New Gasket Rope, Black Sticky Smoke

New to the wood stove life! We just bought a home with an old Forester wood stove insert. There was not gasket rope on the door so smoke was coming out. I replaced the rope following the instructions that came with the kit (lay glue, set rope, close doors for 12 hours and then build a fire). However the problem I'm having is that now the rope burns (edges that are exposed to the fire) and it really smokes up the inside of the insert, so much that it has caked a thick almost shiny film on the glass and inside of the doors that's almost impossible to get off (tried a wet paper towel with Ash). I've got a fire going now but I'll attach a picture of what the inside of the door/gasket looks like.

Anyone have experience with this? Did I buy the wrong type/size of rope, install it incorrectly, or is this just something that every new rope does?

Also, how can I clean this gunk off the inside of the insert?

Thanks for any help!

are you burning wet wood or a slow smouldering fire? That shiny goo is creosote usually the result of incomplete combustion.

Newby question here, what's the best way to tell? I bought the wood from a local guy who said it was all seasoned hardwood so I'm just going off his word. It does crackle some but not like crazy.

A moisture meter is a good way and they are not terribly expensive. Something like this for example.

You can get scientific if you have an accurate scale. Take a piece of wood and weigh it, then put it in the oven and bake it for a couple hours at 225 F. Take it out and weigh it again and see how much moisture it has lost. Repeat until the change it weight it negligible.

You could also try this method.



If you are unable to watch that, you put a squirt of dish soap on a piece of firewood and blow on the other end. If it blows bubbles then the wood is considered dry, or less than 18% moisture. If you can't blow bubbles through it, it's to green.

I'm curious how different wood varieties react to that test though...

Now that is a good one... never heard of the bubble test. That would be extremely species specific though... where abouts are you and what kind of wood are you burning? Older stoves like that one usually like a good hot fire and dont smoulder well also called its turn down ratio. What kind of chimney? Has it been cleaned recently?

There is a product made to remove that from wood stove glass.
It might be lye based.

Your rope doesn't look burnt.
Is it fiberglass?

Never tried this as my glass has never been this bad ..

I get that same thing on my wood pellet stove glass, but it is because of draft. It only happens when I am burning pellets, and then I add a bag of pellets to the hopper. It momentarily changes the draft and I get some of that on the glass. But with a woodstove it would be different.

It almost looks like you are burning softwood. I know in some parts of the country that is what is normally burned, but resins in the wood can do that.

It could also be a poor drafting stove set up as well. If the stove is continuously "dampened down" that will happen because nothing burns without enough air going in, and smoke going up the chimney.

Or it could be green wood.

I tried oven cleaner on my creosote stained glass and it works wonders. Just have to make sure you clean it all off before you fire the stove as apparently it can stain the glass. No more spending hours rubbing ash into the glass with newspaper!

Cleaning glass on woodstove? When it's cool, use a little of your ash and water (I use a spray bottle and dampen the rag). Swirl this on, it will take off all the crud on the glass. You may have to scrub a few times. Then spray clean water on glass and remove whatever slurry remains.

No more crud on glass. Nothing to buy. Use up what you have anyway. Hurrah!

A hot  clean fire will evaporate/burn off those deposits.

I just changed my gasket and it didn't do anything like that.  I highly suspect unseasoned wood sold as "dry" by a typical wood merchant.  2-3 years of seasoning in my climate is about right to get wood properly dry.