Time to Spiff up the Old Stove?

How to Paint a Wood Stove

Wood stoves manufactured for the last several decades have been painted with high-temperature stove paint. If your stove is rusted, faded and dingy looking then a new coat of high heat stove paint is just what you need to restore it to its former glory. Here are both the tips on how to do a good job AND the products to do the job right.

(Hint: use the same methods to spruce up your stove pipe and fireplace accessories such as grates, andirons & tool sets. This is how we restore antique fireplace parts, too)

You'll need to have on hand:

-Drop cloth or plastic tarp
-Goggles & dust mask to protect eyes & lungs
-Wire Brush
-Drill with wire wheel brush
-White vinegar
-Dust rags

• Ideally, take the stove outdoors because you're going to make a mess. Set the stove on a drop cloth or plastic tarp so you don't damage your deck, patio or lawn.
• Begin with a wire brush to start scraping off bigger rust chunks. Next, switch to a wire wheel brush attachment on your drill as this will give you a smoother finish.
• Wipe down the stove to see how well you've done so far. We use white vinegar as this helps impede the rust from coming back, and the acid helps get off some of the gook that won't come off with water.
• Let the metal dry completely. Review how the stove looks, repeat above steps until you're satisfied that the metal is as clean as possible. Cracks and seams in cast iron can be filled with furnace cement - just let it dry and sand it down before painting.
• Rub stove down with dust rag to remove all dust and debris
• You'lll get a better job if you use a coat of high-temp paint primer (see product listing at right)
• Here's the trick to spray painting: shake the can very thoroughly until you don't hear the ball rolling around in the can. TEST THE PAINT ON A PIECE OF CARDBOARD OR NEWSPAPER FIRST; there's a chemical in the paint that often makes a clear stain or a paint blob when you first spray it.
• After you've test-fired the paint can and make sure the nozzle isn't clogged, begin painting. Spray paint works best if you begin at one edge and spray with one continuous motion to the other end. Release the nozzle, then spray another row. DON'T HOLD DOWN THE NOZZLE AND SPRAY CONTINUOUSLY as it will splatter, and you'll use much more paint, plus it will be harder to dry and have a blobby finish. Repeat til you've finished all sides and the top.
• Allow the stove to dry for an hour. Check your paint job to see if you'll need a second coat. If so, touch up or apply a second coat and let IT dry for an hour.
• This is a good time to replace door and glass gaskets if needed so you'll have your stove all ready to both look good and burn at its best.

You probably don't remember when your stove was new, but you had a break-in procedure to cure the paint. Each time the stove gets hotter, the paint becomes sticky and smells bad, and produces smoke. Since you've already got your stove outside,  why not cure the paint now? Fire your stove slowly over the course of an hour of so and get a nice hot fire going. Once the paint has stopped smoking and is no longer putting off paint fumes then let the fire die down. Once it's completely cool then clean the ashes and any wood chunks out of it, tote the stove inside and reconnect it.

ANTIQUE STOVES were usually polished with stove black, a rub-on paste similar to shoe polish. If you're going to completely refurbish the stove then we recommend you use the steps above, using stove paint.

If you're just touching up the finish and know stove polish has been used before, don't try and paint over it. Stove polish has waxes in the mixture that prevent paint from adhering properly so use stove polish. If stove polish has never been used on the stove before, DON'T USE IT. Stove polish rubs off on you when you touch it and isn't the product of choice; it's the product of last resort.

THICKNESS OF PAINT

Stoves are generally painted once at the factory.  Dealers will often customize the stove to another color.  Problems arise when, in repainting the stove, or in changing again to a third color, the total paint film thickness gets too thick.  In each normal painting of the stove, about .9 mils of dry paint are applied.  Peeling will occur when the total film thickness reaches 2.0 mils or higher.  If the factory color is to be changed, only change it once.  If a third coat is to be applied, use a sander or solvent (see the last section on cleaning) to remove most of the first two coats.

