Rusty

[Miss Neecerie]

Ok...I recently bought a 1930's O'keefe and Merritt stove. There are photos of it in the Vintage Appliances thread, so I wont repost them here.

I need help.

Some of the inside surfaces are rusty. I am not sure if below the rust, its an enameled areas or actual metal.

How do I clean these without damaging them?

I know about naval jelly, but is that ok to use if there is enamel under the rust?

Help!

thankfully the inside of the stove and the burner areas are not like this....so its still usable for cooking, but I would like to be able to use the broiler and storage drawers someday.

 

[LizzieMaine]

If it's porcelain enamel under the rust, naval jelly should be fine -- porcelain enamel itself doesn't rust, but dents can lead to rust in the underlying metal surface.

If it's *painted* enamel though, I'd suggest doing a patch test on an inconspicuous area before going any further. If you find that the naval jelly damages the paint, you might have to just scrape that part with a wire brush, get the rust off, and repaint the damaged area with touch-up enamel. You should be able to find a decent color match in an auto-parts store.

Don't forget to wear gloves when working with naval jelly -- it can really mess up your hands!

 

[Dinerman]

porcelain enamel itself doesn't rust, but dents can lead to rust in the underlying metal surface.

dents are murder on porcelain enamel.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

If it's porcelain enamel under the rust, naval jelly should be fine -- porcelain enamel itself doesn't rust, but dents can lead to rust in the underlying metal surface.

If it's *painted* enamel though, I'd suggest doing a patch test on an inconspicuous area before going any further. If you find that the naval jelly damages the paint, you might have to just scrape that part with a wire brush, get the rust off, and repaint the damaged area with touch-up enamel. You should be able to find a decent color match in an auto-parts store.

Don't forget to wear gloves when working with naval jelly -- it can really mess up your hands!

thanks...I will experiment a bit and see what I can do....