OneGuyFromBarlick

When Deadly fitted my stove he blithely told me that cleaning the glass was easy, just spit on it and rub with newspaper. All I can say is that his spit must be more powerful then mine! I have some ceramic hob cleaner and have found that this, plus a good rub with a Scotch pad, gets most of the stain off. However, built up deposits can be a bit more tricky. I have a very sharp wallpaper scraper and have found that with care and used once a week this gets the heavier deposits off safely. The scraper should have a very good, even, edge to avoid scratches but does a good job.

I used to clean the door of our woodburner with a cloth or piece of kitchen roll dipped in white vinegar then wood ash, it works fine. Now I wet a rolled up ball of newspaper, squeeze it out, dip it in wood ash and rub the glass, takes a bit of persistence sometimes but always works beautifully.

Soaking a pad of folded newspaper in vinegar and applying it to the glass for a few hours is a great trick too. Then remove and rub with scrunched vinegar soaked newspaper.
I used to secure the wet pad of newspaper to the horizontal glass with a square of cardboard to back it, then masking tape to keep it in place.
Gumption works well too.

The ash route wouldn't work with me because the smokeless fuel ash could have grit in it hard enough to scratch the ceramic. I shall try vinegar though. I had a look on one site and they recommended ammonia.

When I had a wood burning heater with a glass door I used to clean the inside of the glass door with spray'n'wipe and kitchen paper, worked a treat.

I kept an old spray bottle of water with a bit of washing up liquid in it next to the stove.
So long as the door was cool I sprayed the inner glass then rubbed it with an old nylon pan scourer.
It works best if the glass isn't completely cold - and although I risked it on many an occasion, it probably isn’t a good idea to spray and clean while it’s very hot either.
It depended a lot on whether we’d been burning logs or coal, what kind of coal (different brands varied) and whether we’d burned other items (assorted rubbish) as to how successful this method was.
It also depended on how much of an airflow was allowed through - closed right down and the glass got mucky very quickly.

Edited: After pressing the Submit button I noticed the News Hound had helpfully suggested a similar topic:

Heather. Quite!! My vote is to ditch the feeds. Mind you, I have this built in scepticism about unwanted advice and 'helpful' comments. This illustrates it perfectly, what the hell has the suicide of a paedophile got to do with cleaning the stove glass? (And yes, I knew about the death and the story behind it, didn't need News hound to flag it up)

Being the new carers of a rescued 12-month-old dog, we're very conscious of the need to be ready for the inevitable accidents around the home until Gracie learns what's expected of her.

Tonight she tried to tell us she needed out (we realised this later ... we'd thought she was just being playful) then she dashed to the front door and dumped on the mat.

Homemade scoop to the rescue! A plastic milk bottle with the end cut off! Quick, easy and effective!

Getting excited and running about , out of the blue , is a usually a good sign (especially to and from the door)...Running round in circles is a dead give-a-way...!
I NEED OUT
When I was growing up my Mum and Dad used to say (about the dog , I hasten to add) "do you think he needs to go OWE YOU TEE ?"
....they never seemed to grasp the fact that the dog had cottoned on, pretty rapidly, to the art of phonetics, and made a b -line for the door , every time ....(Mum still says it) quite bizarre !

Nice one Heather, very Blue Peter! I am obsessive about my routines and it's quite amazing how a dog appreciates them. Jacks bowel movements are like clockwork and he's totally tuned in to the timings when certain things happen. It applies to his other activities as well, he knows that if I'm sat the computer, in the shed or reading this is rest time for him and he doesn't mither me. Not training, just mutual acceptance of each other and routines. One of the reasons why I love having a dog about.

Strange suggested similar topic remains, never mind its ignorable.
My cat/s over the years have also got used to times of things , and I am sure to learn - and mildly speak / repeat like a budgie - some english , mostly relating to food. Unlike dog though wont let you alone and persist until they get their own way ( Comfy chair , fire on , door to outside world opened at will ( one cat quickly learnt how to open door handles , never shut the door behind her though , got confused when we moved to a different place and door knobs defeated it ( haha ).. Grandma would tell off the cat about its dirty paws after her outdoor adventures , so the cat would obligingly sit and wash them following the scolding , all very Beatrix Potter.

If you ever want a cat to wash its paws, dab some butter on them. Very good for settling a cat in a strange house. Works with dogs as well.

Or enjoy watching it skidding over the tiled kitchen floor.

The Flying Machine Mk II goes about its duties in almost complete silence and the box under the table gets neglected. I realised yesterday that it's growing fur on the ventilation holes! Time for a quick vacuum I think! Everyone laughed at my Uncle Ernest in the early days of TV because every couple of months he opened the case and vacuumed the inside. They stopped laughing when they realised that he was having less problems than them! Dust is a conductor and it's a good idea to keep the levels down.

I use a pan scourer on the glass in our multifuel burner. If we use it as advised, and leave the side vents open to keep an air flow across the glass, the fire practically blows up the chimney, we have to shut it down. I don't over fill it either, it just has a very good draw most of the time.

And, talking of vinegar---windows----hot water with vinegar, wash windows in solution, dry with scrunched up newspaper----wonderful.

And, another tip I used when our son was small if he had a bad dream I would turn his pillow over and tell him I must have left it on the bad dream side----he then went back off to sleep without any more nightmares---it works brilliantly.

I like the pillow ploy Glo! Reminds me of the mother who told her kids that the ice cream man rang his chimes to let everyone know he had run out of stock.

It does actually work Stanley, it is used on the grandchildren as well.

I am finding the tip I mentioned on the old site of keeping the cling film in the fridge brilliant, no more trying to find the end.

I must have missed that one Moh. Sounds like a goodie but somehow keeping the cling film in the fridge doesn't sit easily with me. Freezers can be useful tools, remember our discussion about removing chewing gum from fabric? I also use to ploy of putting dry mint stalks in the freezer in a plastic bag. One frozen if you take the bag out and crush it before you open it the leaves shatter off the stalks and you can just pull the stalks out. Result is perfectly chopped and cleaned mint leaves.

I do that with various herbs Stanley - very handy when no fresh ones about and they taste like fresh.

Doesn't surprise me that you knew that one Moh!

When I buy fresh nuts I always pop them in the fridge in a sealed container, I find that they last longer.

Cathy, one of the big problems with nuts is that a lot of them have been in storage for months before we get them. One tip I learned many years ago was that colour film keeps fresh longer if stored in the fridge.

Yes Stanley, it's a bit like our supermarkets telling us our vegies are fresh - fresh out of cold storage is what they should say.

Nice to see our replies are now at the top of the list and in order

I'm happy to report that three months into becoming Stove Man I have cracked the soot on the glass problem. I simply spray it with one of the proprietary surface cleaners and leave it for about five minutes. A quick wile with a scotch pad brings all the muck off and leaves it sparkling. Not earth-shaking I know but quite satisfying.....