You can usually tell why paint doesn't stick to a stove by the way the paint comes off after the stove has been used.  If it peels or it looks like shattered glass and comes off in thin strips, this is caused by too much or too many coats of paint.  On the other hand, if it comes off in large patches, it is usually caused by a dirty surface before painting. Rusting comes from painting over old rust, not thoroughly cleaning the surface to be painted or not applying paint thick enough in factory production to prevent rust in transit or storage.

APPLICATION TECHNIQUES

Many problems can be avoided by using some common sense in using the paint.  The paint is pushed out of the can by the pressure of gas in the can (caution, this gas is highly flammable, a close relative of natural gas, and should be kept away from any spark or open flame.  Use only in a well ventilated area).  The can is designed to work at room temperature.  If the can is cold from being left in a storeroom or a truck at night, heat it up to 70-80ºF before using.  A couple of minutes under a hot water faucet will usually do it. Do not get the can hotter than you can hold comfortably.  A cold can will sometimes "spit."

There is a marble in the can which is there to stir up the paint before using.  Unless the paint is stirred by shaking the can thoroughly, the paint will be non-uniform.  Shake the can for at least two minutes after you hear the marble rattling around, which will insure a better paint job.  This is critical when using some of the lighter paint colors. Spray a couple of squirts onto a piece of cardboard until you see the paint color being applied correctly (see next section). Paint should be sprayed from about 12 inches;  too close and the paint will pool and run - too far and the paint will "dry spray" and appear textured. We find the best technique is: depress the spray tip, paint in one continuous stroke from left to right, release spray tip. Repeat as needed. Don't paint in a circular motion and don't continually depress the spray tip.

PLUGGED SPRAY NOZZLES

Inside the spray can there is a plastic tube which goes to the bottom of the can.  The paint is then drawn into the bottom of the tube from the bottom of the can.  If, in storage, any material separated in the tube,  it could be slightly different from the main paint.  When first using a spray can, it is essential to spray the first shot onto a non-critical surface like a newspaper.  This clears out the tube.  Make sure your finger is not extending over the front of the nozzle.  If it does, paint will collect on the tip of your finger and spit onto the stove, causing spots.  "Can Guns" are available at most paint and hardware stores to depress the nozzle using a trigger.  This will prevent the finger problem.

After using a spray can partially and if you intend to keep the remainder, turn it upside down and spray until the colored material no longer comes out of the can.  By turning the can upside down, the tube is removed from the paint.

CURING THE PAINT

Most high temperature paints operate in the same way.  They use a resin, which dries at room temperature giving the paint the initial properties seen on an un-used stove.  Then, when the stove is burned, this air dry resin burns away.  At the same time, the silicon resin (silicone gives the paint it's high heat resistance) in the paint will not cure until it is heated to high temperatures. This occurs at about the same time that the air dry resin is burning.  We have found that this "transition" takes place at about 475ºF.

At the time of the first burn there will be a ring on the top of the stove.  Within this ring the air-dry resin will have burned away and the silicon resin has cured.  Outside this ring the silicon resin is still uncured and the air-dry resin is still there.  On the ring, however, you will notice that the paint is soft, or may even be wet; this is where the transition happens.  After the stove has been burned about three times, the entire surface will have cured, and there will be no further changes.  It is important to ventilate the house during these initial burns while the paint is curing.  Although the smoke is primarily Carbon Dioxide, there are other components of the smoke which make it smell bad and may irritate some people.  These problems will go away after the first few burns, depending on the duration and the surface temperature of each burn.

While stove paint is a little glossy when first applied, it loses some of this gloss when it is cured.  This means that a stove which has begun its cure cycle will sometimes show a ring that is visible when curing.  Often, the cured paint will look lighter in color, because it is "flatter". Again, after the paint is fully cured this condition will not be as visible.  If this is a major problem, one solution is to use a "flat" paint initially, which will not exhibit this phenomenon. 

Stove paint is sticky during this curing process, so be careful not to set kettles, trivets or other items on the stove as they will mar the cured paint finish. Also, if you have painted surfaces that come in contact with door gaskets, be aware that the door gasket may stick to the stove the next time you open the door so it's preferable, when possible, to leave the door slightly open and burn small fires to help cure the paint, or to not paint the area around the door that will come in contact with gasketing material.