FISHER Grandma and Grandpa Bear Details (Fireplace Series)

[coaly]

Since the Everything Fisher thread has so much hard to find information, I'll start a thread with detailed info on each model as I put it together.

Anyone needing information on their Grandma or Grandpa double door stove is likely to find it here. Please ask if you don't find what you need !

Grandma UL Unlisted pre 1980 with 2 square doors;

Width ; 25 1/2" across top plate.
Depth ; 28 1/4" overall with ash fender (shelf)
Height ; 30 1/2" rear, 24 1/2" front
Approx. weight 406 pounds
Logs to 20" across stove
Heats approx. 1500 s.f.
Requires 5 bricks across back, 4 sides
Flue size 8 inch top or rear
Door opening ; 17" wide X 10 1/2" high

Measurements from original 1977 prints, weight from ad; Dec. 1979

Grandpa UL Unlisted pre 1980 with 2 square doors;

Width ; 29 1/2" across top plate.
Depth ; 30 1/2" overall with ash fender (shelf)
Approx. weight 454 pounds
Logs to 24" across stove
Heats approx. 2000 s.f.
Requires 6 bricks across back, 4 sides
Flue size 8 inch top or rear
Door opening ; 22" wide X 11" high

Measurements from original 1977 prints, weight from ads; 1978

The first double door stoves were made in Oregon in 1976. Jake Jackson was a neighbor (his stove patent has his address very close to Bob) and he asked Bob to build him parts for an outdoor barbeque. After the project, he ended up selling Jake a license to build Fisher Stoves in Redmond OR, and loaned him $1000 for his first steel order. Jake later had a customer want a double door stove to view the fire, and brought the idea to Bob Fisher's shop. Bob wanted no part of more cast door patterns, and knew the stove wouldn't be as efficient as his 6 inch vented single door stoves. Public demand (and Bob's wife Carol) caused the need for a "Fireplace Model". Bob took a ride to Redmond and found Jake selling an adaptation of his stove with double doors. They agreed to terminate his license to build Fisher Stoves after Jake fulfilled his stove orders. This wasn't far from Springfield where they both lived, and Bobs "factory" was now in Eugene. So that's where the first ones were produced. Jake went on to build the Frontier Stove line and their friendship lasted until Jake's death many years later. Fisher called the new line the "Fireplace Series". These have an 8 inch outlet compared to the single door "Bear Series" 6 inch outlet stoves. Available in top or rear discharge, best for placing the rear outlet type on a hearth exiting up the existing flue.
The Grandpa Bear was the largest at the time, only one other Fisher model, the XL was ever made larger.Grandpa measures 29 1/2 inches across the top plate, with the box measuring 28" wide X 23" deep. Comfortable heating 2000 s.f. as suggested in Fisher literature, the stove is capable of even more.
The first stoves had stars on the doors, and a 76 in the largest star on the right door. Like all other Fisher Stoves with solid cast iron doors, they do not use gasket material for a door seal ! The first door hinge ears were not drilled completely through for the common 3/8 round head rivet used as a hinge pin. These had a pressed in pin pressed into the bottom of the door hinge ear, so the doors could be lifted off without loosing pins, since the idea of double doors was to be able to view the fire with the use of a fire screen attached to the front of the stove.
In July of 1977 a revision was made for adding a rear and bottom heat shield made of 20 Ga. Cold Rolled Steel. This was designated as a model II on the prints. A notation on the drawing states the shields are not required when installed on a hearth in front of a fireplace.
In 1979 a Roman Numeral III was added and the door style was available in the original square with flat top, OR with a new arched top style, called "Cathedral". UL Listed stoves from 1980 on had integral shields with bent corners instead of welded angle iron corners that became the legs. A baffle was added for smoke reduction and optional nickel or brass plated doors became available in the cathedral style in 1980 until end of production in 1988.
Many fabricators continued to produce the old style stove with angle iron corners that was not UL Listed $100 cheaper than the Listed model for installation on non combustible hearth.

Leg options became available in 1980 shown in brochure as Straight, Furniture, and Bear Leg below;



The III was later offered with Brass and Glass, and later the Model IV with larger glass was added..​

Attached Files:
Early 76 Grandpa, Pre 1980 Grandpa,
Metallic Brown Grandma III, Grandma IV (with larger glass)

 

[coaly]

Very few Grandpa Bears (so far) have surfaced with a 3 piece top, not a bent single piece of 5/16 thick steel plate. The one pictured above was originally in Michigan, and I purchased it from NW Ohio.

Here's the oddity about the 1976 Bicentennial Door Stoves;

The door seal is not the normal 1 inch channel iron welded to the stove face with a square matching groove cast into the inside of the doors. The '76 door sealing area is ROUND with 1/2 inch round rod welded to the stove face. If I didn't know better, I'd say it wasn't a Fisher by the looks of it with the doors open. This is the only Fisher Stove without the flat channel iron and square cast door groove to seal with a triple contact seal ! (other than with glass doors where there is no channel on the stove, and gasket material is used on the door frame)

So anyone with a Bicentennial Grandpa or Grandma is welcome to let me know what kind of door seal you've got. So far, it appears there was only one '76 door pattern using the round seal.

