do "Pizza Stones" wear-out ?

[Freebird12004]

Our old pizza stone is putting off an unusual non-food smell.

I've tried washing it without soap - because it is porous. That didn't help, so now it's banned from our oven, should I just discard it?

Can I put it in the oven and use the self-cleaning feature to return the stone to a usable state.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Was it expensive? Like more than $20 or so?

If the answer to that is no, I'd give the self cleaning thing a try. The worst that happens is you replace it. But even that much heat (self cleaning gets up into the 700 to 900 degree range, well **below** the tolerance of any pizza stone or similar fired clay/ceramic product). Just be sure the stone and the oven heat up together. Don't put a cold stone into a hot oven. Some are *real* sensitive to thermal shock.

There was another thread here recently about pizza stones. Try a saltillo or quarry type tile. Get an 18" x 18" if you can and just use that. Have it cut to fit, if need be. Or just use two or more smaller tiles arranged on your oven shelf. So long as the tile is unglazed, it should work perfectly well. For a lot less than a pizza stone.

You say it gives off an odor. I can't imagine it giving off any odor except from some spilled and absorbed food item. Unless it got chemically contaminated somehow? (I thinking of an accidental paint thinner spill or something along those lines.)

To answer your question directly ... no, they don't wear out. More likely, you'll break it. I suppose running a metal pizza peel on it a thousand times a day may wear it out in a few hundred years, but beyond that, what's to "wear out"?

[Freebird12004]

2. I didn't know that there was so much to know

the stone was left behind when an old friend moved away and I hate to throw-out or replace something unless it's really necessary.

The smell was our only concern as we live with parrots.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. A pizza stone is virtually totally inert

The issue with birds, as I understand it, is chemical offgassing, as from Teflon. I can't imagine that would be an issue with a pizza stone.

But I do not know for certain.

[Freebird12004]

4. We were using it until

it started to have an odd smell when it was heated.

It is a pale beige porous-looking uncoated stone. I'm thinking about turning the exhaust fan on and heating the stone for an hour at 500 degrees to see if the smell will burn off.