I finally found a wood cook stove made of cast iron, and today carefully cleaned all the ashes and soot out. I remember from my childhood experiences blacking the stove with stove blacking, but do not have a clue what other things to do to clean and preserve the stove. Any ideas? Thanks!

-- seraphima (seraphima@aol.com), October 31, 1999

Answers

Seraphima, I have an old Monarch Cook Stove, it is also the cast iron top (as in not enameled). First if you have some surface rust, some very fine sandpaper will help remove it.

When I clean the top of my stove (for example if there are splatters on it after cooking) I wait until it is not too hot then just wipe them off with a moist rag. I always dry it right away with a dry rag. Then I take a a paper towel that I've put a small amount of vegetable oil on and rub it into the top of the whole stove. I wipe of the excess with another paper towel. Too much vegetable oil will cause it to smoke a bit...

Good luck with your stove, Kim

-- Kim (none@thistime.com), October 31, 1999.

I have an old Cast Iron Cook Stove too. One of the things I discovered is that it had been painted with Stove Black. If yours has been painted also, don't use the shortening/oil method of seasoning as it will just make a mess. I know I tried it.

I would recommend the book Woodstove Cookery : At Home on the Range by Jane, Cooper, Sherry Streeter available from Amazon.com

-- ExCop (yinadral@juno.com), November 02, 1999.