture, free standing and built into homes. When he is figuring how much wood he has to have and how to cut it out from sheets of plywood and his hardwood, he makes a "cut list". I call it his "recipe".
This method saves on wood and also saves on table saw changes, especially when you are cutting 1 29/32". You don't want to have to set the saw up twice for a measurement like that!
The easiest way to explain how to do this is visually, once you understand it you won't have to draw the pictures anymore. Go through the directions and draw all the pieces needed, put the measurements and which way the grain is going. Now go through and find the common measurements. When you have the saw set up to cut 3 1/4", run them all at that time. It does take some careful pre-planning, but it helps out in the long run.
I have another stove in my "First Apartment" room box, it's a small apartment size and it is cute! If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me. I do aplogize, again for the lack of a photograph, still saving for that camera. Kris, 1 Inch Minis
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