West Tulsa business specializes in old stove repair, refurbishing
TULSA — By the early 1990s, Richard Stufflebeam was done with layoffs and tired of punching someone else’s time clock.
The west Tulsa native built oil-field equipment until he was laid off because of the oil bust in the 1980s. He quickly found work in the aerospace industry, but again was laid off nine years later when a defense contract expired after Desert Storm.
“I thought, man, I’m getting so old I better do something where I’m not going to get laid off again,” Stufflebeam said.
So he purchased Tulsa Stove Hospital, a 96-year-old business specializing in antique stove repairs and refurbishing.
The business is housed at 4067 Southwest Blvd. in a building that once contained a drugstore, variety store and the old Red Fork post office in the 1950s.
Inside the building are between 200 and 300 stoves from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s in various states of repair. The collection includes several stoves from O’Keefe & Merritt and Chambers — often considered top of the line for their time.
A newly chromed 1948 Anderson stove and a 1930 Magic Chef with fresh porcelain standout as examples of Stufflebeam’s work.
The business opened in 1921 on First Street in downtown Tulsa, then moved to 627 N Boulder Ave. where it was located for more than 50 years.
Stufflebeam worked at the store as a young man when it was owned by his father-in-law.
“We did a lot more service back then,” he said.
Stufflebeam and his son Ronnie run the store now, and the majority of the work is centered around refurbishment, which can include replacing springs and insulation, rechroming, updating the thermostats and refiring the porcelain on the stoves.
Older ranges are also equipped with pilot lights and safety valves that need to be repaired.
“There are people who just love these old stoves,” Ronnie Stufflebeam said.
Ronnie Stufflebeam is one of five children and the only one who took an interest in stove repair.
“It’s therapeutic for me and keeps my mind off troubles,” he said.
As the stoves get older, the number of businesses like the Stufflebeams’ that service them dwindle. The Stove Hospital pulls in clients from Kansas, Texas, Colorado and Arkansas.
The Stufflebeams have about a year’s worth of work backed up because of demand and the lengthy refurbishment process.
“I tell them it’s going to take time,” Richard Stufflebeam said. “We go out of state for chrome and out of state for porcelain.”
Some places will paint stoves. Stufflebeam prefers to sandblast and fire the porcelain at 2,200 degrees to change the color in order to make them as original as possible.
“It makes them have that brand-new look,” he said.
Chrome work is done in Dallas and porcelain refiring is done at a foundry in Missouri. The Stufflebeams transport the stoves themselves to ensure the stoves are not damaged.
“If you try to ship too much, you’ll end up with a bunch of broken parts that belong to someone else,” he said. “You’ve got to be really careful with other people’s stuff.”
The dusty showroom — probably the only room that isn’t filled floor to ceiling with stoves and parts — also features a 1904 cast iron hot water tank. He displays a 1950s clock that was a gift from the owners of KFMJ radio station and bears the Tulsa Stove Hospital name.
“People have offered to buy it, but it’s not for sale,” Stufflebeam said. “I don’t care what you offer, it’s not for sale.”
Richard Stufflebeam said he’ll probably keep working until he’s physically unable to because he enjoys the work and getting outside of the house.