How To Restore A Vintage Oven For An Authentic Feel

Go back in time and create a retro-style kitchen with your vintage oven. Thanks to their sturdy construction from steel and enamel, some models have lasted over 100 years, like the one showcased by Something Green Acres. The team works on a Home Comfort wood-burning stove and cooktop that has a patent from 1906, but they said the model appears closer to the 1930s. As expected, rust has set in, and removing it is a major part of the renovation. One ingredient you can use to clean up rust is salt. Mix some salt with vinegar or lemon juice to form a paste and start scrubbing. 

The crew also found that some parts of the oven had corroded into other parts — like the bolts holding down the stovetop panels. If your oven has the same issue, use a drill to remove the corroded pieces and pop off those top plates for thorough cleaning and inspection. Unfortunately, they found that rust removal from the oven tray wouldn't leave much to work with, so they opted to replace it with a grill design.

Rust had also invaded the firebox — a common and dangerous problem you must sort out to prevent fire and smoke leakage when using it. Here, the Something Green Acres team used furnace cement to fill leak gaps — Rutland Furnace Cement is highly rated. They also started a curing fire. Why is this needed? Whether your wood-burning oven is new or hasn't been used in a while, small curing fires help remove embedded moisture. As a result, it won't crack when it reaches high temperatures during cooking.

With these stoves, you are dealing with metal, enamel, and high temperatures, so you can't use just any paint. After rust removal, the next day's focus is using priming for color, and the high heat resistance of auto paint comes in handy for a vintage stove. One product you can use is Rust-Oleum 249340 Automotive High Heat Primer Spray Paint, which can resist up to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Despite advice from online research, the enamel panels in the video also got a new paint job with the rest of the stove because it felt rough enough to handle it. Many experts advise against painting on a baked porcelain enamel surface due to the cracking and peeling that will likely happen once the appliance heats up, but small touch-ups can work. So what is enamel paint, and is it the same as appliance enamel? The answer is no, it's not the same, despite the paint being strong and drying to a glossy finish.

The Something Green Acres crew added some more personality to the overhead enamel-covered stove heating trays through animal stencils, and they once again went for automotive paint and used VHT SP756 Engine Enamel that withstands 550 degrees Fahrenheit. Since the plates were far enough away from the heating box, they concluded that the paint could hold up. If you wish to add flair to your century-old vintage stove, this blend of urethane and ceramic resins comes in over 31 colors and dries to the touch in just 1 hour.