Cast iron experts

[m_allison71]

I acquired a rusty skillet recently thinking it may be able to be brought back to life. After working on it some, I'm wondering if it is worth it. I've never had a new, unseasoned skillet before, so I'm not sure what I'm looking at with bare metal. What do you think?

 

[FTG-05]

Just did one, no Before pics unfortunately.

After 2 seasonings and frying some salt pork (fatback):

After making some eggs and bacon:

My neighbor was very happy with the results!

It looked a little better than yours but not by much. I'd say it took less than 15 minutes to get it cleaned up and ready for the oven. I used a grinder with a wire wheel on it. Check the sides of the handle: sometimes Lodge doesn't do a good job of getting rid of the sharp mold lines on the side..

Once cleaned, make sure to clean with hot soapy water and have the oven already at 200-250 to get it dried off ASAP; otherwise you'll have flash rusting. You can see some of it in the first pic above.

Thin, thin, thin, thin, thin layers of oil. Wipe the surface down and then wipe it again. The surface should appear almost dry before you season it. Otherwise a hot sticky mess you'll have to get rid of to get it seasoned well. Don't worry about "sanding" the cooking surface; seasoning and use will take care of that. It's possible to over sand or over smooth the surface, then you'll play hell getting the seasoning to stick; ask me how I know.

Good luck!

 

[Safari Hunt]

My wife is a huge fan of cast iron. We never scrub with soap. We wet it and scrub with a dish cloth to remove anything that sticks, which is rare with a properly seasoned cast iron. After "scrubbing," we put it on the gas range on high for 2 minutes (set the timer), take it off and liberally spray with no-stick canola oil. We have cast iron skillets that belonged to her mother, grandmother and my mother.

 

[Forvols]

I would say keep it and use it, clean it...Cast iron takes time. I have a dutch oven I have been working on a couple of years and just now getting it to unworried use for making bread, tho I also cooked alot of beef and pork in prior to making it a bread cooker. Maybe there are faster ways.

 

[Sam Davis]

Kent Rollins has some good videos on YouTube using and seasoning cast iron.He's a cowboy cook if you never heard of him. Has good recipes also.

 

[TX300mag]

@BuckWild

 

[BuckWild]

It's a Lodge made after 1992.
I have an electrolysis tank for removing rust. Soaking in white vinegar and scrubbing with a Scotch brand scrubbie pad works as well, just takes longer.
Most experts will tell you to never us a wire wheel or abrasive tool to remove rust, especially a brass wheel, unless you want a permanently bronze looking skillet. This particular skillet has little value, so no big deal.

To avoid flash rust after cleaning, ALWAYS rinse in cold water and immediately spray the entire surface with PAM or generic cooking spray. Then wipe clean and dry with a cloth rag. Slap that into a 450-500 degree oven for an hour then cut off the oven and let it remain until completely cooled. After the first go round of seasoning, heat it up on the stove eye and cover in crisco, wipe it until it looks completely dry and throw it back in a 450-500 degree oven. I normally go no more than three rounds of seasoning, depending on how it looks.

If you really want to season it up after that, start baking cornbread in it. That will blacken up a skillet pretty fast.

Good luck

 

[TAFKAP]

My mom always taught me that the best way to season cast iron was to make pancakes in it

 

[m_allison71]

It's a Lodge made after 1992.
I have an electrolysis tank for removing rust. Soaking in white vinegar and scrubbing with a Scotch brand scrubbie pad works as well, just takes longer.
Most experts will tell you to never us a wire wheel or abrasive tool to remove rust, especially a brass wheel, unless you want a permanently bronze looking skillet. This particular skillet has little value, so no big deal.

To avoid flash rust after cleaning, ALWAYS rinse in cold water and immediately spray the entire surface with PAM or generic cooking spray. Then wipe clean and dry with a cloth rag. Slap that into a 450-500 degree oven for an hour then cut off the oven and let it remain until completely cooled. After the first go round of seasoning, heat it up on the stove eye and cover in crisco, wipe it until it looks completely dry and throw it back in a 450-500 degree oven. I normally go no more than three rounds of seasoning, depending on how it looks.

If you really want to season it up after that, start baking cornbread in it. That will blacken up a skillet pretty fast.

Good luck

I'll try this in a couple days.

 

[Methane]

We pulled 4 old cast iron pans out of a barn at my buddy's farm. I scrubbed them with SOS pads to get them cleaned up. I seasoned as advised above, and the pans are in excellent shape. And yes, they looked like that pan you posted in the original post. They now look like FTG-05's pan.

 

[FTG-05]

It's a Lodge made after 1992.
I have an electrolysis tank for removing rust. Soaking in white vinegar and scrubbing with a Scotch brand scrubbie pad works as well, just takes longer.
Most experts will tell you to never us a wire wheel or abrasive tool to remove rust, especially a brass wheel, unless you want a permanently bronze looking skillet. This particular skillet has little value, so no big deal.

To avoid flash rust after cleaning, ALWAYS rinse in cold water and immediately spray the entire surface with PAM or generic cooking spray. Then wipe clean and dry with a cloth rag. Slap that into a 450-500 degree oven for an hour then cut off the oven and let it remain until completely cooled. After the first go round of seasoning, heat it up on the stove eye and cover in crisco, wipe it until it looks completely dry and throw it back in a 450-500 degree oven. I normally go no more than three rounds of seasoning, depending on how it looks.

If you really want to season it up after that, start baking cornbread in it. That will blacken up a skillet pretty fast.

Good luck

Don't do this.

The one fatal flaw with cast iron (besides rust) is it's inability to tolerate Temperature Shock. Cold to Hot; Hot to Cold. Rust is fixable; warping or cracking is not.

Do not put cold cast iron in a hot oven (never mind the moronic advice to "throw it in a hot fire".

Do not run cold water on hot cast iron.

Gentle. Temperature-wise - be gentle with temp changes.

Hence, my advice: Rinse and clean with hot water, then put into a 200-250 degree oven. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes, then go to town on your seasoning process.

 

[BuckWild]

Don't do this.

The one fatal flaw with cast iron (besides rust) is it's inability to tolerate Temperature Shock. Cold to Hot; Hot to Cold. Rust is fixable; warping or cracking is not.

Do not put cold cast iron in a hot oven (never mind the moronic advice to "throw it in a hot fire".

Do not run cold water on hot cast iron.

Gentle. Temperature-wise - be gentle with temp changes.

Hence, my advice: Rinse and clean with hot water, then put into a 200-250 degree oven. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes, then go to town on your seasoning process.

I agree with temperature shock but to avoid flash rust always rinse in cold water.

I've been putting cold skillets filled with cornbread batter in 450 degree ovens for 40 years with no ill effects.

I would however ,advise to never pull a skillet out of a 450 degree oven and run cold water over it.