Last fall, I sold my old Home Comfort woodstove and got a new Heartland Oval. The Home Comfort didn't keep our home comfortable!! It was draftly and just didn't heat like the new ones do. Anyway, when I got the Heartland it was cool and I've had a fire in it ever since. Now that the days are warmer and I don't have a regular fire, I've noticed the top turning a brownish tone -- like RUST !! Our house isn't damp that we know of, but it may be damp enough to cause some rusting. What is the best type of oil to use on the stovetop and how often should I apply it? I never had this problem with the old one--it was just a nice black top-- like a well-seasoned iron skillet. Also, what does stove blackening do to the stovetop other than color it? Should I use some of that on it? Thanks for your help!

-- Janie Dye (jdye_24088@yahoo.com), April 15, 2000

Answers

I don't know what anybody else does, but once a month in the summer, I take an old clean rag and coat my Heartland with plain Crisco right out of the can in a thin layer..no rust, works really well.I have no knowledge about blackening...have not needed to use any.Aren't they great stoves?????

-- Lesley Chasko (martchas@gateway.net), April 15, 2000.

Janie, I have a sweetheart cook stove that I got last May when we thought we were going to have y2k, haha, any way the book that came with mine says to us vegetable oil on the top. I love my stove, it heats out whole house it isn't a big house but is well insulated so we usually have to open a window or door.The only thing I have found is they are hard to keep clean, when I fry eggs or meat the grease gets all over the chrome, so I use Mothers chrome polish on it. My husband is a truckdriver and he uses this on his wheels. I love this site, I got home from church and got online and started reading the forum, this is the first time I have answered a question though. we live in Mo. and mon. april 17, I am getting 20 acaruna (sp) chicks. I have had chickens before but I like the green eggs. I would also like to have an email friend if anyone would like to correspond. Good Luck

-- Jean Harper (jean_67_2000@yahoo.com), April 16, 2000.

Vegetable oil on a rag used very sparingly! I keep my rag in a zip lock baggie, and use rubber gloves. The stove black is supposed to be good up to so many degrees, but when we tried it one year our first several fires filled the house with paint burning nasty smell! Yuck! And yes we had painted with plenty, like months, of time to dry, and our first couple of fires were just small ones. Just quit your oiling or greasing before fire time starts, which here in Texas is sometime after Christmas! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 17, 2000.