Wood stove door warping...

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Question about a wood stove a friend has...
...It's a home made stove that has a flat 1/4" plate door that just overlaps a flush opening...with welded on gate hinges...there is no space (offset) for a typical stove door gasket...plate door fits flush against plate opening with marginal overlap...

The stove works well enough but when it gets hot the bottom left (unhinged) corner of the door warps out leaving a big gap that effects the dampening ability...

Would welding some pieces of heavy angle iron across the door be enough to stop the warping?

Is adding a 1/2" return to either the door edge or the opening a worthy option?

 

[Shield Arc]

Would welding some pieces of heavy angle iron across the door be enough to stop the warping?

That's what I would do. I would tack weld the angle iron on all 4 sides of the door.
Most likely a hammer will straighten the door, by beating on it. If not you can heat shrink it with a torch.

 

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Thanks for the reply...the funny thing is the door returns to pretty much flat when it cools...it's only when it gets hot that the one corner curls away from the opening...

So the angle iron should just be tacked (a few short stitch welds) ?

 

[Shield Arc]

Yes, just some short welds! If you weld it solid, it will warp the door.