Restoring cast iron pans

[biaviian]

I have a good bit of cast iron pans sitting around, and I have finally decided to refurbish a few.  Right now I have an electrolysis tank going to clean one pan at a time.  My setup is very simple.  It is a battery charger that I have set to 10 amps.  The positive lead is connected to two 18 gauge sheets of steel that face each other, at opposite sides of the barrel.  I then have the negative lead connected to the pan that is submerged in the water.  There is 1 tablespoon of washing soda (sodium carbonate) for each gallon of water.  I have 15 gallons in my bucket.  It can hold 30 I believe.

My setup is ugly, but it works.  I'll make it pretty in the coming days.  This picture is of the tank all setup and ready to go.  The only thing not done was to power on the battery charger.  

2017-07-29 16.48.02.jpg

• biaviian
• Jul 29, 2017
• 1

This is what it looked like after 15 minutes of the pan being in the solution.  Look at all of that disgusting stuff that is coming off the pan!  You can see some bubbles, so you know that we have current.  If you notice I put gloves over the vice-grips so that I didn't accidentally touch them while the thing is live.  Without them, I'm sure I'd forget and I would touch them.

2017-07-29 17.47.02.jpg

• biaviian
• Jul 29, 2017
• 1

This is what the pan looked like before going in the bath.  You can see what looks to be a 1/4" of ugly carbon buildup.  I guess the person that had this pan used to use it in a fire.

2017-07-29 16.20.34.jpg

• biaviian
• Jul 29, 2017
• 1

This is what happened in 35 minutes.  I did not expect that much of a change in 35 minutes.  I didn't touch it.  I simply raised it out of the water for a picture.

2017-07-29 18.47.42.jpg

• biaviian
• Jul 29, 2017
• 1

This is a gallery of the pieces I will be cleaning.  The rest of my collection is already in excellent condition.  Some are very old with at least one being from the early 1880s (the #10 that says Erie on the top and has a heat ring).

 

EDIT:  Here is that pan back to the bare iron.  Excuse the dirty stove top.  You need to realize that I have done NOTHING except for putting the pan in the tank, rinse it off with a hose, and wiped it dry with a cloth.  This is about 99% hands-off.  It looks like an unmarked Wagner but I need to do a bit more research on it.

2017-07-30 14.05.25.jpg

• biaviian
• Jul 30, 2017

I don't have a picture of it but now it has a coat of vegetable oil and one of Crisco.  I use Crisco for all of my seasoning (including carbon steel) but I always use a base coat of vegetable oil so I can protect the iron immediately then heated.

 

[kajunpig]

That's awesome, I'm glad to see you saving the pots.

After the flood last August we were gutting and cleaning FIL's house and he was fixing to pitch all the cast pots and we stopped him just in time.

We brought them home and refurbished all of them for him, he had no idea we were doing that and when the wife took them back to him he couldn't believe that was the same pots. He still talks about it from time to time....

 

[biaviian]

That's awesome, I'm glad to see you saving the pots.

After the flood last August we were gutting and cleaning FIL's house and he was fixing to pitch all the cast pots and we stopped him just in time.

We brought them home and refurbished all of them for him, he had no idea we were doing that and when the wife took them back to him he couldn't believe that was the same pots. He still talks about it from time to time....

I often wonder how many collectible (pre-1920) pans were thrown away by mistake or because people didn't want to clean them.  I find them at yard sales sometimes with a free sign on them.  It always amazes me what I can find.  I don't have a picture of it but I recently restored a cat iron potbelly stove.  I paid $80 for it and sold it for $650.  Not bad for about 5 hours of hands-on time.

Wagner/Griswold are amazing to cook on because of their weight, or lack of, compared to pans being made today, especially Lodge.

 

[bluewhisper]

Soon after I moved out of my parents' house, they decided non-stick was better than iron, and they threw out all of the skillets I grew up learning to cook in, without telling me first. It was a big loss for me.

As for the quality of new ironware, check out the cheap imports. Their texture is as rough as a nail file.

.

 

[biaviian]

 
Soon after I moved out of my parents' house, they decided non-stick was better than iron, and they threw out all of the skillets I grew up learning to cook in, without telling me first. It was a big loss for me.

As for the quality of new ironware, check out the cheap imports. Their texture is as rough as a nail file.

.

