Re surfacing a cast iron skillet

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rs3902

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Not really beer related, but I feel like this crowd could help me out (or point me in the direction of the appropriate forum to post it).
I was at this great junk store this weekend and i got a 5 gallon glass carboy great condition for $3!!! I also picked up an old cast iron skillet for $1. Its all caked up with rock hard black crust and some rust, but there's a few spots where it's chipped off and the iron looks great. I've read a few places that putting it in an oven clean cycle will burn off that buildup, but my oven doesn't have a clean cycle. Id also like to avoid using any harsh chemicals like oven cleaner.
Anyone have experience restoring a cast iron skillet like this?
 
Well you really want the layers of black build up on the pan, it's called seasoning and it's how a cast iron pan becomes non stick.

The trick is getting rid of the rust, and re-seasoning.

This is a good primer on it.
 
I usually throw my skillet in a camp fire for a while. I imagine you could put it in a grill of some sort and get okay results. A wood stove would be another option. I have also sand blasted one in the past and that worked pretty good.
 
Thanks revvy, but this build up is serious, and on all surfaces. I really want to strip it all down and start seasoning the pan fresh. I'll try that oil and salt method though, thanks.
 
rs3902 said:
Thanks revvy, but this build up is serious, and on all surfaces. I really want to strip it all down and start seasoning the pan fresh. I'll try that oil and salt method though, thanks.
Click to expand...

I think it says at the bottom of the article to use a drill mounted wire brush in that case to strip it all and start fresh. It's a pain.....
 
rs3902 said:
Thanks revvy, but this build up is serious, and on all surfaces. I really want to strip it all down and start seasoning the pan fresh. I'll try that oil and salt method though, thanks.
Click to expand...

Cast iron must be seasoned for proper cooking, but I would never trust the seasoning from a pan found at a thrift shop. What if they seasoned it with precursors to methamphetamine or giraffe dung? You never know.

Something that you may want to try first is to boil water in the pan for an extended time. If you do it inside, hit the hood fan. But a decent boiling might rehydrate all that gunk to the point where it dissolves off or you can scrape it off a little easier. You could add a percentage of white vinegar to speed things up too.
 
Keep in mind, I have used a cast iron pan to melt lead. Strip that pan down and re-seasion.
 
I have access to a DIY sandblast shop (I also have 2 sandblasters at home, but that is less important for the point of my story). Maybe you could see if you have one within driving distance?

I'd give it a nice blasted surface and then start the seasoning process from scratch again.
 
I have found once I have used my charcoal grill to prepare a meal is the perfect time to season cast iron cookware. I coat it with oil or lard chuck it in there and take it out the next day once it has cooled. With our envelopment in scouting we use cast iron regularly, we like to clean our cast iron with kosher salt and cooking oil.
 
Heat it up super hot (right on the coals of your grill) and then hose it off with cold water.
 
Revvy said:
I think it says at the bottom of the article to use a drill mounted wire brush in that case to strip it all and start fresh. It's a pain.....
Click to expand...

Did this to one of mine several years ago. Wire brushed it down to good iron, re-seasoned and it's as good as new. Didn't really take long, do it outside it really makes a mess.
 
AndrewD said:
Lots of ammo reloaders use cast iron to melt their lead, good point. Probably worse than any food based scuzz.
Click to expand...

Yup. I've got a dutch oven that's been through tons (not joking, tons) of wheelweights. I'm not aware of ANY process that would make it food safe again.


That said, it I wanted to reclaim a thrift store skillet that I had no reason to question the history of, I'd put it on the turkey fryer, burn the crud to ash. Cremate it. When it cooled, I'd knock off the ash and, as suggested, use electrolysis to handle the rust. It's not hard or complicated. A piece of scrap steel or iron, a bucket, and a car battery charger. I've done exactly this to reclaim some of those little pans that make the loaves of cornbread that look like ears of corn.

Warning, when you pull the iron out of the water from derusting, it will be raw, bare metal. Really, really bare. It will reform a visible layer of rust in minutes. So, when you pull it out of the water bath, brush oil all over cooking surface immediately.
 
Hit it with Lye. That'll do good at taking care of whatever gunk (not rust) is built on it. Lye is pretty serious stuff. When you season cast-iron properly it actually carbonizes a layer onto it, so you really can't scrub it off with reasonable means. That's why you shouldn't listen to anyone that says not to use soap on your cast-iron =\.

After you've taken it down you'll want to put a layer of grease on there. You should be fine with lard, olive oil, etc. A lot of elitists will claim one or the other is the best, but you're bringing it past smoke point anyways, doesn't really matter too much IMHO. Put just a coating on, you don't want any pools or anything - flip the pan upside down. Put it on a very hot grill, hopefully, so you don't smoke up your house by using the oven. Repeat that AT LEAST five times or so. Make sure and use it for a bit only cooking bacon or something very greasy at first. In no time you should be making eggs without spray.
 
