The Stove Board Mystery

 Hello Readers. I have not been sewing much this week but I have been doing things around the house. My mother-in-law is down sizing and has passed a few things on to me. One of the things was this metal piece. I had no idea what it was. I originally thought it was a patio table top. I had some help figuring out what it was from my antiques expert/sister-in-law.

 

It is actually a "stove board". It protects the floor in front of a wood stove from sparks. The metal made  sense because metal would not burn as easily as a wood floor. 

 

 

 It had a design on the metal front but unfortunately one end was very rusted and actually crumbling into dust. I couldn't put it in the house because rust was falling off of it. It would have made a mess and the rust couldn't be very good for you. 

When I turned it around I saw this company name and logo. I thought the image was pretty cool. It reminded me of wide plank wood floors and it guaranteed first quality! Could I salvage the wood by removing the metal from the front? I could try!

I worked in a well ventilated garage for safety. I started prying the metal from the edges and tried to remove it gently. It was not glued so I just had to bend and loosen it from the wood. the wood was fragile and I tried not to cause damage as I worked. 

 

 This metal was on tight! It did not want to let go. I needed some kind of metal cutters but I only had these kitchen shears. They got the job done well enough. They broke and ended up in the trash at the end of this project. 

 

 The rusted end of the wood was pretty dirty and had "rust dust" on it. It needed some clean-up. 

I used sand paper to remove some of the dark discoloration and get rid of the dust. I did not sand the whole board just the edges and dark spots. I wanted the logo to be what you noticed, not the dark stains. Lightly using sand paper made the stains fade and be less noticeable.  

When the wood was free of the metal and wiped down it looked pretty good. But what would I do with it. I liked the idea of displaying it but it needed a good location. 

 

 I thought it looked great on the front of my kitchen island. My front door opens into the house and you see this island down the hall. It is always in view so I have tried to decorate it in different ways. 

 

 Taking it all apart has probably ruined the value of the piece but it made it usable in my home so I am OK with that. This was a fun project made possible by my mother-in-law (Thanks L.U.) and the Wabash Screen Door Co. Thanks to them as well. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.