Bit of a weird one this, but hoping someone here will know the answer!

I have a problem with my wood stove. The cast iron baffle plate basically just rests on a couple of tabs at the front and the wetback tank at the back. The problem is if it gets knocked when loading a log, it pops up and slides back over the wetback and drops off its front tabs into the firebox. As you can imagine, much hilarity ensues.

After much thought, the only practical solution I can come up with is to tap a thread into the plate at the back, and insert a bolt. The bolt can just snug up to the structure above and stop the baffle plate from being pushed up.

I know that tapping the cast iron plate is doable. What I'm not sure about is how to ensure a long service life from the bolt in the hostile environment of a hardworking redgum-fuelled firebox. Obviously it needs to be removable for future cleaning and servicing.

I was thinking of using a stainless bolt as in my experience stainless tends to hold up better to intense heat than mild steel. But I don't know whether differential expansion or galvanic action or some other vector will cause trouble over time. Is there a particular type of bolt that is a best choice for this application?


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