Last year I burned a weekend’s worth of the Gren bricks in my Kni-co stove and the stove pipe was completely covered in a wet, sticky creosote. So much so that I can’t un-nest the two biggest sections of pipe. What is the best way to clean these? Someone suggested burning it off in a fire, others said turpentine?

What are your suggestions?

Get a whole bunch of hardwood like birch or oak, get a hot fire going, and burn that stuff out. Once you can get the sections apart, you could get a chimey sweep from Menards work that through.

Make sure you have the stove set up in a safe place in case the fire gets so hot it starts the creosote on fire. Don't wait to do this when it is set up in your tent.

No expert on this, but I’d try what Minnesotan said with two minor adjustments. I’d probably try to scrub each section as much as I could first using a wire brush ( I usually use an ordinary bbq brush). Secondly I would go with oak or elm, but avoid birch. Last fall I had a camp with lots of birch available and I had tons of wet sap run down my pipes and drip all over my tent.

Jaywalker: "No expert on this, but I’d try what Minnesotan said with two minor adjustments. I’d probably try to scrub each section as much as I could first using a wire brush ( I usually use an ordinary bbq brush). Secondly I would go with oak or elm, but avoid birch. Last fall I had a camp with lots of birch available and I had tons of wet sap run down my pipes and drip all over my tent. "

Good point on the birch.

Thanks everyone. Ash is about all I have available. I’m going to fire up the stove and try to burn it off. It doesn’t even brush off well. I’ll report back on how it goes.

Thanks again.

Best I've found is to take a 2x1, place the pipe piece on the ground, and use the wood to roll the pipe from the inside. It scrapes the inside pretty clean.

Worst I've found is to put the stovepipe in a sink and use a wire brush and soapy water.... don't do that.

dhfish