Even Lodge is too rough for me.  I have several of their pans going back many years and they are all bumpy.  That's why you won't find quality like Griswold or Wagner.  They took the time to perfect their cooking surface.  The difference in weight is great too.  Cast iron gets heavy quick.  I don't have any BSRs, yet.

 

[johnmeyer]

I'll be interested in the "after" pic, when you are through with the electrolysis. I'll also be interested in what other steps you take before re-seasoning.

 

[Rings Я Us]

Neat.. I have just sand blasted pans .

 

[biaviian]

Neat.. I have just sand blasted pans .

I can't do that to cast iron, especially old cast iron.  The potential for issues bothers me.

 

[biaviian]

 
I'll be interested in the "after" pic, when you are through with the electrolysis. I'll also be interested in what other steps you take before re-seasoning.

I just added an after picture, when it was bare iron and I touched on what I am doing with it right now.  I'll take pictures as I continue working with it.

 

[biaviian]

At this point, I dried the pan, spread vegetable oil on it, heated so Crisco would melt, put Crisco on the pan (all surfaces and in the hole of the handle, and heated it for two hours at 350.  After the picture was taken I put another layer of Crisco on and put it back in the oven with the oven turned off.  I will be using it tomorrow morning so that I can add to the seasoning more naturally.

2017-07-30 16.08.36.jpg

• biaviian
• Jul 30, 2017

2017-07-30 16.08.45.jpg

• biaviian
• Jul 30, 2017

The next one is in the bath now.  I think it says Erie on the bottom and if it does I'm looking at a pan from the 1880s.  It would be my second.  I'm still not sure what the pan is above.  The only marking is that P.

 

[johnmeyer]

350 seems like too low a temperature. Lodge does indeed recommend this temperature, but I just re-read six different web sites about their recommendations for seasoning, and except for Lodge, they all recommend 450-500 degrees. The reason is that seasoning involves "polymerization" of the oil, and this doesn't happen unless you get the oil above its normal use temperature (i.e., above 400 degrees).

As for the oil, most sites recommend flaxseed oil for a variety of reasons. However, I am no expert on that. I do know that most sites say that the oil you use for seasoning is really important, and some don't work very well.

 

[bluewhisper]

Right now I just have some Lodge basics, 9-inch round and square skillets,and a ribbed skillet, but I lost my 10-inch sportster and an oval casserole ("the Lifeboat") in a move.  I also have a Combo and a dutch oven.

Going way back - when I was a kid, one of the big skillets was said to have come from a neighbor in Oberlin who had served as a missionary in China in the 1930s, and it might have been a Russian product dating back to the early 1900s.

 

[biaviian]

I'm not t

 
350 seems like too low a temperature. Lodge does indeed recommend this temperature, but I just re-read six different web sites about their recommendations for seasoning, and except for Lodge, they all recommend 450-500 degrees. The reason is that seasoning involves "polymerization" of the oil, and this doesn't happen unless you get the oil above its normal use temperature (i.e., above 400 degrees).

As for the oil, most sites recommend flaxseed oil for a variety of reasons. However, I am no expert on that. I do know that most sites say that the oil you use for seasoning is really important, and some don't work very well.

I simply heated it so the pores opened.  I smoke the pan on the stovetop before placing it in the oven.  This time I did not because I will work on the seasoning later.  At this point, the goal is to keep it from rusting.  Flaxseed is hokey to me.  I tried using it and it just flakes off.  I've been using Crisco for 20ish years so I'll continue with what I'm doing.  I tried vegetable oil I keep going back to Crisco.  The results are wonderful and the application is easier than oil, for me at least.

 

[johnmeyer]

 
I'm not t

I simply heated it so the pores opened.  I smoke the pan on the stovetop before placing it in the oven.  This time I did not because I will work on the seasoning later.  At this point, the goal is to keep it from rusting.  Flaxseed is hokey to me.  I tried using it and it just flakes off.  I've been using Crisco for 20ish years so I'll continue with what I'm doing.  I tried vegetable oil I keep going back to Crisco.  The results are wonderful and the application is easier than oil, for me at least.

I have indeed read several posts about Flaxseed flaking off. I haven't used it myself, so I don't know from my own experience. A lot of sites do recommend it, however.

 

[biaviian]

 
I have indeed read several posts about Flaxseed flaking off. I haven't used it myself, so I don't know from my own experience. A lot of sites do recommend it, however.

