How to remove "film" from enamel ?

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precaud

precaud

Minister of Fire
Jan 20, 2006
2,307
Sunny New Mexico
www.linearz.com
I'm cleaning up my Waterford Leprechaun to sell, and I see that the discoloration which I had noticed before, has gotten worse. See the photo below. Some parts of the enamel have formed a milky "film" on the surface, though it may be surface etching and not just sitting on the surface. Any encountered this before? Any ideas on how to remove it?

The question is, how did it get there? Some may recall that I bought this stove in March from someone who had wrapped it in plastic and stored it for many years. The only thing I can think of is that something leached out of the plastic onto the surface and did this.

Any thoughts/ideas are appreciated.
 

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I've never seen that before on enamel and doubt that is normal. Porcelain is a tough finish. The problem seems to be on the vertical surfaces the plastic wrap touched. That would lead me to try plastic solvents in discrete spot testing. Maybe try a little acetone (nail polish remover), lacquer thinner (xylene) or other solvent in spot tests to see if effective?
 
Good suggestion from BG.

I might also suggest a product called "Awesome" - found at many dollar stores. I've used "Awesome" on our travel trailer to take out black streaks on the sides of our travel trailer. Awesome also took out a rust spot in our carpeting. Always try a cleaner in an inconspicuous area first.

Shari
 
Thanks for your suggestions. I've tried a couple nasty (i.e. aggressive) cleaners with no success, that's what made me think it is possibly etched and not something laying on the surface. I have some acetone and xylene here, I'll give them a shot.

The top was uncovered and is completely free of this.
 
Could be condensation under the plastic, which then evaporated and left hard water deposits on the finish. Try some gas stove glass cleaner from your local hearth product shop, or glass rangetop cleaner from any kitchen appliance store. The stuff is more like Brasso than Windex, and removes the surface buildup via tiny abrasives in suspension. You put a gob on a rag, and polish the deposits off using the Pat Morita / Ralph Macchio "Wax on, wax off" technique.
 
Your explanation sounds very plausible, Tom. I'll give it a shot.
 
I doubt condensation would cause hard water spots to happen, because condensation has no mineral deposits in it. It has already been "distilled" during the evaporation process.

If you do suspect that they are mineral deposits, try some hot distilled vinegar and a plastic scrubby. Stay away from Scotch-Brite type pads as they contain abrasives that will definitely scratch the porcelain.

Just curious, what did you use that you considered aggressive?
 
Batten, I have already tried 409, denatured alcohol, distilled vinegar, trichloroethane, an automotive cleaner called Wipe-Away (orange extract), and I just tried CLR, all to no effect. I think it is less likely a surface deposit, and more likely surface damage.
 
Bummer. Have you tried polishing a test area, maybe on the side, with fine steel wool, rottenstone or 400 grit wet paper or the like? It may take using a coarser version and then working up to the finest level.
 
I haven't gone that route BG, mostly because it's hard to control that to just the affected areas, and I don't want to resurface the whole thing. I may just discount it to allow for the blems and move on.
 
It's a very cute little stove, that's a shame! If you can afford to discount it or find someone to take it less than perfect and try themselves, I guess that is the way to not waste any more time on it... but, then again there's got to be something! It looks like rust stains, kinda. Is it definitely on the surface and not at the bond between the metal and the enamel?

Or does it feel etched, like really old bathtubs and stuff get? Or does it look, when you look real close, like it is sitting on the surface? If you wet it, does it look temporarily better? (like pebbles in the water don't look as good when you pull them out and they dry?)
I wonder if some kind of car cleaner would work, or another shot at a hard water mineral deposit cleaner or rust remover... but I guess if it is basically acid etched from some chemical reaction, it will be hard to do too much. And some of those cleaners ARE acid based so that could get tricky.
 
bbc557ci said:
Maybe a little rubbing compound, such as for automotive type finishes would work.
Click to expand...

That's my thought too, polishing compound or even clay bar it. Clay baring is unbelievable the stuff it will get off your "clean" car..
 
Well I dug out a high-power magnifier (the lens from an old crt camera) and took a careful look. It is definitely etched into the surface, and not something that can be cleaned away. The pics below show etched areas next to unblemished ones. It appears to have eaten well down into the enamel in places.
 

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Well I tried a couple fine abrasives, first baking soda paste, no difference.
Then #000 (very fine) steel wood, nada.

Some more web searching suggests the only way to repair this and bring the gloss back (short of blasting if off and re-enameling) is by the equivalent of a touchup paint, which would have to be color matched. Some UK websites have articles on enamel cookstove repair. It's questionable how this would stand up to the higher heats seen by a woodstove body.

So I think I'll end this project here and sell it as it is. Thanks everyone for your input.

The moral of this story: Protect your enamel stove finishes! (Or, stick with painted steel/iron... it's a repairable surface.)
 
That is some nasty plastic. Was this the stretch wrap stuff or regular polyethylene?
 
Unknown, it was unwrapped before I saw it. Could have been something under the plastic, who knows. But it's clear by the pattern that the body was wrapped with something. The top wasn't, and is in perfect condition.

If it doesn't sell, then I'll keep it as a backup stove. No biggy.
 
Two hours after I listed it on CL, someone wanted to come see it right away. Two more hours and it's on their truck and gone, for more than three times what I paid for it (it and the chimney that came with it). They loved it, of course.

What will be this year's "project" stove? What will the stove gods bring my way to experiment with? :)
 
Had a Jotul GF300 new in the crate that I listed on eBay a few years ago. A guy in Canada was driving me nuts wanting that stove and I kept telling him that there was no way it was worth coming all this way to get it. He went ahead and made the highest bid. Talked to the idiot on the phone and offered to refund the payment and he still insisted on coming down. So on a cold night I loaded the blue/black beauty in the back of the Suburban to meet him a couple of miles North of here two days later. Never dreaming what happens to the enamel when the Sub sits out in the bright sun all day the next day. Delivery day arrives and I open the back doors of the truck and that enamel is fogged. All of it. Wipe a paper towel over it and nothing. Try alcohol. Nothing. The mildew is in the paint. Not one thing in that truck was mildewed but that stove.

This guy is halfway between Ontario and here driving all night to pick up the damned thing and it looks like crap. I go and get hydraulic fluid and wipe it down. Of course it shines right up but I ain't handing it over like that. I let it sit for an hour and then wipe it down with alcohol and it stays shiny when the stuff dries. I head out and meet the guy and tell him the entire story and he does not care. He is lusting for that stove. And the front of his new Chevy pickup is smashed in from where he hit a deer on the road in the middle of the night driving here.

That was three or four years ago and I never heard another word from him. Crazy Canuck!
 
What a story, BB. Bet you were worried there for a while. Though, it's true, when you drive a long distance to fetch something, there is a tendency to overlook the little stuff and just be done with it.

A related story: I bought my X33 on eBay, from a dealer going out of business. I drove up to CO to get it. Arrived, looked it over, and the secondary baffle is missing. He didn't know anything about it. So I thought for a moment; should I accept this? Then said no thanks and headed for the door. He then said he "might" be able to get the part and send it to me. I couldn't take that chance, he was proving himself to be untrustworthy with each passing moment. So he then offered a decent discount if I would take the stove as it is (I had been the only bidder). I accepted and drove away with an even better deal than I had thought.

Next day, I contacted the distributor, they had the baffle in stock for $20. A few days later it was here and the stove was up and running.
 
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