Advice restoring a Kettle

[craig]

Hi All,

Looking for some advice on restoring this kettle I picked up from a car boot. Any advice greatfuly recieved even if it just to say it beyond hope. I was thinking of wire brushing the inside and possibly using electrolysis to finish it off.

Cheers
Craig.

 

[rik_uk3]

Anywhere local you could get it sand blasted? Even if you don't use it it would make a nice plant pot.

 

[the interceptor boy]

Buy yourself a bottle or two of vinegear and fill it up and leave for a week, then use a scouring pad or a soft wire brush then burn it on a small fire to remove the remaining rust or send it to me . LoL. Very nice kettle for bushcrafting in the woods.
Someone with more experience will come along soon.
Cheers the interceptor boy.

 

[hobbes]

Nice! I too would want to clean it out of course, but looking at this makes me wonder whether rust is actually a problem? From a health (or other) point of view I mean? Unsightly of course, but is there any reason a person shouldn't cook with a rusty kettle?

 

[Toddy]

Too much iron in the diet's not so good.

However, that's been a good fireside kettle at one point. It still looks sound, and you might find that half of that gunk inside is tea as well as rust (been there, done that )

Brillo pads, fairy liquid and loads of elbow grease to start with. See what you actually have.
I don't think that one looks too bad tbh

Don't leave a dribble of water in it once used. Heat it up to dry it off thoroughly.

Cobweb uses an iron kettle on her fire; you might ask her how she works with it ?

They were commonplace at one time; they absorb radiant heat from the fire without actually having to be on the flames, just nearby, made it easy (still does) to bring to the boil quickly.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[IanM]

Put a couple of handfuls of shingle, a little water (couple of dessert spoons) as a lubricant and a drop of detergent in. Sloosh it around for a few minutes to knock off the loose rust then wash it out. As you use it a protective patina will develop inside if you follow Toddy's instructions.

For the outside a gentle wipe with a green 3M Scotchbrite pad then polish with Zeebright, (or the new name Zebo (Why do they have to change things)) or other stove black, and finish with a soft cloth until the black stops coming off so you don't end up as black as the ace of spades in future.

It won't really work too well as a kettle without a lid. Muck gets in, the water evaporates and it takes a lot longer to boil.

 

[craig]

Thanks for the replys. I'll brillo it and see how it comes up. Then I'll see after that.
Craig.
Sent from my U8160 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ged]

Is it in fact an iron kettle? I know it's got what looks like rust in it but something is just nagging at me to try sticking a magnet to it.

 

[calgarychef]

I'd put it into a nice fire once it's burned down to coals and burn the devil out of it, then let it cool naturally-dot in water. Scrape and scrub what's left on (if anything is). Then spray the outside wit cooking spray or rub with oil on the outside only, pop in into an oven at 150C or so and bake it for an hour or more. It should be fine after that. The cooking spray actually works a lot better than oil, it seems to make a nice patina on the cast iron.