Are fine scratches on your glass just part of it?

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patrolman467

Member
Aug 6, 2010
67
Centerville, Tennessee
I've already noticed some small fine scratches on my glass, I guess from cleaning. I've tried to just use a paper towel and glass plus, but it has a hard time getting off the smoke. What I found that works well is a damp paper towel with a little ash on it. That is even what the maker of my stove, Pacific Energy, suggested to use to clean off the glass. I think that the ash is leaving some small scratches on the glass though. I know you can get some cleaner, but I don't like using that corrosive cleaner. It seems like a lot of trouble and dangerous to use it. I would probably get it on me or something. So, are scratches just part of having a stove with glass in the door?
 
After cleaning with the ash method, follow up with soaked newspaper without ash. What I thought were fine scratches was actually just smeared ash.
 
BackwoodsBarrister said:
After cleaning with the ash method, follow up with soaked newspaper without ash. What I thought were fine scratches was actually just smeared ash.

I'll give that a try, but I'm almost certain that mine are fine scratches. They are not that noticable. You have to be up close to the glass and really be looking at the right angle to see them. I guess that the ash is abrasive enough to leave a some scratches. I don't see any other thing I could do other than leaving the glass dirty and not cleaning it.
 
Yes, I've used wet paper towels with ash on stove glass for years. I've never had any scratches, so perhaps yours are just streaks.
 
Ash is a mild abrasive (as my furniture learned after the wildfire on the mountain a few years ago). It is possible to scratch the glass with ash, but it is still a really easy way to clean the glass. Hopefully it is just streaks though!
 
Right now I think that they are small scratches. However, I can't say for certain that the ash caused them. They might have been there to begin with. I didn't look that close at the glass before my first cleaning. Either way, I still like the look of clean glass vs dirty glass when I'm burning a fire. If I kept the fire hot and didn't shut down the air I guess it would stay clean. It usually only gets dirty when I shut down the air for the overnight burn or if it starts getting too hot in the house.
 
Never noticed any issues with scratches using the wet newspaper and ash . . . but I must confess . . . I often just use the damp newspaper without the ash . . . only resort to using that if things are pretty badly gunked up . . . which is a rare event.
 
And I've found that it takes only a very small amount of ash to get the windows cleaned up. I use some damp
toilet paper with a dab of ash and then some dry toilet paper. Never have to scrub. It lifts right off. Toilet paper
only because it's handier than where we keep the newspaper or paper towels.
 
I always just use a damp paper towel (in fact I found that it works better than Rutland's glass cleaner). I've never had anything that just water couldn't easily take off.
 
I like the glass really clean and use a little rutlands everytime I take out the ashes. (once a week). I really like it, it's easy, works well and conditions the glass. We will have our stove for many years, so I don't want even microscopic scratches.
 
Razor blade to get the most of it and then a green scotchbrite pad with stove glass cleaner or oven cleaner then Windex to final clean. I clean the glass when I empty the ash out of the stove, roughly ever 5-6 weeks.
 
"Razor blade to get the most of it and..."

My Hearthstone Shelburne manual specifically states that a razor blade should never be used on the "glass". I haven't tried it, so I can't say if it'll scratch.
 
jeffsquatch said:
northwinds said:
Toilet paper
only because it's handier than where we keep the newspaper or paper towels.

I wish I had a stove in my bathroom!!!

The Isle Royale would be overkill "in" my bathroom, but having it six steps away means that the bathroom is
always nice and toasty.

Welcome to hearth.com, jeffsquatch.
 
I've read of some folks having scratched glass problems, so now I do it as little as possible. Get the stove hotter for longer periods of time and the glass will clean itself.
 
jeffsquatch said:
northwinds said:
Toilet paper
only because it's handier than where we keep the newspaper or paper towels.

I wish I had a stove in my bathroom!!!

This has to be the best first post from a newbie . . . ever. :) :)

Welcome Jeff.
 
jeffsquatch said:
northwinds said:
Toilet paper
only because it's handier than where we keep the newspaper or paper towels.

I wish I had a stove in my bathroom!!!


If I leave the door open, I do.
 
firefighterjake said:
jeffsquatch said:
northwinds said:
Toilet paper
only because it's handier than where we keep the newspaper or paper towels.

I wish I had a stove in my bathroom!!!

This has to be the best first post from a newbie . . . ever. :) :)

Welcome Jeff.
+1.LMFAOL Jeff, welcome!!!
 
BackwoodsBarrister said:
After cleaning with the ash method, follow up with soaked newspaper without ash. What I thought were fine scratches was actually just smeared ash.
Do you have the grill option that goes with your stove?
 
I tried the ashes trick once, found it kind of messy, and thought that the ash i was using was a little more granular than I was comfortable rubbing on the glass. Since I had seen folks posting on here about fine scratches on glass, I made the decision then to stick w/Rutlands. I figured that was part of the reason I went with a glass door, so that I could watch the fire, and it made sense to try to keep it nice.

I have a little routine I follow--clean the door daily (damp paper taking off anything that will come in the first pass, then deposit on towel a dime-sized squirt of Rutlands, work it over, wipe w/a damp towel, follow up with a dry towel. Put away Rutlands w/the last two paper towels, to be used the next day for steps 2&3, and pitch the dirty one). The whole procedure takes less time then the telling. One day I put some wood in there, shut it down w/o giving it sufficient time to take off, and ended up w/a fat ol' creosote deposit on the door--felt like baked-on glass! Nothing I tried worked until I followed a hint from the stove-store guy (thanks!) and used white vinegar. It worked like magic on the creosote.

I think we all start finding our little routines, decide what we can live with, what we can't, where the payoff lies. I love having the glass so clean I feel like I"m staring into a fireplace--so I'm willing to put forth the (minimal) effort required.

Interesting hearing how other people handle this--thanks to all who posted.
 
I tried the ash and crushed newspapers this evening. Not a fan. Could one use a plastic card, rather than a razor blade?
 
Boozie said:
I tried the ash and crushed newspapers this evening. Not a fan. Could one use a plastic card, rather than a razor blade?

I don't think this would work . . . unless you were using a plastic card like a credit card and paying someone to remove the gunk. ;)
 
I rarely clean the glass, since it never gets very dirty. There'll usually be just a fine coating of white fly ash. If there's black soot, it burns off next time the stove is running.
Damp paper towel for cleaning, water only. Don't notice any scratches, since the glass is permanently etched with a slight overall haze/frosting. Don't know if that's from it being 20+ years old, or the previous owner doing something wrong.
 
I remember reading on this forum about a year ago about fine scratches on the glass from cleaning with ash. One person suggested that is not the ash itself that is causing the scratches but tiny bits of dirt that are present in the ash from having been on the logs. THat makes sense to me, so I have not cleaned my glass with ash and do not have any scratches.

Someone on the forum said he used apple cider vinegar to clean his glass. I tried that with a paper towell and it worked well, so that is what I use and I am passing the tip along.

My Jotul F600 is so good at self-cleaning with the air wash that it will burn off any brown or black stuff as soon as it gets up to temperature. I only have to clean a whitish haze every couple weeks.
 
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