If you bought a cast iron skillet that was not in pristine condition. I would be skeptic. I have pans that are at least 60 yrs old.Maybe older, I also have some newer ones.Probably 30- 35 yrs yrs old. I also have one that is less than 2 yrs old. I could lay them side by side and you couldn't tell the difference. So whatever you see is not what I would prefer to bring back to life and use to cook with.
 
We have them in the fire house. ours just get build up on the outside. Insides are perfect. We dry then on the stove dvd oil them up after every cook.
 
CGVT said:
Heat it up super hot (right on the coals of your grill) and then hose it off with cold water.
Click to expand...

Whatever you do, do not do this! This is an excellent recipe to permanently warp or crack any cast iron skillet.

OP, use the electrolysis method. You need a scrap peice of steel (a piece of rebar works fine), a 4-6 amp manual battery charger (not automatic), laundry soda (available at any grocery store/walmart, look for the Arm and Hammer brand - not baking soda!) and water.

Put the skillet in a five gallon bucket with the handle sticking up. Attach the rebar opposite the skillet and not touching.

Attach the negative terminal of the battery charger to the skillet, positive to the rebar (sacrificial piece). Remember: Black on Black! (Black/negative terminal on the black cast iron).

Let it sit a couple days, turn of the charger, take the skillet out and clean it out in the sink, see how it's going. It usually takes me a day or so to get my skillet's clean down to bare metal. I just did one this last week on an old old crusted up skillet. Now it looks brand new and the cooking surface is as slick was water on ice.

Good luck!
 
I've used the electrolysis method to remove rust on steel and iron auto parts. In my experience it does nothing when coated with grease. It's a great way to remove rust but be careful about what metals you try this with. Ferrous metals are fine.

And I second the warning about heating up cast iron and then quenching with cold water. Any minute crack or imperfection could create a dangerous situation.
 
FTG-05 said:
Whatever you do, do not do this! This is an excellent recipe to permanently warp or crack any cast iron skillet.

OP, use the electrolysis method. You need a scrap peice of steel (a piece of rebar works fine), a 4-6 amp manual battery charger (not automatic), laundry soda (available at any grocery store/walmart, look for the Arm and Hammer brand - not baking soda!) and water.

Put the skillet in a five gallon bucket with the handle sticking up. Attach the rebar opposite the skillet and not touching.

Attach the negative terminal of the battery charger to the skillet, positive to the rebar (sacrificial piece). Remember: Black on Black! (Black/negative terminal on the black cast iron).

Let it sit a couple days, turn of the charger, take the skillet out and clean it out in the sink, see how it's going. It usually takes me a day or so to get my skillet's clean down to bare metal. I just did one this last week on an old old crusted up skillet. Now it looks brand new and the cooking surface is as slick was water on ice.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I've done it before. It takes all of the old seasoning off. I've never had a problem.

When I was a kid, my uncles would have fish fries cooked over a wood fire on a grill on a huge cast iron skillet. When they were done, the would drain the grease, tie a rope throught hole in the handle and toss the pan in the cold water at the lake. It cleaned the pan instantly. They then coated it with grease and put it away for the next time.

It didn't warp, it didn't crack, it didn't cause the fall fo the Nation. It cleaned the pan. :drunk:
 
My grandma used to just build a big fire and throw the pan in it. It will come out looking brand new. My brother melted a candle in a cast iron skillet one time and this method took the candle flavor out of it. After its done, cover it wih crisco and bake at 350 for a couple hours to reseason.
 
CGVT said:
I've done it before. It takes all of the old seasoning off. I've never had a problem.

When I was a kid, my uncles would have fish fries cooked over a wood fire on a grill on a huge cast iron skillet. When they were done, the would drain the grease, tie a rope throught hole in the handle and toss the pan in the cold water at the lake. It cleaned the pan instantly. They then coated it with grease and put it away for the next time.

It didn't warp, it didn't crack, it didn't cause the fall fo the Nation. It cleaned the pan. :drunk:
Click to expand...

Good you didn't have any accidents. This may not be the case for all pans.

Why would they do this each time they used the pan? All it takes is a quick wipe when it's cooled slightly. What the OP is talking about is a crust built up over years of use/misuse.
 
I scrubbed with steel wool for a long time last night and I made some progress, But man this thing has seen better days. I managed to pretty much clear the cooking surface, but the bottom of the pan is thickly coated with black hard crust. I think I may try the wire brush on my drill. I'm trying to avoid resorting to chemical warfare on this
 
CGVT said:
I've done it before. It takes all of the old seasoning off. I've never had a problem.

When I was a kid, my uncles would have fish fries cooked over a wood fire on a grill on a huge cast iron skillet. When they were done, the would drain the grease, tie a rope throught hole in the handle and toss the pan in the cold water at the lake. It cleaned the pan instantly. They then coated it with grease and put it away for the next time.

It didn't warp, it didn't crack, it didn't cause the fall fo the Nation. It cleaned the pan. :drunk:
Click to expand...

