THANK YOU ALL, VERY MUCH, FOR YOUR RESPONSES. Be assured , that I will consider carefully, everything that each of you has to say.
Since I posted this thread , I did A WHOLE, whole, LOT OF RESEARCH on stove black, as well as high temp stove paint & while there is a 20 minute burn off or curing period that does smoke up your room, it can be mitigated by doing it in the spring with all the doors & windows open & a ventalation fan in stragic locations.
Which is also the best time & way to do the painting too. (in the spring ,with doors & windows & fan.) If you spray paint, use the mfg recommended paint resparator, not just a while paper mask, which don't do the job of protecting your lungs properly.
Put another way, while the $1.oo white paper mask is better than nothing, it is not much better than nothing. So , spend the 30.oo to 50.oo for the proper resparator.
If I paint, I will use the brush on & not need a resparator, as the stove's location is not good for spray painting & 12 cubic foot firebox stove is way too heavy to move. 600 lbs +
(sorry,I break continuity of post with poor editing ,but you can figure it out).
On the other hand, the slow cook off method can be used, where in you only put 3 or 4 small splits in the stove for a low temp over time cook off. This way,instead of getting all the smoke in 20 min,you get less smoke for a longer time while the stove black cures more slowly.
at any rate, sooner or later,you will have to run the stove at 500 deg to finish the cook off process.
My stove was painted at on point in time, but less than 5% paint remains.
(under 1 sq ft of paint left.)
I am not going to move that 600 lb monster 1 inch, 3 guys couldn't move it 1 inch. It took 4 guys straining like crazy, just to get it in & that was without fire bricks or door.
So either it gets stove black or brush painted, but not spray painted as it is an immovable object.
i have no problem with a smoke off or with brush painting.
Other posters here that did the stove black said that once the burn off was done, the finish remained on the stove.
Stove black consists of a wax that you brush on & polish like shoe polish , after letting it air dry for 15 min & black pigments that remain on the stove, up to a yr. as NH farmer reported in his post on this thread.
Stove black will not penetrate paint, according to
www.rutland.com downloaded .pdf
instructions.
rutland also has williams stove polish that contains only carbon and graphite but that gives a GRAPHITE GRAY finish & maybe somewhat less smoke off. Carbon is the pigment & graphite the smoke off replacing the wax carrier for the pigments in rutland stove black, which gives a black finish.
I am undecided as to brush paint or stove black, but I do know that high temp paint can last longer that one year & comes in colors to doll up the stove.
Maybe the idea of a two or 3 tone accented highlights brush on paint job would appeal
more to my artistic side while my lazy side wants to use the stove black & get it over with,
at least for a year.
Well, at least I have until arpil to decide. And I have 4 stoves in rust so I can use the stove black on at least one of them. 1 is opperating & 1 awaiting the final section of stack to be installed (not a priority, at this time) & 2 in storage.
The opperating is the 12 cu ft converted to secondary burn. I have another 12 cu ft in storage.
a 2.4 cu ft awaiting the stove pipe,pre epa 30:1 & a 1920 cook top with baking oven in storage
in a white enamal finish with authentic old time 20 yr old rust .
Both the cook top oven & the 12 cu ft pre epa I be willing to sell, as well as a baby pot belly
set up for wood or coal. but these stoves are in conn. & I cant move them to ship, so it would have to be cust.pick up & move.
