Shopsmith Forums

I have an Ikea farm sink that I installed just a few months ago, and I quickly learned that it stains(coffee) very easily. I am hoping someone here knows a way to either seal it to prevent stains, or how to remove the stains. I was considering our favorite Johnsons paste wax to seal it.
Thoughts.........

Sure it IS porcelain?

If it is, comet works pretty well.

It it ain't, do not use comet!

Careful with the sink. Some years ago I replaced a "cheap" stainless sink with a "high quality" cast iron procelain sink. Wow! What a mistake! Apparently the days of high quality porcelain sinks are long gone. The new sink stained if you looked at. The manufacture advised against any form of scouring powder. They specifically named some that could not be used and advised against any that scoured. We used the stuff you clean the smooth top stoves with.

When we redid the kitchen I figured we would reuse the sink. No way my wife wanted her "cheap" stainless sink back. She got it but it wasn't so cheap.

Clorine is an acid and it will etch the modern porcelains.

Caveat we have porcelain sinks in the bathroom but they are all porcelain and I don,t think they will stain at all.

* I used the term cheap because that was the term my wife uses to describe stainless sinks. She hated them but since having literal a high Quality porcelain sink she has changed her opinion.

Porcelain sinks have a clear glaze on them, like fired ceramic things, when they had to stop putting lead into the mix they are for poop. You DONT what to use anything abrasive on them.
For the coffee stain you mix up a paste of a number of things and let them soak out the stain, baking soda, Bar Keepers Friend.

As far as sealing it with a wax JPW or a car wax may darken the sink matter.

Today's 'porcelain' apparently is no longer porcelain.

Apparently they are not ceramic any more.

Think I will keep my sinks that are as old as my Goldie.

retiredsoldier919 wrote:I have an Ikea farm sink that I installed just a few months ago, and I quickly learned that it stains(coffee) very easily. I am hoping someone here knows a way to either seal it to prevent stains, or how to remove the stains. I was considering our favorite Johnsons paste wax to seal it.
Thoughts.........

I would contact Ikea since it is a few month old.

ERLover wrote:Porcelain sinks have a clear glaze on them, like fired ceramic things, when they had to stop putting lead into the mix they are for poop. You DONT what to use anything abrasive on them.
For the coffee stain you mix up a paste of a number of things and let them soak out the stain, baking soda, Bar Keepers Friend.

As far as sealing it with a wax JPW or a car wax may darken the sink matter.

My concern is with damaging the glaze. So I will not use any abrasive cleaners. I assumed the glaze completely sealed the pores of the ceramic material, and should prevent stains from happening. So maybe my understanding of the glazing is wrong. I figured that I could add more protection by applying a wax layer or something else to totally seal out staining liquids. Perhaps the quality of the glaze is the issue as you mentioned.

retiredsoldier919 wrote:

ERLover wrote:Porcelain sinks have a clear glaze on them, like fired ceramic things, when they had to stop putting lead into the mix they are for poop. You DONT what to use anything abrasive on them.
For the coffee stain you mix up a paste of a number of things and let them soak out the stain, baking soda, Bar Keepers Friend.

As far as sealing it with a wax JPW or a car wax may darken the sink matter.

My concern is with damaging the glaze. So I will not use any abrasive cleaners. I assumed the glaze completely sealed the pores of the ceramic material, and should prevent stains from happening. So maybe my understanding of the glazing is wrong. I figured that I could add more protection by applying a wax layer or something else to totally seal out staining liquids. Perhaps the quality of the glaze is the issue as you mentioned.

Check out Home Depot back by their appliance and kitchen department. My wife thinks she remembers a product that touted to restore the glaze to porcelain. It was a porcelain sink cleanser and polisher without harmful grit that scratches the finish. If you read the ceramic cook top cleaner it claims to do the same thing. Clean and polish leaving protctive coating.
We used it for years on our "porcelain" sink before we got rid of the sink.

Glaze is essentially glass. Short of putting it back in the kiln, you can't renew it. But, it shouldn't stain like that, either. Maybe Ikea is using a substandard product. My Kohler sink of several years has some metal dust ground into the "corners," but there are no food stains.