I have natural river rock around my wood stove, built by the previous owner
( I hate it! Ugly!). Anyhow, like with brick, the stuff is porous, and you
will probably never get it completely clean. Unlike brick, it river rock
tends to not be as porous, so you might get it cleaner then if it were
brick.

Your local fireplace store has cleaners that do a half decent job. Soap and
water and a good stiff scrub brush works. Oven cleaner might work, but might
not be feasible and might stain the rocks. The mortar holding the rocks in
place is probably more porous and more susceptible to staining. I would not
use a wire brush, as the wire might be hard enough to scratch the surface of
the rock. A good plastic scrubber should do the job.

"James" wrote in message
. ..


What would be a good product to use to clean natural river rock that has
been blackened from a fireplace? The smut seems to only be on the
surface,
but it has been there a long time.

What would you recommend, and would you use a wire brush or something else
?

Thanks !!


--james--