That’s grate!

The grate for the Yorkist range was broken in two and severely warped. There were some firebricks which presumably had been used to balance the broken pieces up but it was actually so badly warped that the pieces didn’t fit in the space for the fire any more. It’s not a standard rectangular shaped grate but a trapezium. I did a little bit of googling in case anyone made replacement grates specifically for Yorkist ranges but nothing came up.

grate

The grate rests on these little brackets and as the damper casing on the right sits above it – any new grate would also have to sit down on the brackets.

grate brackets

So I made cardboard template:

grate template

took it to the local blacksmith and came back with this:

new grate

Looks perfect doesn’t it?  Except if you compare it to the photos above, you’ll notice the damper casing is conspicuous in its absence.  Basically, it’s a testament to why I should never be allowed to measure anything.  It fits the space perfectly but not one of the brackets is sitting in its allocated space – like in the photo below:

grate bracket

Meaning that it sits about a cm higher than it should and therefore the damper casing doesn’t fit.  The blacksmith had said not to worry, if it didn’t fit perfectly as he could adjust it – but as every bracket was out, I didn’t trust myself to be accurate enough about where it needed adjusting and I’d already driven to Laxey four times about about the grate.  So I explained to it Dad and he came around to the house with his dremel, grinder and a drill with a stone attachment.  I painted the brackets so we could see where the paint transferred to the grate and know where to cut (Dad thought I was very weird for doing this which I in turn thought was very weird because I’m pretty sure it’s something I learnt ‘at his knee’).

painted brackets

This is what the bottom of the grate looked like before grinding:

bottom of grate before

After a lot of grinding, testing (painting) and grinding again it looked like this:

bottom of grate after

Not as pretty but….

grate in situ

Hurrah – the slipper fits 🙂  Oh and I also had the blacksmith make me an ashpan – which you can see below the grate.  The bit above the grate is on a hinge (it’s been up in all the other photos), it is for a kettle and is apparently called a ‘falling crow’.

Unfortunately, this means Dad now knows I’m keeping the range and I’ve had a whole weekend of lectures and anecdotes about how inefficient open fires are and how they actually make centrally heated houses colder by drawing all the warm air up the chimney 🙁  Yes, yes, I know but….

7 thoughts on “That’s grate!

  1. Hello, have had made patterns to cast new parts for Yorkists, e.g. Grates, trivets etc. May be able to help with missing parts.

  2. Hi, Appreciate if you could e-mail me. Have some interest in the design / config of the supports for the grate. Kind Regards Bruce

  3. Hi We have a yorkist and I’m after a cowl that is at the top of the fire. The metal sides are bust so it does not pull out anymore. I’m trying to find one
    Cheers
    Steve

  4. Hi, I am looking for a bottom grate for a yorkist stove. As you look at the fire the fire is on the left with the ovens on right. Can anyone advise?

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