by eernest4

here is a thread that i got rather involved in , all about stove black & stove polish.
very informative reading.

http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/16040/

www.rutland.com your source for stove black.

Basically stove black or stove polish is a conbination of waxes & black pigments that are applied to a cast iron or steel stove with a brush or a cloth ,depending upon the directions on he container & then allowed to air dry 15 minutes & wiped/ buffed /brushed off. But,that is not the end of it ,at all.

NEXT COMES THE COOK OFF OR BURN OFF phase of the opperation.

The manufacturers call this CURING THE STOVE BLACK. This usually consists of smoking out the house of the UNWARY USER with a wax like stench that is unhealthy to breath.

You will do much better because of the HEADS UP you are about to recieve.

Do this on a warm spring day. Just before you get ready to lite off your stove, you need to open doors & windows
& place ventalation fans where appropiate. maybe you want to wear a breathing mask ,but it MAY not be required.
I have not done it, but ,I read all the instructions I could find. So, wear a mask,not wear a mask,up to you.
If you already have a mask, wear it.

One manufacturer puts it this way : By placing just a few small splits of wood in the stove, almost kindling size,
the temp of the stove can be easily controled by virtue of the extra small fire, very little fuel, & the stove can be warmed up slowly. As the stove warms up slowly, the stove black will cure slowly.

mfg says cure , but cure also means cook off or burn off or smoke off.

What this means is that it is your choice. You can burn the wax off slowly & not get so much smoke, all at once,
or you can burn the wax off quickly & get all the smoke, all at once.

At any rate, after cooking off the wax at high temp 450 to 500deg., for 15 to 20 minutes, all the smoke will stop & the stove will look really good in respect to whatever it was that you started with.

FYI: williams stove black contains only graphite & carbon & – MIGHT-NOT- be so bad on the cook off end of things;
but it gives a darker satin gray finish, not a black finish as rutland stove black does.

I have to say might not because I have not used the product,only read the instructions.

HIGH TEMP STOVE PAINTS

On a closing note rutland also sells high temp flat black stove paint in both spray on & brush on cans.

There are other bright high temp colors available also, but only flat black paint gives your stove the maximum
radiant energy efficiency so that while the bright colors look great, the stove won’t heat quite as well as when it was flat black.

a good trade off between keeping high heat ratiation efficiency with flat black & having bright colors that don’t radiate heat well is to do some complementary accent colors on the stove ,while keeping the stove mostly flat black. It will jazz up the stove quite a bit & the stove will still radiate well.

IF YOU PAINT……………………… DO IT ON A WARM DAY WITH ALL DOORS & WINDOWS OPEN & VENTALATOR FANS & THE PROPER RESPERATOR MASK RECOMMENDED BY THE PAINT MAKER.

I am told that some of the paints are very nasty to breath, so don’t think to save money by not buying a resparater mask. I know they cost $40.oo to $50.oo but how much do your lungs cost when it is too late;
thousands of dollars or more.

So spend the $50.oo ,chances are you will use the resparator again for another project & cost average down the expense. Your lungs will thank you. And be sure to keep the family members well clear when you paint.