Free stove door glass cleaner

[Alternatepriorities]

I can't remember where I first learned about this but I was cleaning the glass on my wood stove door today and realized there are probably more than a few people on here who burn wood. Try wetting an old rag, news paper or paper towel, dipping it in the wood ash and cleaning the glass with it. Most of the creosote wipes off with little effort.

We didn't have a fancy stove with a glass door growing up, so I never gave much thought to cleaning one. I moved into a house that had one a few years back though and tried removing the creosote with Windex and various other cleaners and finally settled on a copper scrubber. None of them work nearly as well as water and ash.

[Focus_on_the_fire]

Thanks for the tip!

[ToTheMoon]

Oooh, I will have to remember to try this. Thanks!

[former player]

Also works well on cleaning rust spots on chrome, etc.  Mildly abrasive, so might eventually cause clouding on glass if used too much - better to run the stove on a more efficient setting so that it self-cleans.

[ULminimalist]

Running water through wood ash leaches out Sodium Hydroxide, a pretty strong base used in drain cleaners and such. So you have a small amount of that on a rag.

That's how people used to make soap, boiling wood ash and mixing it with tallow. Not sure of the exact recipe, but it's pretty simple.

[Alternatepriorities]

Also works well on cleaning rust spots on chrome, etc.  Mildly abrasive, so might eventually cause clouding on glass if used too much - better to run the stove on a more efficient setting so that it self-cleans.

In my experience self cleaning effectiveness depends on how well designed the stove is. The first stove I used with a glass door was a Blaze King catalytic stove and once I had the settings dialed in it rarely needed the glass cleaned. My new house came with an older Osburn which isn't nearly as efficient. I'd replace it with another Blaze King if I could convince myself to spend a bunch of money to save firewood. My mustacian people problem is I'd rather cut firewood that bill more engineering hours...