bad cast iron skillet

[buggybuilder]

Found an abused cast skillet that was probably cleaned with Comet or ? It has rust on the cooking surface.
Can these be "re-seasoned" to make them useful again?
If so, how?
Thanks

[M-Tecs]

Yes

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-season-a-cast-iron-skillet-cleaning-lessons-from-the-kitchn-107614

http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

https://www.thekitchn.com/i-seasoned-my-cast-iron-pan-with-flaxseed-oil-and-heres-what-happened-224612

[country gent]

Clean it good, removing rust and corrosion. Sand Blasting is quick and easy. Wash it and dry it. Then reseason it as you normally would. I season most cast iron in the charcoal grill. Coat pan with a heavy coat of Crisco sides and bottom ( 1/8-3/16 thick). get a good bed of coals glowing and set pan in them close lid and let alone. let coals burn down and out and pan cool slowly. I ussualy put it in the grill and come back the next morning for it. Clean up and finish by normal cooking in it.

[redhawk0]

I do something similar to country gent...except I use olive oil on all sides to season. Always wipe out your pan with a paper towel when done and go easy on any cleaning products (if any) after you've used it to cook with. If you like bacon (and who doesn't)...its also a great way to build up that "patina" on the cook surface....make lots of bacon in it.

redhawk

[Light attack]

Fry a pan of Fried Chicken. One of the best ways to season it.

Gary

[Winger Ed.]

Run a power sander on the bottom to get it really slick and smooth.
If ya don't drag or bang it around, it'll be OK to use on a modern flat top stove too.

[baileyboy]

Yes don't sand blast it ! Glass beads followed with orbital sander up thru 400 grit. The smoother it is the better it will season.

[MaryB]

Alternate is soak in white vinegar to remove rust, sand any pitted areas to smooth them, re-season...

[Love Life]

My aunt hangs it in a pot of fry oil to season her cast iron

[blackthorn]

A good soak in water/citric acid will remove all the rust and then you can pick one of the many ways to season it. I found an old cast lead pot at the flea market. It had obviously been sitting out in the environment for a long time and was covered in about 1/8" of solid rust. I soaked it in a citric acid solution in a bucket and after a day or two, if you looked into the bucket without disturbing the solution, you could see rust hanging off the handle of the pot like Spanish moss off a tree. Cleaned that pot right down to bare cast iron! I have since used the same method to clean minor rust off a couple of cheaply acquired bullet moulds.

[DougGuy]

50% vinegar and water, soak but not over 30mins, pull iron out and check the condition. If you leave it in vinegar too long, it will pit the iron.

An e-tank is the REAL way to remove rust, if you google that, you will see how to make one and use a battery charger to remove the rust. Please DO NOT mechanically clean cast iron cookware. If the pan is an old collectible, it will devalue it for sure to blast or wire wheel the surface. E-tank and lye will take it to bare black iron and you can season it from there.

[gwpercle]

My daughter , a cast iron fanatic , swears the best way to reseason cast iron is to deep fry in it, chicken , fish , fry-bread .....whatever you like deep fried. Deep frying in lard also helps speed up the process . Clean only with hot water . After a few frying sessions the heat and oil/lard will get back down into the pores and create another cooking surface .
Gary

[Tom W.]

A good soak in water/citric acid will remove all the rust and then you can pick one of the many ways to season it. I found an old cast lead pot at the flea market. It had obviously been sitting out in the environment for a long time and was covered in about 1/8" of solid rust. I soaked it in a citric acid solution in a bucket and after a day or two, if you looked into the bucket without disturbing the solution, you could see rust hanging off the handle of the pot like Spanish moss off a tree. Cleaned that pot right down to bare cast iron! I have since used the same method to clean minor rust off a couple of cheaply acquired bullet moulds.



I do so hope that you don't cook with that pot.....