(The silver stuff at the air intakes is anti-sieze from reaching through to coat the bolt threads)

 

[coaly]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello coaly! I was hoping to pick you for some more information regarding the 76 grandpa bear i picked up today, has stars, 29.5 inches wide, tightly wrapped handle pretty cool stove, when loading it into my truck i noticed the bottom was initialed "BA" in a kinda cursive script, halfway impressive considering it looks like it was done with an arch welder. Was wondering if this could have been done by a known maker, or if you knew where the 1st few granpa's were made, it would be cool if i could document who actually made this stove? Was also wondering if you know of any decent pictures (in color) of this particular stove from the factory? I was planning on refinishing this stove and like the looks of the one you posted on another thread but was wondering whether or not to paint the aluminum knobs on the front silver or black, i think if they were black it wold make the stars shine all the brighter, your opinion would be heavily weighed either way. Thanks!

I'd like to see some pictures of your doors just as they are. Not sure about a 76 on the door NOT inside the large star on the right door, if that's what you mean. If it's a different pattern than I've seen, we'll get into foundry markings on the backside of the doors.

Yes, you still need a damper in the pipe. 8 inch would be best since the small holes in a 6 inch damper when closed may be too small for that stove. It's used when burned with the doors open. With a fire going, slowly close the damper until smoke starts to build and roll in at the top. Open it slightly just to allow the smoke out, yet retain as much heat as you can.

The bear feet accessory came out later. The first Grandma and Grandpa legs were like the older single door stoves. Both sides of the angle iron near the bottom is cut on a long angle. A 4 inch taper down to 1 inch at the bottom end. The newer ones have the leg iron cut at about a 45* angle. They are the ones without the stud welded inside the angle for the ball to be installed on. Using a taperd leg stove with bear feet looks funny, since the leg gets too narrow where it goes into the foot. Obviously it was much less cutting the length of the angle cut, less material (the round stock) and less welding to make the newer style. AND they could make more selling the feet. That's why I tend to go for the older stoves. More time was taken on them, and more attention to detail.

Here's some close ups of the brass knob and feet look. And a comparison of leg angle cut at bottom. 3 piece top Grandpa on Left, Regular Grandma on right.

 

[coaly]

The Frontier stove (original double door inventor) ALSO used this same, round rod door seal and round groove cast into their doors. hmmmm

They also continued the three piece top.

 

[Redbear86]

I checked my 76 today and it does have the half round seal and a gasket material in the channel as well, i also noticed the frontier stove has the plated ball handles.... i wonder how close in size the handle knobs are?

 

[coaly]

Thanks for the detal on your door seal. The round rod size is the same material as the handles and foot adjusting studs. Hopefully in time, others with '76 doors will chime in with their door sealing type; round or square. It would be nice to prove a different door pattern or more than one foundry that made the '76 doors.

I don't know the size of the Frontier knobs, I only have an assortment of Fishers to measure and collect information from. All my ball feet are 1 5/8" diameter. The Chrome Knobs on all my older single door stoves are 1 3/4" diameter. The shaft size (handle and leg studs) is 1/2 inch. The set screw in all knobs is 10-24 National Course thread.

ALL the balls on my 76 Grandpa, feet and handles are brass and measure 1 5/8". The difference using the smaller handle knob doesn't show until sat next to a stove with the normal larger 1 3/4" knob. The smaller knob doesn't take away from the 76 door design as much as the larger chrome ones would. Perhaps someone put some thought behind it, or it was just coincidence.

 

[Redbear86]

updates on the '76 grandpa restore, found a serial number on the back if the stove, right under the over-hang of the plate top, ID 022 P, makes me beleive this one is an idaho native, would be really cool if i could connect the Initials BA signed on on the botton to a welder, i wonder if this stove could have been made in the Post Falls shop for the "P" on the serial number, couldn't find any foundry marks on the inside of the doors though, it looks like as i was stripping the doors that the limbs of the tree were painted silver at one time, whether or not it was from the factory silver though is another matter, none of the stars or anything else had paint though. Ps my hinges are drilled completely through , the pins came right out

 

[Redbear86]

got her all dressed up!

 

[coaly]

Looks great, but it's a HE.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

Thanks, that brings back memories. I used to be a distributor for Timberline stoves, which were made by one of the original developers of the Fishers. They had silver trees on the doors, too, which I used to paint with silver paint before sending out.

 

[Redbear86]

It is a "he"- just hate public displays of affection with other men, if I were to buy some stove pipe online any suggestions on where to find the best price?

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

(broken link removed to http://woodheatstoves.com/wood-stove-chimney-c-71_72.html)

 

[Redbear86]

Another question coaly, I was wondering if if the rear-exhaust grandma/grandpa's are anymore efficient because the heat wasn't going to straight up, and did any grandma/grandpa's have baffles from the factory? thanks!

