My wood stove and my mother's wood stove both have glass windows. I love them because you can see the bright fire burning in them and it makes it that much more warm and toasty. However, it doesn't take them long to get dark from creosote (the black stuff from burning wood). My children and I have tried several different cleaning products and devises with minimal luck.
Well the other day, as I was kneeling down to scrub the window again, I could hear my dad in the back of my head say "dirt cleans dirt kid." So I gave it a try.
Here is what I did.
I took an old wash cloth and got it wet.
Then I dipped the wash cloth in some old ashes from the stove.
Then I scrubbed the window with the wet ashes and cloth.
Then I rinsed out the wash cloth and wiped the window clean.
It was that simple and in less than a minute I had a shinny clean window. We were again able to enjoy a bright fire.
Well the other day, as I was kneeling down to scrub the window again, I could hear my dad in the back of my head say "dirt cleans dirt kid." So I gave it a try.
Here is what I did.
I took an old wash cloth and got it wet.
Then I dipped the wash cloth in some old ashes from the stove.
Then I scrubbed the window with the wet ashes and cloth.
Then I rinsed out the wash cloth and wiped the window clean.
It was that simple and in less than a minute I had a shinny clean window. We were again able to enjoy a bright fire.
18 comments:
well, looky there... that took some ingenuity. Bravo to you!
Wow, I will try this out tomorrow. My stove gets gets all black and horrid too. Thanks for the tip.
Where were you when I had to scrub the wood stove growing up? !!!
interesting. here in Romania,old women from the country side use that ash in home-made soap (and did that for centuries,i guess!), i don`t know what chemical properties it has, but it`s interesting nevertheless.
Irina
We bought a wood fire with a glass door like your and the instruction say to use water and a damp cloth when the door is cold. Every now and then it says to burn the fire REALLY hot for a small time and this loosens/burns some of the black stuff off. I was dubious but it seems to work. I love it when the glass is all clean and you can just watch the flames.
Irina the ashes are a nautral source of lye which is needed in the chemical reaction which makes soap. I haven't made it that way because it is so hard to get it right. Since commercial lye is available here I haven't tried the old way but it is on my list of things to do someday, just so I can say I did. :o) Yes it is a pride thing.
Thanks for the tip, I will be using it soon!
You are really making me want my wood stove again!
I just realized that the last time I had a wood stove was in 2004 when we lived on Byrd Ave in Newfoundland....Thanks for the memories....the song Lady bug picnic...I remember singing that when the kids were little!
Thanks,
Darlene: a fan in PEI
Wow, I never got cleaning tips from Dad.
My mom always had me do that job, I just used windex to soften it up, and a razor blade to scrape it all off.
huh! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it!!! I bet you're pleased with the results!
I love the Ensign seen through the window as you clean it. ;~)
What a great tip! We had a similar stove in our last home, and my husband had a good go at the glass with a brick of coal (before he realized it was coal - we are suburb folk who never had wood stoves). He said it worked pretty well, but that he got laughed at for calling it a 'cleaning brick' when he mentioned it to a more experienced friend!
Interesting cleaning tips. Keeping our kitchen clean is one of the most important aspects of a clean house. A kitchen needs to be kept clean in order to prevent diseases and it needs to look good and needs to look and smell good at all times as well.
We have found an even eaiser way to get most of the dirt off the glass. The fire must be already on and you must wear rubber gloves. using a wet wire mesh cleaner you rub quickly as the glass is hot. Maybe the ash will give it a last polish, but the metalic mesh is the best!
Baking soda works well too.
I just tried it on the windows of our currently cold fireplace insert, worked like a dream in just seconds. We'd been using wet newspaper after the fireplace was seriously hot, which always worried me, so thank you for such an effective method when there's no danger of getting burned. Great tip!
This is brilliant! We've been using SoftScrub, but I like this non-chemical method much better!
Post a Comment