Regardless of whether you've done it before, recommending that someone take cast iron, heat up in a fire, then hit with cold water is excellent advice if your intent is to permanently destroy the cast iron pan.

Cast iron cannot take fast temperature changes, whether it's high temperatures while the pan is cold nor cold temps when it's hot. That's a simple recipe for cracking and warping. - neither of which is fixable.

In short, it's very poor advice.
 
FTG-05 said:
Regardless of whether you've done it before, recommending that someone take cast iron, heat up in a fire, then hit with cold water is excellent advice if your intent is to permanently destroy the cast iron pan.

Cast iron cannot take fast temperature changes, whether it's high temperatures while the pan is cold nor cold temps when it's hot. That's a simple recipe for cracking and warping. - neither of which is fixable.

In short, it's very poor advice.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input. It works fine. I've yet to see a cast iron pan warp.

Relax and have a beer.
 
Homercidal said:
Good you didn't have any accidents. This may not be the case for all pans.

Why would they do this each time they used the pan? All it takes is a quick wipe when it's cooled slightly. What the OP is talking about is a crust built up over years of use/misuse.
Click to expand...

Most likely because they were drinking all day and they thought it was cool to toss the pan in the water an watch it sizzle.

We kids thought it was pretty cool.

I imagine the real reason was to cool it off quickly so they could put it away.

I don't know for sure. I was a kid.

I'm sure if he heats it up and hits it with water the crust will come off, probably with much less hassle than most of the other methods suggested in this thread.

It's a $1.00 pan. If it cracks from the rapid temperature change, what has he lost. If it works and saves him tons of hassle, it's a win.
 
Thanks for the advise, but I'm not going to risk ruining it just yet. I've scrubbed like he'll, I even got a wire brush for my drill and took that to it. It worked, but it was slow moving. I'm going to try the oven cleaner tonight and some more scrubbing after the chemicals take effect. I didn't want chemical warefare on this, but desperate times...
 
I can sadly tell you from personal experience that the cleaning cycle on an oven will 100% make your cast iron look brand new! I accidentally turned on the cleaning cycle and forgot my wife's cast pan that was handed down from her great grandmother... came out of the oven like it was coming out of a new box!

You friends with a neighbor that has a self cleaning oven? Bring them dinner and ask to use their oven!
 
When mine are looking real bad I just run HOT water over it and scrap it off with my pizza stone scrapper. I have used oven cleaner on one before when it was really bad. good luck with the oven cleaner, I would keep a nice coat on it for several hours.
 
Odds are the piece you have is fairly old, possibly antique. I recovered a similar conditioned piece from my spouses late grandfather's estate and found after cleaning and research of mold pattern/marks, that it was cast between 1885 and 1892. I found a website called WAGS that helped me out. First thing to do is strip off old seasoning with spray on oven cleaner and place in plastic bag to keep it moist while it works. Remove from bag and scrub with brush under warm water to remove the layers of seasonings. Repeat as necessary. Or, soak piece in a lye solution. Or, use electrolysis. Descriptions of these methods can be found in detail on the WAGS site.
Never sandblast as you will remove some of the metal as well as the seasoning which will affect the patina. Always use brass brushes or plastic as steel will score the surface also.
When done, reseason and use for another hundred years.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice!
After several coats of oven cleaner and soaking/scrubbing/ repeating for several days. The pan is fully stripped! Now that I can finally see the metal I can see that it is in fact a Wagner! I'm excited about it! Now time to re season and get cooking!!
 
hopjedi said:
Odds are the piece you have is fairly old, possibly antique. I recovered a similar conditioned piece from my spouses late grandfather's estate and found after cleaning and research of mold pattern/marks, that it was cast between 1885 and 1892. I found a website called WAGS that helped me out. First thing to do is strip off old seasoning with spray on oven cleaner and place in plastic bag to keep it moist while it works. Remove from bag and scrub with brush under warm water to remove the layers of seasonings. Repeat as necessary. Or, soak piece in a lye solution. Or, use electrolysis. Descriptions of these methods can be found in detail on the WAGS site.
Never sandblast as you will remove some of the metal as well as the seasoning which will affect the patina. Always use brass brushes or plastic as steel will score the surface also.
When done, reseason and use for another hundred years.
Click to expand...

Why would I want to keep the patina?

I thought the whole reason for blasting was to remove everything but the bare metal and start seasoning again.
 
So now that I've got this pan refinished, clean, and lightly seasoned. What is the best way to keep it in the best shape possible and get that great seasoning and nice black color without it getting all caked up and crusty like it was before? I know not to use soap, but what do I do when it needs some scrubbing?
So far I've cooked bacon, eggs, and a quesadilla and grilled cheese ( I was amazed at how nice and even everything cooked). And I just ran some hot water and wiped it down with paper towels. But I'm cooking a steak on it tonight and I think it's going to need a better cleaning after. So what's the best way to keep it in good shape?
 

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