blackening lol

I once blackened my woodburning stove, I do not intend to do that ever again.

All in all I've had 25 yrs of black leading. Wood/coal burners on 2 boats and 1 wood burner in my house in Bulgaria.
I can't say I miss it. ?

When I was young anybody who was getting married was hijacked at their place of work the week before, covered in boot polish and other more undesirable substances and paraded around the town. It was called blackening! I honestly thought that was what this thread was going to be about!

Oh yes in my youth I black leaded the open range in our kitchen hundreds of times.
The stuff stank, got you covered in it and then the copper/wire brush used to buff it up to a brilliant shine played havoc with your hands, no household gloves in those days or perhaps we just couldn’t afford them.
I shiny range, a well donkey stoned front step and cardinal polished quarry tiles were the most important thing in a housewife’s life.

I used it on the very old wood burning stove in our house in France. Stuff called Zebo ( I think) that I bought online.

Threw it all away when we replaced the stove with a more modern enamelled one. I cannot say I regret it. Assuming black leading included lead in its ingredients, I would never ever use it on a cooker.

No!! But I dont remember any one I have known doing it either.

Not since I was a child and we had a range. Fortunately I was deemed too young to have to do it. .

I black lead my wood burning stove every week with Stovax Grate polish biba; why would you think that you're the only one to still do that?

ahaha not talking about a range or stove- but just the solid rings on the cooker ;)

W5 Hotplate cleaning cloths, from Lidl. Totally safe.

Wondering who still has solid black electric rings?

Or do you mean on an Aga?

No never have and never met anyone who does but then I use gas so guess you’re not talking about gas

Induction hobs are the way to go. Clean, fast, efficient and eco friendly and no faffing about with special cleaning products and elbow grease.

I am amazed that anybody is still using such an old fashioned cleaning method. I agree with Chewbacca elbow grease is a thing of the past. My cooker is sparkling without any special effort.

MawBe

Wondering who still has solid black electric rings?

Me obviously, hence the post. An AGA ? ahahahahaha NO!

Charley, those solid electric plates are decades old, and have lost their colouring, however much elbow grease I use. So the blackening pads, used on tepid plates- make them look bright again.

Chewbacca

Induction hobs are the way to go. Clean, fast, efficient and eco friendly and no faffing about with special cleaning products and elbow grease.

well yes, that was the plan - but ... in the meantime...

just thought it would make you laugh - I laughed, as I was doing it, and wondered. With Sterling having fallen through the floor, and probably about to get much lower- a new kitchen is just not on the cards (and that is fine- more important things in life)

When I lived in Australia our neighbour was a young aboriginal girl who’d been in service and had put the blacking wax on top of a lit range to soften, the whole lot had tipped over her from above, she had no hair and a badly scarred face. She was a most kind and funny youngster, I hadn’t thought about her for a while, this thread brought back a special memory of a special girl.

oh no- how awful, poor young woman.

Nothing so dramatic here- I clean the stainless steel hob with vinegar and bicarb- and then put the plates on to heat a bit and use the blackening cloths. Only every couple of months or so- or when special visitors come, as we have no dining room here, just a big dining kitchen. As said, made me laugh and wondered how many people would still do that- and thought - I'll ask on GN.

We do have a second kitchen at the back, with Ye Olde Parish Room and 2 cookers, both with ceramic hobs. When we have visitors I tend to cook there, so our kitchen can be reception and dining.

This reminds me of that sitcom 'The Good Life', with Barbara (in Surbiton) blackening the stove - and covered in the stuff!

Wait a little longer and your kitchen will be in perfect, retro style. When I replaced my 40 year old kitchen (by myself, except for the new ceiling and electrics) my daughter wanted the wall tiles!

In the spirit of the original post, yes I do often blacken my hot plates when I let things boil over and don’t clean up after myself

Assuming black leading included lead in its ingredients, I would never ever use it on a cooker.

We used to call it blackleading and I remember my mother blackleading the huge grate we had in the kitchen. It wasn't electric in those days.
She was thrilled to change it for a modern gas cooker.

images.app.goo.gl/iAvQPaHgCUf3PSPCA

Would it contain lead these days?

After decades of trying to clean a gas cooker, I absolutely love my induction hob - just a quick wipe over the glass and it's spotless!