How do you clean your smelting Cast Iron ?

[LAKEMASTER]

My Coleman stove, skillet, little Dutch oven, 12 hole muffin pan, and mini drip catcher has been sitting outside for 2 years...

I use to keep it coated in candle wax and wiped clean, they were beautiful.

Now they are disgusting.


Has anyone restored some iron accessories that were horrid?

[farmerjim]

Sandpaper

[osteodoc08]

Depends on the material but if you have access to a media blaster. That'll work.

[Nueces]

Google "electrolytic rust removal" for a bunch of hits on how to completely clean ferrous metals using a battery or charger for a power source.

[William Yanda]

Soak in citric acid, scrub black gunk off with a brush or scrubee. Can't say no muss, but definitely no fuss.

[Jtarm]

You could try naval jelly or a tri-soduim phosphate (Jasco prep & prime). I've used both to clean rust from cast iron woodworking equipment. Both available at home depot.

I might be a little hesitant to use the tri sodium on something that's going to be heated to 800 degrees.

You can buy a new dutch oven at Academy for $17. You might want to consider that before spending time & money salvaging your old one.

[Iron Whittler]

Give evapo-rust a try. Works great on dies, mold blocks. If dies or mold blocks are not pitted inside, they will work fine. Your pot and ingot molds should clean up nicely. Just give them a good cleaning with dawn dish wash and water to remove oil are grease, soak in evapo-rust over night, wash with soap and water and rinse with water. hope this is of help. Iron Whittler:Fire:

[Jr.]

I've always just thrown it in a hot fire until it turned red, most of the rust pops off and after it cools use a little sandpaper to smooth it out. I have two pans that were found under a leaky sink in a house that I now cook on. They were cleaned this way.

[ascast]

any of the above, but a sandblast shop could do that in under 5 minutes as there are doing some other job. $5 ?

[runfiverun]

rust is a release agent.
flip it over and bang it on the ground a time or two and start using it.

[country gent]

Fill the pot with water vinegar or lemi shine mix and boil hard for awhile, a little dish soap dosnt hurt any either. Then steel wool with a coarse wool. The carbon in the cast iron makes it porous and able to absorb. This is how its seasoned for cooking. If available sand or bead blasting will also clean it up. A cupped wire brush in a drill motor will also do the job well. If this is a smelting pot, You might be surprised how much rust and crud is removed simply smelting and fluxing a batch of lead will remove. The crud will float to the top and be skimmed off.

[ncbearman]

Just start smelting. No cleaning needed. Eventually it will look better. But if you must the electrolysis is your easiest option. It's the first step in what's recommended to cure cast iron.

[LAKEMASTER]

UPDATE

i put my little drip catcher into a bag of vinegar. the layer of rust where rain pooled in it came off in one solid chunk. ( 9 hr soak )

the pan looked brand new.

everything i have will fit in a 5 ga bucket. looks like ill be soaking it tonight and cleaning it in a few days

[Doggonekid]

I would just start smelting with it again. It will soon be retrained again. I do my smelting with a 14' dutch oven. It gets a little rusty every now and then. By the time I cast 50 LBS of lead alloy into 1 LB ingots it looks good again. I only clean and recondition the pots I am going to eat out of, and I never mix them up.

[Eddie Southgate]

Why would you leave your stuff sitting out in the rain for 2 years ? :o

[LAKEMASTER]

Why would you leave your stuff sitting out in the rain for 2 years ? :o

i had my stove,smelting pot, and ingot mold sitting under my patio. when the winds reach 35 mph, everything gets wet. its my fault altogether.

[Jackpine]

Wire brush wheel on an electric drill. (wear a face mask)

[rondog]

Love my cheapo Harbor Freight beadblasting cabinet!

[Krieger82]

Wire wheel.

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[camp]

Cheapo sand blaster from harbor frieght is what i use