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My friends brought me a paper bag full of peaches. I set the bag on my fisher cast iron stove, and I forgot about them. Lastnight, I picked up the bag to find the peach juice has bled through the paper bag and ate the black finish on the stove. Now i have two large white spots on the stove. I have tried to rub olive oil on the spots. They are still there. How do i get the black finish back on the stove? Thank you! -Annie

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  • Have you tried firing up the stove? That should burn off any organic matter left by the peaches and olive oil, and iron is naturally blackish. Jul 24, 2015 at 16:11
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    @WayfaringStranger iron is actually metallic gray/silver. The black is the cooked on oil (seasoning) in the case of a pan. In this case, probably stove paint.
    – derobert
    Jul 24, 2015 at 18:17
  • As far as I can tell from research (don't personally have any experience with a cast iron stove) the finish is stove paint [link for example only, I can't vouch for that product]. If the finish is actually damaged, you'd repaint it to repair—the folks at Home Improvement can probably offer better help than us on how to prep metal for painting... (If you'd like your question moved, flag it and pick moderator attention, and explain you'd like it moved in the text box.)
    – derobert
    Jul 24, 2015 at 18:21
  • (There appears to also be something called "stove black" which is another possible finish. Supposed to have a dull sheen instead of matte; probably similar to an iron pan...)
    – derobert
    Jul 24, 2015 at 18:26
  • If you can't find stove paint, it's possible that radiator paint would work, if it's rated for steam radiators (and not just water radiators, which can't get above 100°C)
    – Joe
    Oct 28, 2015 at 23:22

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Either something has accumulated on the stove or something was taken off the stove by the acids and sugars in the peaches. If you can't clean the spots, then you're looking at the latter situation.

Your stove has some type of finish on it. As Fisher stoves seem to be out of production, official information seems to be sparse. You could apply some type of high-temperature paint, of which there are many different color depths and finishes. Most products I found in 5 minutes of googling seemed to recommended doing the whole stove at once. This could be good for sprucing up the whole stove or could be more work, time, waiting and fumes than you're interested in.

You could also go for a polish or blackening agent, which works more like seasoning a cast iron pan – an organic, lipid wax or oil is applied gradually in layers and the heating and cooling of the stove transforms it into a polymer, which gives it that dully shiny hardened finish. If I had to guess, I would guess that an old school stove is more likely to have a seasoning based finish than a pain.

There are a lot of websites dedicated to wood burning stoves, such as Hearth.com and woodheat.org. With their help and a little research, you could probably identify the exact model of Fisher you have and the year or era it was made; or maybe someone can find a manufacturer recommended product directly.

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