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11 Tips to Help You Care for Your Antique Stove

From getting the rust off an old stove to performing routine maintenance to keep your home safe and healthy, keeping up an antique stove requires some tender loving care. Read on for our 11 tips for taking care of your antique stove.

Use Stove Cement

Use stove cement to restore the finish of your wood-burning stove. Polish can often work better than spray paint for stoves that are made of cast iron.

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Apply Polish Properly

Apply a light coat of polish with a damp rag. A little goes a long way. Scrubbing the stove with the polish may be the easiest and most effective method.

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Scrub Away the Years

The scrubbing action can help penetrate the finish and polish to get into all of the decorative designs and ridges in the vintage stove. The polish should instantly bring a deep, dark finish to the old stove if it's made from cast iron.

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Buff to a Shine

If the first coat doesn't produce the desired effect, add a second coat. Then let the polish dry and buff it with a clean dry rag over the entire stove to complete the finish.

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Clean the Creosote

An important step in maintaining an antique heating stove is to clean the creosote out of the stove pipe. Creosote builds up every day that you use the stove.

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Choose the Right Wood

Some woods burn cleaner, creating fewer toxins and creosote buildup in the chimney. The area where you live and the wood available to cut, split and burn determines what type of wood to burn in your stove.

Go for Seasoned Wood

When possible, seasoned or dry wood is best to burn. Dense hardwoods like oak and maple can also release more heat and burn longer, so they work well for wood-burning stoves that also serve as your main heating source.

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Try Softer Woods

Softer woods like pine, spruce and birch burn out faster because they're less dense. These woods are a good choice for spring and fall because they warm a space but not for too long.

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Avoid Burning Trash

Never burn large amounts of trash in an antique wood-burning stove, especially slick coated or shiny paper and plastics. Burning chemically treated wood can cause hazardous fumes inside your home.

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Split Firewood

Try to split some pieces of firewood into small 4-inch diameter sizes for the morning burnout. Open the antique stove's vents completely so the fire gets lots of oxygen.

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Use a Chimney Log

Burning a chimney cleaning log once in a while can make the job of cleaning the creosote easier. Use this opportunity to do a safety check of the pipe and stove.

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