Cast Iron Restoration

[Black Dog]

This weekend was the big weekend for garage sales all over my county, so my wife and I hit the ATM then got out looking for some deals. I found this little 6 inch cast iron skillet for a dollar that I decided I couldn't live without. I'm not sure how old it is or what brand it is, on the bottom there is a number 3 and on the underside of the handle an H above a 1 stamped into the metal. It was kind of rusty inside it, but it was the better of the two identical pans he had so I got it. Here are the before pictures:

I've restored old dutch ovens before and none of them turned out as nice as this little pan did. To get it useable didn't even take any elbow grease, all I did was scrubbed it out with hot water and a wash cloth until the rust and dirt and scum was all gone. Then I wiped a thin coat of vegetable oil on it just so it wouldn't rust while it sat over night. Today I wiped it down clean, then applied a new coat of oil which may have not been necessary but it didn't hurt anything. I stuck it in the oven then set it to bake at 350 for about an hour. Once that was done I let it cool in the oven and took this picture:

I am really happy with how it turned out, it was really easy to clean up and re-season. And for only a dollar you can't argue with the price! It only weighs about a pound, so it won't be too much trouble to take out camping on the motorcycle. I'm looking forward to sticking it in my back pack and taking it out fishing so that I can fry up some perch right on the shore of the lake too!

 

[j0nny216]

Awesome deal, and an awesome job restoring it. Looks like new.

I know a guy who threw out two dutch ovens that belonged to his grandmother because he said they were rusty. After I explained how easy it was to restore them he was kicking himself. I too wanted to kick him .

 

[Corey]

Nice resurrection.

Since i bought some Lodge cast iron for camping and home use, I have not used anything else at home to cook with.

Gone are the days of using cheap non stick skillets that has the surface flake off after awhile.

 

[Albin]

I got one of those a couple years ago, except it was in a lot worse shape.

I used the electrolysis method to clean it out; a couple gallons of water, with some A&H soap and a 6 amp manual battery charger plus a scrap piece of steel.

Came out in great shape, sanded it a bit, then redid the seasoning. We now use as our cheese sandwich maker.

 

[Black Dog]

I too wanted to kick him .

I'll keep him still while you kick him.

I've heard of using electrolysis to get the rust off but never tried it. Usually when I get old cast iron stuff I will use steel wool or a green scrubber pad with some bar keepers friend to get the real tough rust off. I think next time I'll try electrolysis. Does the rusty cast iron go on the negative terminal of the power source or the positive?

 

[obscurotron]

My wife's grandma gave us a few - (2) 6", a 10" and a 12". I really should cook with them more, and the 10" lives in my camping gear (best way to cook in a pinch if the stove dies and I still have matches left!).

Somehow food out of a cast iron skillet just tastes better. And a little extra iron in the diet doesn't hurt, either.

 

[Albin]

I'll keep him still while you kick him.

I've heard of using electrolysis to get the rust off but never tried it. Usually when I get old cast iron stuff I will use steel wool or a green scrubber pad with some bar keepers friend to get the real tough rust off. I think next time I'll try electrolysis. Does the rusty cast iron go on the negative terminal of the power source or the positive?

Negative terminal, black on black.

 

[chrismc]

In the past, I've had success with the following process for reviving absolutely horribly neglected cast iron cookware:

1. If there is a lot of rust, use an angle grinder with steel wire wheel (loose & fine wires, twisted wire wheel is too harsh).
2. Scrub with green scrubby pad, dish soap, and the hottest tap water you can stand. This step alone cleans up most rust.
3. Wipe dry.
4. Place in 300 degree oven for 10-15 min to completely dry out all pores and pre-heat pan.
5. Wipe down all sides of pan (in & out) with veg oil soaked paper towel (rag will leave embedded lint).
6. Back in oven until just smoking, wipe with more oil, repeat.
7. If the oil pools in the bottom of the pan at all, there is too much. Wipe it out quickly or it will create a sticky goo as it bakes (PITA to remove).
8. After the final oil coat (I usually go with 2-3 thin coats), turn up the heat to 350 and let it cook for 30-60 minutes.
9. Let cool slowly on stovetop, then its ready to go!

This has worked well for me, YMMV. As long as you don't use it too heavy-handedly, the wire wheel on the grinder works very well for removing even the toughest rust. If you need to go this route, be sure to give the entire pan a little wire wheel love or it will have an inconsistent finish. I'd recommend trying just the green scrubby, soap, and hot water first. The oven seasoning creates a lot of smoke, so do it when you can open a window (and pull the batteries out of the smoke detector, don't forget to put them back!).

 

[bucketosudz]

Bead Blasting pans in bad shape with let you start fresh also. My Father-in-law had one that you could barely recognize the round shape. Took it to a blasting cabinet, re-seasoned, Wallah!! Just like new.

We cook almost exclusively with cast-iron. Maintained it is some of the best cookware out there!

 

[Michael Slade]

Bead Blasting pans in bad shape with let you start fresh also.

That's what I did one time...

 

[storman113]

Sometimes they have a lot of gunk on em. So upside down in the over, then activate the self-cleaning setting. Then rust and seasoning as listed before.

 

[AndrewP]

I wire wheeled one I got at the thrift store and then re-seasoned, and it works as good as when it was new. It is hard to permanently hurt these things-unless you put cold water in a hot pan.

 

[Scoutman]

Cast iron reset

I've also taken some that needed all the old crusty coatings cooked off.

The best thing I've found is to set them aside and then take them on your next camping trip. When the roaring fire has died down to coals and you're ready to turn in for the night, pull those crusty cast iron items out and put them face down in the coals and leave them overnight. When you wake up in the morning you're ready to brush out the ashes and then re-season when you get home.

I've found that using crisco or other solid shortening product works much better than oil.

 

[TimS]

We refurbushed a muffin pan my grandmother used. Its about 90 to 100 years old. Bead blasted it and put the crisco to it. Its great. Just got done making muffins for the week. They last a week because I make lousy muffins for work and no one eats them but me. My daughter says they are "a bit dry".