Restoring cast iron

[JohnnyEgo]

I was on Amazon last night and for some reason a 'chain mail' cleaning 'rag' popped up for cast iron. When food bits get caked on, I typically use coarse salt and water.. but this chain mail thing might be something to try.

I don't have much luck with cast iron.. I can't get them to stay seasoned and I don't use soap on them.. I'll have to try the reset thing with a camp fire... that or self clean in the oven.. those are about the only things I haven't tried.

I don't even try to do eggs in the iron.. My pans hate me.

I cannot tell you how much I love my chain scrubber. Actually, I can:
https://www.amazon.com/review/R37DQA...cm_cr_rdp_perm

I used to use olive oil and salt as an abrasive, but this does the job even better. I drop it right in the pan after cooking, and use a pair of tongs to scrub out the skillet in the remaining hot oil. Let it cool down and wipe it out with a paper towel. Doing this has let me build up a great seasoning layer with minimal additional effort involved with cleaning.
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I am also an all Cast Iron, all the time kind of guy. CI retains heat well. It doesn't distribute it well, and it doesn't heat up evenly. It's not so much about cooking with lower temps as it is the fact that the heat simply keeps building, and on an electric range, the power setting really only determines how quickly it builds. Setting #2 on my electric range will get the pan to about 450° if you leave it on there long enough. When I am starting from a cold skillet, I will use #5 (medium) to get it up to operating temp quickly, then back down to #4 or #3 for cooking. When I am doing things that are heat sensitive, and have the time, I prefer to pre-heat my skillet in the oven. Usually to around 300° for pancakes, eggs, and other delicates, and 450° for meat. That way, the heat is already nicely distributed when I shift it to the stove, and all I am asking the stove to do is maintain the heat.

[DFBrews]

I buy flax oil to do my seasoning put it in a pump up oil sprayer you can get at the BBB

It is perishable but it has a great polymerization point

[Brian]

I have a similar chain mail scrubber and am also impressed with it. Works better than most other options I've used before.

I keep thinking one of these days I'm going to take my lodge pans out and sand them down too. They're not bad as-is with a decent seasoning, but I'd love to see some of those mirror flat surfaces I've seen from the guys who do that online.

[CS1983]

I have a similar chain mail scrubber and am also impressed with it. Works better than most other options I've used before.

I keep thinking one of these days I'm going to take my lodge pans out and sand them down too. They're not bad as-is with a decent seasoning, but I'd love to see some of those mirror flat surfaces I've seen from the guys who do that online.

You really should. A smooth finish+seasoning = way nice to cook with.

[rondog]

Anybody ever beadblast any nasty old pans to start over with a clean, raw pan for reseasoning? I have a couple of old skillets, and a beadblaster, and have been resisting the urges for years. Don't wanna screw 'em up, but not sure I'd use them anyway. I know for a fact my wife won't use cast iron.

[CS1983]

Why won't she use cast iron?

Dunno about bead but sand, yes.

[Big E3]

To me Griswold is the best with Wagner second, as far as currently available old world cook ware. There are others I’m sure, but I personally prefer and collect Griswold, I have about 20 pieces. The wife is somewhat of a clean freak so she does not like to use cast iron because she can’t sterilize it after each use. She just can’t rap her head around wiping it with a paper towel and putting it away.

[TheGrey]

I love my Cast iron pans. I got them from antique stores and thrift shops, and had to re-season them. I took the pans, placed them in a thick garbage bag and sprayed the pans liberally with oven cleaner. I tied the bags shut and set them out in the sun for the entire day.

I scrubbed them clean after that, rinsed and then set them on a warm burner to dry, before adding a minute amount of flaxseed oil. After wiping the oil into the still-heating pan, I raise the heat slowly and then take a clean, dry cloth and wipe off the excess. The trick is several very thin layers. The pans get a thin coating and then into the oven for an hour it goes.

This is an excellent site for information:

http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/20...ing-cast-iron/

[fly boy]

Anybody ever beadblast any nasty old pans to start over with a clean, raw pan for reseasoning? I have a couple of old skillets, and a beadblaster, and have been resisting the urges for years. Don't wanna screw 'em up, but not sure I'd use them anyway. I know for a fact my wife won't use cast iron.

If you bead blast one, I'll use it and let you know how it goes

[Great-Kazoo]

Anybody ever beadblast any nasty old pans to start over with a clean, raw pan for reseasoning? I have a couple of old skillets, and a beadblaster, and have been resisting the urges for years. Don't wanna screw 'em up, but not sure I'd use them anyway. I know for a fact my wife won't use cast iron.

If you bead blast it or any metals, you need to soak it afterward in very hot water. Do it a few times to leech the material from the metal. Or you have potential for residual left embedded in it..