[jonp]

E Tank and a piece of rebar. Works like a charm. A 400 degree oven works great although with some of the smoke I thought the BBQ grill worked just as well. Tried several types of oil like olive, coconut, etc but plain Veg Oil seemed to work as well as any.

[blackthorn]

I do so hope that you don't cook with that pot.....

The pot is similar to the small cast Lyman pot, only somewhat larger (not much) although I have never actually measured the amount it would hold. It is shaped like a (very small) "witches'" pot, sans legs and has a flat bottom. I am however curious as to why you advise against cooking in a cast pot cleaned this way as I am under the impression that citric acid is commonly used in preserving food?

[DougGuy]

One concern would be leading, if anyone has used that vessel for melting lead, it is likely contaminated and there really isn't a sure fire way to get it all out. A $9 3M lead tester kit from Home Depot would tell if there is any lead present, good insurance to use on a piece of cast iron that you don't know the history of.

[Tom W.]

What He said. ^^^^^^^ It's not worth taking a chance until you find out.



I found an old cast lead pot at the flea market.



Not trying to upset anyone......

[KenT7021]

The pot does sound like an early Lyman lead melting pot.

[Petander]

I like cast iron kitchenware a lot. My wife tells me we have enough of them but...

One way to clean them is to heat them up to glowing red,I do that in winter in a fireplace if a skillet or pan is starting to stick. Then cool it a bit and use generous amounts of lard.

Glowing burns impurities away and leaves bare iron that needs lots of lard , bacon, whatever you have. Warm it up a couple of more times,no more red,add more lard. The iron will re-condition nicely.

I just happened to post this in Facebook today:

235350.

I heated this one red five years ago. Still not sticking - and there was visible rust when I got this.

[Loudenboomer]

Cast iron cook ware was never meant to be run glowing red. You may get away with it but the pan will probably warp or worse crack. As Doug mentioned electrolysis for rust and lye bath for heavy carbon is a better bet.

[Petander]

Cast iron cook ware was never meant to be run glowing red. You may get away with it but the pan will probably warp or worse crack. As Doug mentioned electrolysis for rust and lye bath for heavy carbon is a better bet.

Well,where I live it's a traditional way and still being instructed as the best care. Real deep clean.

I have a dozen or so pans in good condition,some are about 100 years old. My grandmother sure didn't use electrolysis.

Try it with one pan,you may be surprised how nothing sticks to it for years.

[fiberoptik]

Cast iron cook ware was never meant to be run glowing red. You may get away with it but the pan will probably warp or worse crack. As Doug mentioned electrolysis for rust and lye bath for heavy carbon is a better bet.

We heated up our griddle on the electric stove on high once & it cracked. Now the oil drips into burner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Petander]

There are different versions of cast iron I guess.

I have used cast iron pots to melt WW /scrap for 20 years. A couple of tons. On open flame,usually on a propane burner. And those burners are made of cast iron as well.

[blackthorn]

The pot does sound like an early Lyman lead melting pot.

That was/is my best guess.

DougGuy & Tom W---This pot is too small to be practical for use as a cooking pot. Not upset at all Tom, I just wondered if I had missed something along the way. Any cooking sized pot would be checked out thoroughly if I were going to cook in it.

[Tom W.]

No problem. I had an old Lodge skillet that I started out using when I first was casting for my muzzle loader. Being young and dumb I had an electric stove in the garage and used it to melt the lead. I also destroyed a few stove eyes in the process. When I bought another residence somehow that frying pan went with me. I had purchased a couple of Lee melting pots, so I put it outside and away from anywhere there was food. That pan was beautiful, looked like it was seasoned by a pro, but knowing it's history it stayed outside. When I met Lori and moved up here I put the pan into the G.I.can..... I think...

[Petander]

One more thing about cast iron and heat:

Here is my kitchen stove. The grate under the burning wood is made of cast iron and it has worked for as long as I remember , 50+ years. Not even bent yet. The house was built in 1900.

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