They do and some swear by it.  Maybe it is too temperamental and needs to be treated right during the seasoning process.  I used to reseason a lot but now I just cook on them.  I make sure to rotate pans so they all get used and don't sit to rust.  People overthink the care and use of carbon steel and cast iron.

 

[johnmeyer]

 
They do and some swear by it.  Maybe it is too temperamental and needs to be treated right during the seasoning process.  I used to reseason a lot but now I just cook on them.  I make sure to rotate pans so they all get used and don't sit to rust.  People overthink the care and use of carbon steel and cast iron.

I totally agree. I have seen sites that say never to put water, and certainly not soap, in the pan. But, I've seen lots of sites (and I agree with these sites) that point out that the seasoning oil has become polymerized and therefore won't wash off and, in fact, is darned hard to remove. It takes something like chain mail or electrolysis (like you did) or oven cleaner, or some other extremely harsh approach to break it down and get it off. So, I simply put some water and a drop of sink detergent into the pan and use a brush that I bought to clean the ridges in my Lodge CI griddle.

I also add oil after the pan is dried and heat the pan to 400 degrees (I use a point-and -shoot IR thermometer). When it is cool, I wipe off the excess. This not only keeps the top layer of the seasoning fresh, but the oil acts a little bit of a solvent and if there is anything left on top of the old seasoning that the soap and water didn't remove, the hot oil will always get the last of it.

All I have are modern Lodge skillets, but I think I still have some turn of the last century skillets at our family summer cottage, unless my siblings have thrown them out.

 

[kajunpig]

 
I'm not t

I simply heated it so the pores opened.  I smoke the pan on the stovetop before placing it in the oven.  This time I did not because I will work on the seasoning later.  At this point, the goal is to keep it from rusting.  Flaxseed is hokey to me.  I tried using it and it just flakes off.  I've been using Crisco for 20ish years so I'll continue with what I'm doing.  I tried vegetable oil I keep going back to Crisco.  The results are wonderful and the application is easier than oil, for me at least.

​I tend to agree with you on this, the wife and kids bought me a new 3 gal pot for jambalaya's some years back. I seasoned it with vegetable oil and it didn't take long before it started to flake so I cleaned it and started over. I repeated basically the same process with the vegetable oil and ended up with the same results. I kept working with it but never really got it seasoned like I wanted it so I stopped using it for a while I just used my 5 gallon pot. this last time we redone all the pots for FIL we did my pot at the same time, all we used this time was Crisco and we had great results. 

 

[johnmeyer]

BTW, I forgot to ask: what Crisco product did you use? "Crisco" used to mean lard, but they now have various vegetable shortenings and, of course, they also sell vegetable oil. I assume you used one of their four vegetable shortening products, but which one? Here is a link to their shortening products:

Crisco Shortening Products

 

[biaviian]

 
I totally agree. I have seen sites that say never to put water, and certainly not soap, in the pan. But, I've seen lots of sites (and I agree with these sites) that point out that the seasoning oil has become polymerized and therefore won't wash off and, in fact, is darned hard to remove. It takes something like chain mail or electrolysis (like you did) or oven cleaner, or some other extremely harsh approach to break it down and get it off. So, I simply put some water and a drop of sink detergent into the pan and use a brush that I bought to clean the ridges in my Lodge CI griddle.

I also add oil after the pan is dried and heat the pan to 400 degrees (I use a point-and -shoot IR thermometer). When it is cool, I wipe off the excess. This not only keeps the top layer of the seasoning fresh, but the oil acts a little bit of a solvent and if there is anything left on top of the old seasoning that the soap and water didn't remove, the hot oil will always get the last of it.

All I have are modern Lodge skillets, but I think I still have some turn of the last century skillets at our family summer cottage, unless my siblings have thrown them out.

I use chain mail several times a week.  You shouldn't have issues with it hurting your cast iron seasoning.  I don't know about carbon steel, but I still use it on them.  In fact, I just did this morning.  Usually, with my CS pans, I just simmer water or use a good stiff brush to get stuff off the pans.  I don't use them often though.

 

[biaviian]

 
BTW, I forgot to ask: what Crisco product did you use? "Crisco" used to mean lard, but they now have various vegetable shortenings and, of course, they also sell vegetable oil. I assume you used one of their four vegetable shortening products, but which one? Here is a link to their shortening products:

Crisco Shortening Products

I use the old school original vegetable shortening.in the blue can like container.