"H. W. Hans Kuntze" wrote in message ws.com...
Kate wrote:


indeed it is not. what *is* it now? other than charcoal?

scraping has helped but it sounds and feels terrible.


Charcoal it is not, but carbon.


I guess if it had actually been in flames it might be charcoal?

One thing that works, any alkaline liquid and let it sit over night.

There are liquids like Sokoff or Carb-Off, but they are very expensive
for what it is.

For the home, baking soda works and so does sudsy ammonia, just prevent
it from drying out (plastic bag) and give it time to soak, 24 hours is
not too long. Just don't etch the aluminium.

In the navy, we used Draino, that works, but etches the metal in a
hurry. :-)


Draino is lye (sodium hydroxide) which is Oven Cleaner. (also Krud
Kutter and a couple other brands) I generally don't bother with oven
cleaner but buy Draino and mix it in a spray bottle. It's harsh but
it works for serious situations.

I found that if I sprayed it with lye solution, set the timer for 5
minutes, rinsed and scraped, it came off with some success. but it
was not fun.

kate

=====
Kate, http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~kolina/a...f-formula.html
Mom to Ursula (8.5), Sage (6), Benno (2.7) My parents were
wonderful
people, but unfortunately they were unable to give me the private
income I so richly deserved. ~ Poet & Head of the NEA Dana Goiai,
explaining
why he has an MBA

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EvidenceBased/