# How to refinish wood cook stove?



## PorkChopsMmm (Aug 16, 2010)

I am in the process of refinishing my first stove, and I think what makes it unique is that it is a cook stove. Below are pictures of the back of the stove (rusty, but not as bad as the pictures make it look) and a piece from the top of the cook stove. I fully intend to wire brush off the rust from the back of the stove and paint it with high temp black stove paint, but what should I do about the cook top surface? All of the pieces are in the general condition of this pot cooking surface. I figure I can wire brush the rust right off -- but do I really want paint on a cook surface? I just think it may not be good to have a chemical based paint possibly interact with foods.

What do y'all recommend? Thank you!

Back of stove:









Piece of cook top:


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## Michael Kawalek (Jun 21, 2007)

Hi PCM
I just refinished a smaller stove and was very, very pleased with the way it turned out. I wire brushed the surface with an electric drill, though for the large flat surfaces of your stove a flat or belt sander might work better.

After cleaning off all the rust, I found a few internal spots where the metal was eaten away, which I repaired with furnace cement. I un-screwed the air vents and retapped the screw holes to remove rust. Let any cement repairs dry overnight before trying to fire your stove. I then re-surfaced my stove with homemade stoveblack. 

I made it out of bacon fat and charcoal. I filled a jar half-full with bacon fat, added boiling water, and emulsified it to extract the salt out of the fat. I turned the jar upside down so the water would settle at the screw-cap and left it in the frig. It was easy to pour off the water after the fat solidified. I did this twice to remove all the salt from the fat. I then heated the fat on the stove till traces of water boiled away and then added the charcoal.

I just picked up some charcoal peices out of our campfire pit and crushed them into powder that I sieved through window screen. I then mixed a half-jar worth of charcoal with a half-jar of cleaned fat and let it solidify. Kept shaking it so often to keep the charcoal suspended. Ended up with a jet-black paste the consistancy of auto polish.

I rubbed this into the metal with an old cotton rag. I have to say I was shocked at the results. The stove was so pretty that I had to set a chair next to it because I just wanted to stay by the stove to stare at it.

Once I fired up the stove for the first time, it was quite smoky, but I expected that and had a fan running to pull smoke out the window. After about an hour or so, the fat had dried to a beautiful flat-black finish that is not oily to the touch and doesn't smoke any more. I think it's beautiful!

Good luck on your stove, I'm sure you'll be as pleased with your work as I am with mine.
Michael


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## PorkChopsMmm (Aug 16, 2010)

Michael, thanks for the update! I remember seeing your stove in another thread. I think I am going to try this for the cook surfaces. My only downside is I won't be firing the wood stove for a month or so but I interim I will definitely wire brush off the rust. 

Where did you get all of you bacon fat? Was it cooked?


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

My friends wasnt rusted,but was dull,I hit the whole thing with bacon grease and it looked great!Yes,made bacon,had grease,applied,away you go.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Doesn't it continue smoking until all the grease and charcoal are burned off?

I remember a navy guy said they used grease to blacken steel on the ships. I tried it on a barrel stove but it kept smoking until it was gone and didn't make the steel permanently black.


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## Granny Sue (Jan 12, 2009)

You know, a lot of that rust will "cook" off once you use your stove. Mine looked like that when I bought it, many years ago. I brushed it down with a steel brush and a little steel wool, washed off the dust from that and let it dry. Then started cooking. I've used stove black over the years on it, but a well-used stove isn't likely to look real pretty most of the time anyway.

BTW, when I used the oven on my new old 1951 Tappan gas range for the first time last week, the rust fell off the oven walls. I hadn't had time to clean them yet, and forgot actually until I had the cornbread mixed up. Stuck it in anyway to see what would happen. The stove was cleaner when I finished when I started.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I suppose the uneven expansion and contraction breaks the rust loose.


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## blue gecko (Jun 14, 2006)

I agree with Granny Sue. We just used a stiff brush to get the loose stuff off and let time take care of the rest.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Great thread thanks. I just picked up a Findley Vega wood cook stove, that needs finishing. It has a steel skirt that will get brushed and will be painted.


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## buslady (Feb 14, 2008)

I agree with using the stove to take off the rust. That works everytime. My mother-in-law used to use the wax paper out of a loaf of bread, crumpled up to rub on the warm stov top. It gives it a real shine after the rust is gone, but it too, will burn off eventually.
Have fun using your stove. I finally got my utility room cleaned out, (that is where my wood cookstove is), and I fully intend to use it a lot this year. We have been hauling slabs from the amish sawmill, so will have plenty of wood. Buslady:clap:


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## momofseven (Oct 10, 2008)

I use oil on top of mine... works great for cast iron pans, right?


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

momofseven said:


> I use oil on top of mine... works great for cast iron pans, right?


Thats how I see it.


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## PorkChopsMmm (Aug 16, 2010)

Thanks for the feedback! Once I can move the cook stove up to our land I will let it burn down for a while and then use some paint/polish to clean it up. I never thought that firing would remove the rust. Good ideas!


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