The first vintage grill I cleaned had more than an inch of caked on filth. It took weeks. I would soak it in Krud Kutter over night and chisel away at it with a plastic putty knife, flat screwdriver, and steel wool. It literally took 5 sessions before getting down to the porcelain. The stuff was caked on so thick that the vent holes were COMPLETELY sealed.
Over the years, I learned how to effectively use Easy Off oven cleaner. Spray it on, put the bowl/lid into a trash bag, let it sit for a day.
Usually one application is all it takes. After a day in the bag, hose out the gunk and hit whats left with a plastic putty knife (or my fave, a platter from a torn apart hard drive).
This is a great method. It's the least amount of "work" when you add up all the actual time spent cleaning. My wife calls me lazy. I prefer the term efficient.
@SixZeroFour and a few others have been harping about razor scrapers, and I really never saw the need. Although I picked up a cheap one just to try on triangles (it's what Six recommends in his
Triangle restoration guide)
Oddly enough, Six left a grill at my house that was particularly stubborn. I'm not sure what the previous owner burned in this thing, but Easy Off literally had no effect. My special hard drive platter wouldn't touch it. In an act of desperation, I pulled out that cheap scraper I bought at home depot for 4 bucks. Low and behold, it handled the caked on filth with relative ease.
Unfortunately the scraper crapped out and kept retracting on me. A needle nosed vice grip held the blade much better. 20 minutes later, the lid and bowl are looking great.
I'm officially sold. I just ordered
THIS SCRAPER and i'm pretty excited to see it in action.
Maybe I'll do a deep clean on a few more kettles to really test it out.
Topic: bowl/lid cleaning: putty knife vs chemicals vs scrubbers vs razor scraper (Read 5735 times)