Cleaning/polishing woodstove

[mary,tx]

Looks like we are done with the woodstove for this season. I'm ready to clean it out and put it to bed. I wonder what the best thing is to use on the outside of it to clean and/or polish it. Ideas? (Sorry this is a stupid question, but I just don't know.)

[MichaelK!]

I got excellent results with homemade stoveblack which is a mix of 1 cup of lard and 1 cup of powdered charcoal. Melt the fat, and stir in the charcoal. Stir again as it solidfies so all the charcoal doesn't sink to the bottom.

I rub in on with an old T-shirt. Makes my stove look like a museum piece!

[BlackFeather]

My mother used to rub old wax paper on the stove to touch it up..