cast iron cookware

[HamsterStyle]

Citric Acid, seems to be working fine. It's a bag of the stuff I've had since I did a coat of the garage floor. It was to clean all the grease and oil off the concrete before application, since it was new I never used it. Thought I'd give this a try...

Never heard of using that before. If you have some stubborn spots, wash thoroughlywith soap and hot water, rinse, rinse, then put in a trash bag and spray liberally with easy-off oven cleaner. Tie up the bag and let it sit in the sun for a couple days. It will eat all the crap off of there. Then wash, rinse, rinse, soak in vinegar and water if rusty, scrub, wash, rinse, rinse, rinse, season.

Oh yeah, add some pics.

 

[vibrationeng]

A little late to this party but here's part of our collection. It's a mix of Lodge, Wagner, and a Griswold. We finally found a rack we liked to hang quite a bit of it near the stove.


View attachment 48367

 

[guns and groceries]

Be sure to use the Easy Off with the YELLOW cap. Much more super duper Lye'ish. Will eat all the crap off and heat/sun really speeds the process up. It will also eat your skin off so wear gloves. Hard lesson learned on that one.

 

[HamsterStyle]

Yes. Gloves. And goggles. That stuff is fierce.

 

[Thor]

Yes, gloves and goggles and maybe even a respirator!

The citric acid did a good job of cleaning off most of the crud, I also did the oven cleaner in a garbage bag thing overnight, the cooking areas are now clean and smooth. The outsides have considerable carbon buildup, probably from being used for a few decades over a wood burning stove. The electrolysis routine has them almost new looking. Under the built up crud and carbon there were no stains or discolorations so I guess it did a really good job of protecting them while they waited in the barn for someone else to care. I just need to finish them up and season them...and try to get some pictures.

 

[Thor]

A little late to this party but here's part of our collection. It's a mix of Lodge, Wagner, and a Griswold. We finally found a rack we liked to hang quite a bit of it near the stove.


View attachment 48367

Nice!

 

[HamsterStyle]

Yes, gloves and goggles and maybe even a respirator!

The citric acid did a good job of cleaning off most of the crud, I also did the oven cleaner in a garbage bag thing overnight, the cooking areas are now clean and smooth. The outsides have considerable carbon buildup, probably from being used for a few decades over a wood burning stove. The electrolysis routine has them almost new looking. Under the built up crud and carbon there were no stains or discolorations so I guess it did a really good job of protecting them while they waited in the barn for someone else to care. I just need to finish them up and season them...and try to get some pictures.

Ah, didn't realize you had an electrolysis setup. Nevermind the vinegar suggestions.

 

[Fargo]

Ah, didn't realize you had an electrolysis setup. Nevermind the vinegar suggestions.

Vinegar, which is salic acid IIRC, will do the same thing as citric acid. I prefer lye, which IIRC is highly basic, as it doesn't remove metal like the acids do.

I generally electro my pans unless there is really nasty crud in which case they get lye based oven cleaner. I only use vinegar to touch up any flash rust before seasoning.

 

[HamsterStyle]

Yeah, my method so far has been Lye (easy-off ) then vinegar water bath if there is any rust, wash, season

 

[Thor]

Ah, didn't realize you had an electrolysis setup. Nevermind the vinegar suggestions.

Well, I wouldn't necessarily call it a 'setup'...more of a cluged together as needed thing in my garage wash tub. It's not high power but it does the job. And all suggestions are welcome.

 

[Turf Doctor]

I was given this pan that is pitted on one side. Should anything be done with the pitting as sanding etc? Or just de-rust the pan and then season the pan?

 

[Fargo]

I was given this pan that is pitted on one side. Should anything be done with the pitting as sanding etc? Or just de-rust the pan and then season the pan?

Just remove rust and season, by the time you sand all that pitting out you'll have a ton of time and work into a five dollar pan and the cooking surface will be lopsided. It will work just fine with the pitting.

 

[Hohn]

Looks pretty pitted to me. As cheap and plentiful as Lodges are, why bother with it? Just buy a new one.

 

[bacon#1]

Looks pretty pitted to me. As cheap and plentiful as Lodges are, why bother with it? Just buy a new one.

I'll take it if you don't want to mess with it. I'm just a few minutes away from BBURG. I'll even give you a few bucks for it.

 

[Turf Doctor]

Looks pretty pitted to me. As cheap and plentiful as Lodges are, why bother with it? Just buy a new one.

It was free to me so I am going to do the electrolysis bath and re-season. See how it turns out .

 

[Turf Doctor]

I'll take it if you don't want to mess with it. I'm just a few minutes away from BBURG. I'll even give you a few bucks for it.

Thanks for the offer, I will get it back to functional use and fry some bacon..

 

[Jimb]

Never wash them with soap. All the yummy goodness resides in that cured coating!

 

[HamsterStyle]

Never wash them with soap. All the yummy goodness resides in that cured coating!

False.

As far as the pan goes, yeah, clean it up, season it with Pam or crisco, cook in it. Those pits will really only affect collector value and seeing how it is a semi recent lodge, it doesn't have much of that anyway. use that puppy.

 

[HamsterStyle]

Jimb, that is a common misconception about cast iron. In the old days when soap was mostly lye, it was a different story. It could actually harm the seasoning. Modern soaps don't have the concentration of lye in them. If your seasoning is done correctly, washing in a mild soapy solution won't hurt anything. That said, I wouldn't soak them overnight or anything but you can wash them if you feel the need. I personally use water and paper towels and wipe them out. Spray a shot of PAM on them, wipe them down and they are ready for the next meal.

 

[mom45]

I use hot water as soon as I am done cooking in mine and use my spatula or a nylon Pampered Chef scraper that they sell with their cooking stones to loosen any cooked on food. Wipe it out with a paper towel or one of my cotton washcloths I crochet and it is ready to go.