restoring a fire place.... how to?

[Dupont666]

Thinking about restoring my cast iron fireplace back to glory (not working condition just looking nice), but not sure where to start.

most of it is ok, just a clean up with a wire brush and some grate polish should work... but some of it the black bit has come off and exposed stone is left behind just near where the fire would once be. Do i need to paint this somehow or just use grate polish on it all once clean?

Cheers for any help.

here are some pictures to help.



close up of the bit i want to fix.

Edited by Dupont666 on Thursday 2nd October 14:51

[Easy_Targa]

The damaged portion at the back i called the "firebrick" and is effectively cast into the back of the iron frame. It is obviously a highly heat resistant material like clay or Terracotta. It also gets a pounding from coal, logs pokers etc, which eventually knackers the surface. It looks poor but it will probably soldier on for a while yet. Then you must knock it out and recast it.

[Dupont666]

so considering i just want it to look asthetically good, what is the best to cover it with?

[B17NNS]

Why not put some nice logs or coal in there to hide the damage?

[Dupont666]

Cause even touching it means it falls apart, would rather scrub it out and then paint it up with some type of paint (thick stuff) to restore it and put a light in there and some logs.

[Emsman]

Baxi (i beieve they were called, used make fire bricks

Use whatever size you can get to make a new one, filling any joints with fire cement.

Functional, looks like new.

If you cant find one, the bricks out of a storage heater are more than suitable.