 

[coaly]

The first vent was out the side due to setting on a hearth. The rear vent was used when it was desirable to have the stove standing out into the room.
The side or rear vent is much better for heat retention in the stove. When smoke became an issue for Oregon law makers, tests were done, and found a baffle reduced smoke from 60 grams per kg of wood burned down to 6 grams. The later stoves incorporated the baffle to roll the unburned particles back into the fire. Below is a picture of an original baffle plate. They have notches cut out at the corners. They simply set on the angle iron supports. They are not fastened to the stove.
Any top vented stove should have a retrofitted baffle of some type. If it's a smaller stove like a Baby Bear and the decreased size of the firebox becomes an issue, the type that was in a Honey Bear can be used. It will prevent some of the heat from escaping, but doesn't roll the smoke back into the flames. (When flaming, the flames follow the baffle up and this intense heat area cleans up the smoke that would normally rise out the stack) Below are pictures inside and out of this baffle plate that fits inside the stove collar inside the stove, not taking up any room. Just make sure the square inch area of the opening stays the same as the collar inside diameter. Normally 1 1/2" opening all the way around. By drilling holes through the collar that sticks inside the stove, J bolts can be used to hang a round steel plate on, and nuts on the J bolts adjust the height of the plate to experiment with the opening.

 

[Redbear86]

Thanks again, yea my grandpa has no baffle at all with top exhaust, i like the full baffle design, looks easy enough to make

 

[coaly]

A very different Grandpa door variation; Normally FIS HER is split between the doors.

 

[Redbear86]

thats cool. i wonder what the story behind it is, you seen one before?

 

[coaly]

No, this is the first one like it I've seen. Upstate NY close to Rochester, close to Canada.

 

[coaly]

Another oddity worth mentioning is a few made wider than normal requiring these arched longer hinge plates. Notice the upper door hinge ears don't sit on the hinge plates to support the door weight. The plates are welded OUTSIDE the door hinges. I saw a Grandma like this once and thought it was a manufacturer error. So far, this variation has been stoves manufactured by the Dunn Brothers in VA and W. VA.

 

[CamFan]

Very good Coaly, I even learned some stuff! lol You have really done your homework.

 

[coaly]

So many variations from the different fabricators is what makes it interesting. I'd like to see the actual dimensions given on the prints to compare to what was actually built. There are these larger size Fireplace models I can't explain. Like you say, the cut sizes are in your head for the models you make. So far, all the single door stoves (Papa Mama & Baby) have measured the same from the very first up through the years, no matter where they came from.

 

[CamFan]

Grandpa cut sheet was as follows for our plant
top 29x30 5/16
side 22 1/4 x24 1/4 for the rest here
back 27 1/2 x24
bottom 27 1/2 x 22
Front botttom 27 1/2 x4
Front top 27 1/2 x 3
baffle 27 x 3

If/when I get the chance I will look at the original blue prints for you. I have them in roll containers. I may even see what it would cost to get copies made.

Steve

 

[coaly]

Those are the exact measurements of the '76 Grandpa that came from Michigan with the 3 piece top. The angled step piece is as wide as the stove, not the overhang as usual, at 27 1/2 X 6. The two top plates are 29 1/4 wide. Rear top 29 1/4 X 14 1/2. Front top 29 1/4 X 10 1/2. 5/16" with all rounded corners. It's like they didn't have bent tops that wide yet, so were made the old way.

My paperwork collection is half original manuals, half copies, but I upgrade to originals as I find them. I'd treasure any print copies you could have made. Whatever a print shop wants for something that large, shipping and your time, I'd like to make worthwhile. That would be over the top.

 

[Greek]

Hello everyone,I'm new to this so here it go's. My name is Bob and I was the first paid welder for the Fisher stove works in N.H.We were the first franchise that Bob&Carol; sold to Arnold Dunagan from Eugene,Or.around 1975-76 and contrary to all stories heard about the design of the Grandpappa-Bear,A.Dunagan charged me $400.00 for distorting 2 baby-bear stoves.I welded two of them together.1-right hand and 1-left hand model.And I said the fireplace model should look similar.With that I was informed that I just ruined two stoves.I then went on to work for Aurther Hicks and Gerald Jolicure at the Warner Stove Co.in Warner,N.H.,I then moved to Maryland and formed the Chesapeake Stove Works,Inc. In BelAir,MD.
:coolsmile:

 

[CamFan]

Hello everyone,I'm new to this so here it go's. My name is Bob and I was the first paid welder for the Fisher stove works in N.H.We were the first franchise that Bob&Carol; sold to Arnold Dunagan from Eugene,Or.around 1975-76 and contrary to all stories heard about the design of the Grandpappa-Bear,A.Dunagan charged me $400.00 for distorting 2 baby-bear stoves.I welded two of them together.1-right hand and 1-left hand model.And I said the fireplace model should look similar.With that I was informed that I just ruined two stoves.I then went on to work for Aurther Hicks and Gerald Jolicure at the Warner Stove Co.in Warner,N.H.,I then moved to Maryland and formed the Chesapeake Stove Works,Inc. In BelAir,MD.
:coolsmile:

Welcome to the Forum, I was involved with Fisher of GA and when I got here I am finding out how much I did not know.