Removing Baked Soot from Stainless Steel

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Jan 13, 2019
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Gallifrey
I'd have just burnt that off - never going to get it shiny and what's the point for a cheap stove?

This picture was of the end product after I had cleaned it. The point for me, is that I always clean everything I own or borrow before storing or returning it (it’ll often probably be in better condition than when I was given it to use) and I do get satisfaction from doing so. I clean brake dust etc off the alloys on my car to preserve the finish, my boots to preserve the leather(and my feet), wellies, tools I use....an axe, knife, gear must also be maintained, surely, even though they will become dirty again. It’s general maintenance. Having never owned a Stainless Steel stove like this before, I wasn’t aware that the materials would behave in this way through use. Rusting Stainless Steel with carbonised who knows what on it has never been a thing for me to consider before. That’s what lead me to wonder what could be done about it.... which leads me to another question.

How do you clean anything in the field before reusing it? Stabbing a knife into the mud to ‘clean’ it used to be a thing but when I became aware of nematodes etc, I began to wonder if it was still a valid way to do that. In the absence of Soapwort and being mindful of limited water supply...
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Depends where you are. Wayland wrote a bit about cleaning using the ashes, (lixivation, sort of, fat + alkaline = soap) and you can usually find greenery of some kind that'll help. Mare's tail for instance really does clean pots and soot, so do chestnuts (watch watercourses with those, they de-oxygenate) a pulled up clump of grass, use the soil and roots and put it back.

It depends where you are, what you have and what you're cleaning.
 
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Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
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Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Depends on the surroundings.

If there is sand I use that both for my hands and tools, or the sediment in streams.
Grass or twigs.

One area I have never cracked the Enigma of cleaning in the bush is the sooty outside of my Trangia parts.
I do not want to carry detergent.
 

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